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We’re going to say it: Marshall Law Band deserves the hype

Led by the insatiably positive Marshall Hugh and Matt McAlman, MLB refuses to take apathy for an answer.

Dan Ray June 3, 2021
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We’re going to say it: Marshall Law Band deserves the hype June 3, 2021

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Marshall Law Band frontman Marshall Hugh. // Photo by Danny Ngan

Carly Rae Jepsen came to fame because she placed third on the fifth season of Canadian Idol. “Call Me Maybe” debuted on the Canadian charts on October 22, 2011. It reached number one on the Canadian charts on February 11, 2012, a full month before it even debuted in the U.S. and over four months before it reached number one on U.S. charts. Growing up in Detroit suburbs listening to Canadian radio stations (and being an insane American Idol — and, thus, all other Idols — fan), I was jaded on the song long before my tween counterparts went crazy over it. By the time they found it, I had been listening to it for almost a year.

This feeling of been-there-done-that is much how I entered the Marshall Law Band (MLB) show at the Museum of Flight this past weekend. But it isn’t how I left.

Full disclosure: I’m tight with this band. I wrote a full-page review/biography of their latest album that appears both on their website and on Dan’s Tunes. I’ve done marketing sessions for them in their home. On Halloween last year I found them playing live on their repurposed parade float, the S.S. Jellybean, and rode with them while they drove around town writing new songs like the upcoming single “It’s Gonna Get Better.” I’ve seen them play countless times (including the Friday before the show), and I went into this concert thinking, “Alright, it’s time to see MLB again. I’ll mouth all the lyrics, and it’ll be fun.” I was expecting to be entertained. But I wasn’t expecting to be entertained. 

Honestly, shame on me. I should have known, after all the times I’ve seen them, that Marshall Law Band never stops adapting and certainly never stops short of putting on a show.

Marshall Law Band, a Seattle funk-hop group, is nominated for a Pulitzer for their latest album, 12th & Pine, which details their experience performing at CHOP.

When MLB entered the stage, the audience was sitting softly in their chairs, not quite warmed up from the somewhat out-of-time drums of Tres Leches’s set. A punk outfit with frontwoman Alaia D’Alessandro and drummer/bassist Ulises Mariscal as its core members, Tres Leches normally puts on a captivating show as band members rotate instruments and stage positions throughout their sets. D’Alessandro gave an energizing performance and Mariscal was all heart, but the band seemed to struggle to get into the flow with their new lineup. Beautiful Freaks’s James Bonaci and Meg Hall joined the crew at the band’s first live show in a year. But, never deterred, MLB took up the challenge to get the audience to *ahem* take flight.

The band walked to the stage, full of force, decked out in a wardrobe styled by fellow Seattle musician Timoteo Cordero. Frontman Marshall Hugh started the night in a tan jacket (sans shirt) and low-rise, patched jeans (late-set, he changed into an all-white, three-piece motorcycle suit). Drummer Matt McAlman wore a fedora and a jacket that looked like gold leaf (also sans shirt). The rest of the band — six other dudes crammed onto an approximately ten-by-five-foot stage — appeared in a smattering of material, from glitter shirts to smart suits. Nobody matched, but the confidence the clothes gave them was palpable. It was clear they were ready to put on a show.

Hugh, a magnetic frontman unafraid to spew confident big-rapper energy, ran about on stage (as much as he had room for), dropped to the floor out of breath from his performance, then jumped off the stage and danced in front of the audience until the crowd got hyped. McAlman, hidden quite literally in the shadows behind his seven bandmates, somehow commanded the stage just as much as Hugh, keeping impeccable time while playing on a bum leg (he gets surgery mid-June). Led by the insatiably positive Hugh and McAlman, MLB — which also includes guitarist Josh Richins, saxophonist Marty Thordarson, bassist Evan Robertson, and keyboardist Mercy Lewis, as well as special guests J Moe Da Bird and Taane Jr. — refused to take apathy for an answer. 

During the the pandemic, MLB whittled their normally-sprawling band down to six core members. At this show, they welcomed two former members, J Moe Da Bird and Taane Jr., back to the stage.

At the end of the set, the band got an immediate and honest standing ovation, after which Hugh came back on stage and said, “We got the okay to do more if y’all stand up and dance with us.” Not only did the audience dance, but when Hugh told everyone to get low, literally everyone — including several people I talked to after the show with bad knees — did.

Now, this band can get cocky. For the past year, they’ve been talking about how they’re nominated for a Pulitzer for 12th & Pine, and while, IMO, that album does deserve a Pulitzer, they submitted their own application (sorry, guys). But it’s that kind of cockiness that gives them the ability to give their all night after night, no matter how many times the audience has seen them. (Jonathan Evergreen, the president of concert organizer Safe & Sound, told me they sold a significant number of tickets by handing out flyers at an MLB show in Fremont the night before the Museum of Flight concert. So, many concert goers had quite literally just seen the band less than 24 hours prior.)

I have to stop talking about this band now, so I’ll end with a few main points about the show that deserve mention: There was alcohol, but, ironically, the beneficiary of this show was Enid’s House, a nonprofit named after the founder’s grandma that houses recovering alcoholics. Safe & Sound is also working on booking other shows at new venues.

And, okay, one more thing: We’ll find out whether MLB gets the Pulitzer on June 11.

Tres Leches, a punk outfit fronted by guitarist and vocalist Alaia D'Alessandro and drummer and bassist Ulises Mariscal, opens the second Safe & Sound show at the Museum of Flight.
When not performing with Tres Leches, D'Alessandro can be found doing video work with KEXP and the Seattle Channel music video show Video Bebop.
Tres Leches will be opening for The Posies on July 18 as part of the Zoo Tunes concert series. Woodland Park Zoo has teamed up with KEXP to offer all-local music for this year.
Tres Leches debuts a new lineup. Here, Meg Hall playing the theremin.
James Bonaci makes their Tres Leches debut. Both Hall and Bonaci are also members of Bellingham/Seattle alt-rock group Beautiful Freaks.
The band's set list moved through a variety of content, from songs about immigration and searching for a better life to "Everybody's Gonna Get $250," a song about paying musicians a living wage.
The band members regularly rotate instruments. Their website states they "switch out instruments as often as the style of their songs."
Marshall Law Band, a Seattle funk-hop group, is nominated for a Pulitzer for their latest album, 12th & Pine, which details their experience performing at CHOP.
Guitarist John Richins.
In order to attend the show, audience members are required to fill out a health screening. Seats are grouped in pods ranging from two to four people, and all pods are spaced at least six feet apart.
The band is styled by local R&B musician Timoteo Cordero. Pictured here, frontman Marshall Hugh.
Bassist Evan Robertson.
Marshall Law Band has spent most of the pandemic DIY-ing live music. In late 2020, they repurposed a parade float into a mobile live music venue. Dubbed the S.S. Jellybean, the band drives it around town bringing music to the people.
Drummer Matt McAlman ran through the set with a leg injury. He's scheduled for surgery mid-June.
Every other Thursday, MLB performs at The Collective in South Lake Union. Every Friday, they perform at LTD Bar and Grill in Fremont.
Keyboardist Mercy Lewis.
During the the pandemic, MLB whittled their normally-sprawling band down to six core members. At this show, they welcomed two former members, J Moe Da Bird and Taane Jr., back to the stage.
While the first Safe & Sound show required attendees to be masked the whole time, this show featured a bar and allowed concert goers to remove their masks within their pods.
The show began with about 40% of the seats empty, but by the time MLB finished their set almost all of the seats were filled.
The stage is set up on the Museum of Flight pavilion in front of the world's first 747.
J Moe Da Bird with Taane Jr. (crouching).
While J Moe Da Bird and Taane Jr. perform, Hugh performs a costume change.
Before starting the encore performance, Hugh told the audience, "We got the okay to do more if y'all stand up and dance with us."
Sax player Marty Thordarson.
Hugh descends into the crowd. In the socially distanced setup, the tables are 20 feet from the stage, leaving ample room for Hugh to move about.
At the end of the show, Hugh gathers the band for a group photo.

All photos by Danny Ngan.

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Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).