The London-based trio speak to Dazed about their music, their weirdest internet obsessions and aliens
mary in the junkyard are an exciting experimental rock trio, composed of guitarist and vocalist Clari Freeman-Taylor, bassist and viola player Saya Barbaglia, and drummer David Addison. With only two singles under their belt, mary in the junkyard are not only well known for their mesmerising sound but for their dynamic performances at venues like Windmill Brixton and festivals like Green Man, the Great Escape and End of the Road.
Earlier this month, the “angry, weepy chaos rock” trio released their highly anticipated second single “Ghosts”, and we caught up with the group to discuss their earliest music memories, love languages and their craziest recurring dreams.
How would you describe your music?
mary in the junkyard: Sparse rock, like rock but balding.
What’s the last text you sent?
Saya: ‘I am no longer early, but I won’t be late.’
David: ‘I am similar.’
Clari: ‘Do you still want to go away on the 16th? I really want to go. I’m sick of London.’
What’s your weirdest internet obsession?
mary in the junkyard: Google mapping random locations and seeing how long it takes to get from A to B, then I’m like, ‘If it was at 3 o’clock, how long would it take?’ then, ‘If it was midnight, how long would it take’ and then I check how long it would take if I were walking or running, or if there were no trains.
Any recurring dreams?
Saya: I have recurring dreams of this big wave, and I’m constantly surfing or drowning and discovering.
Clari: New universes under the waves. Every night, there’s water.
David: I once dreamt of living in a pine wood tree, with a small train to get into the city.
What’s your love language?
mary in the junkyard: Surprising and unique compliments. Going on adventures.
What would be your funeral song?
mary in the junkyard: ‘Mr Tambourine Man.’
Who is your nemesis?
mary in the junkyard: I am my own worst enemy... but also an industry man we used to know took our bass away backstage at Bluedot Festival; it was a nice bass we liked to call Caspian and technically, we didn’t own it but loved it like a child.
What do you put on your rider?
mary in the junkyard: Babaganoush, fruit bowl, ice bath, miso soup, heap of soft earth, bed and electric blanket, ramen, yoga mat, cheeses, Richard Russell’s steam room, Monopoly Deal, root ginger, Kinder Bueno.
What is your earliest music memory?
Clari: Playing with the cow box, which moos when you turn it upside down.
David: Scissor Sisters ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ in my mum’s car.
Saya: Pretending everything in the kitchen was an instrument.
What fictional character do you most relate to and why?
mary in the junkyard: Fagin’s gang from Oliver Twist – we are artful and sneaky.
You encounter a hostile alien race, and sound is their only mechanism for communication. What song would you play to them to inspire them to spare you and the rest of the human race?
mary in the junkyard: They probably would not share our human view of tonality and rhythm, so maybe something by Aphex Twin. Or they might like something with an easy groove, in which case ‘What’s Going On’ by Marvin Gaye may be appropriate and very descriptive – What IS going on? Alternatively, we would try our best to write a song halfway between Marvin Gaye and Aphex Twin and hope the aliens like it.
mary in the junkyard’s latest single “Ghost” is out now via AMF Records