Kaya’s Battle of the Mic finalist: Adam Marth

Brighton Senior Adam Marth has been around the block a few times. By the block, I mean various aspects of music in Mount Pleasant.

Marth holds to quite a few titles, band member of The Deep End and The Newday Dreamers, solo artist and geographic information science major.

Marth was the second winner of Battle of the Mic and has been a Kaya Open Mic regular for years. As well as playing shows at Kaya, he has frequented Rubble’s, a downtown bar. There’s quite a contrast from the dark and gritty bar to the open laid back feel of Kaya. Both are enjoyable places to play, Marth said, but both have a unique atmosphere.

“I like playing shows where it’s less intimate, I like to be locked in my own band but still be communicating in the crowd,” Marth said about playing at Rubble’s.

When Marth plays at Kaya, it’s much more of his own work being showcased. All eyes are on him and it’s usually a smaller crowd at Kaya than at Rubble’s. He said he was more nervous to play at Kaya when he first started performing, but nowadays he appears calm and collected belting out his lyrics on stage.

If he wins the overall Battle of the Mic, Marth plans to do a few of his own songs, as well as a few covers. He writes his own lyrics for his band, as well as the music he plays by himself.

“I tried to write a song about a cat flying through space one time,” he said.

Marth’s creativity extends past his lyric writing though, as well as having the mind for diverse lyrics he has played a spectrum of instruments such as drums, bass guitar, and keyboard. Today he’s sticking with the guitar.

“It’s the one I’m definitely most comfortable with, the one I connected with most in terms of my inspirations,” Marth said about playing guitar.

The sheer versatility drew him to it as well, “You can pretty much put a guitar in any genre,” he said, mentioning Motown, bluegrass, classic rock, even electronic all as his influences and examples as to how a guitar can be used in each genre.

Marth’s advice to other musicians was insightful, “Figure out what you want out of your music,” he said. He explained how he thinks it’s important to explore what exactly you want to do with your music, as a musician.

“I just want to be able to play music for the rest of my life,” he said. “Whether I’m playing with a band and going on tour after college somewhere or I have some night at a bar where I can play my tunes. That’s really all I want out of it, whichever route I want to choose I’m really not sure about yet but we’ll see how it goes.”

Marth continues to play and make the most of his talent all around Michigan with the bands he’s part of, and will be performing at the final round of Battle of the Mic.