DDR: Can you tell me how you came up with the name NoMara?
John: Thats all you Kelly buddy.
Kelly: Right on, right on. The music for the most part has always been built around relationships you go through every day. NoMara comes from the term Mara, which is from the budhist religion, where the mara is seen like the devil and temptation and all those evil things that try and sway us from our path and from trying to do the right thing. It kind of translated of to me as we try to use our words to hurt other people and our own problems that we tend to take out on others that we care about. No Mara kind of means your partner you are with , they are not the Mara, they are not the Devil, they are not the problem, the issue you have is with yourself. In other words, take care of you problems and dont take it out on others!
John: When I heard it, because I am a redneck and I'm from Arkansas, I thought is was ...like we ain't gonna see no tomara!(laughing)
Kelly: See, John didnt even know what it meant. He has been telling people "Shit, I thought it meant NO TOMARRA! (laughing)
John: Yeah, some bands will pick a name with the first letter, because it would look really cool in the logo.(laughing)
DDR: Well its cool that you have a great meaning behind the name and not some logo that looks like a bunch of sticks, or roots like with some death metal bands and you dont know what they are called!(laughing)
John: You dont need to know what they are called, you can't understand what they are saying anyway! (laughing) There are thirty of those compared to one good rock band.
DDR: Your first release was in 2008, which was your self titled debut album. 'Towing the Line' was a big hit off of that one. Can you tell me about the meaning of that song and how that one came about?
Kelly: Again, there is a story about that one. The album was put in chronological oder according to our relationships. For example, the first song is called 'Last Call' and that is right at the end of a relationship. It's the last time I am going to pick up that damn phone, its the last time I am going to do this. After that, the songs go in order. I had been going through a fucked up relationship at the time and I'm not going to deny it. I thought it would be cool to capture all the thoughts and feelings that you go through after you go through something like that, a big change in the relationship. So it goes with 'Last Call', then 'Bounce Back' where you kind of bounce back to your feet. Then 'Towing the Line' is like all those times when you have to pick up the slack and all the things you did to try and make things work, and still it didnt work out.
Formed in 2008, the hard rock band No Mara has been amazing their fans. This band may have their roots planted in Columbus, Ohio and Little Rock, Arkansas but they have their eyes set on world domination. With the likes of Kelly Burdge on lead vocals and guitarist/producer John LeCompt, Jeremy Harris on Guitar, Thad Ables on Bass and Jack Larson on Drums these guys are in the possesion of the secret of success.