Boise’s Marshall Poole on their craziest gig, the Boise music scene and more

The high-energy, psych-rock sound of Marshall Poole will infiltrate Clarkston Friday night when the four-piece Boise band stops at Hogan’s Pub.

The group’s three original members – Rider Soran, Michael Hoobery and Melanie Radford – grew up together and started their musical journey seven years ago practicing in a Caldwell pool house. In recent years they were joined by Seth Graham and featured at Boise’s Treefort Music Fest and the Volume Inlander Music Festival in Spokane. We caught up with Radford by email to find out more about the group the Idaho Statesman called “a sweaty rock ‘n’ roll hurricane.”

360: Marshall Poole’s Facebook page describes its members as: “A Feminist, an Acid-Cowboy, a Stranger, and a Mountain Man.” Can you tell us who is who in this eclectic roundup of individuals?

Radford: We gave that description of ourselves mostly as a joke but we were partially serious as well. These are basically the names of characters we give ourselves onstage – our personas, if you will. They’re all parts of ourselves magnified into a stage presence. The Feminist is an identity that I relate to, the Acid Cowboy is Rider’s explorative identity, the Stranger is Michael’s reserved identity and the Mountain Man is Seth’s inherent identity. The point of these “characters” is to let our audiences know that the four of us are different individuals coming together to form one coherent band that expresses differing ideas and genres.

360: Could you tell us a little bit about the good and the bad of being part of the Boise music scene? Has it changed in the seven years since Marshall Poole formed?

Radford: We honestly love the Boise music scene. We’re surrounded by so many supportive and like-minded people, it’s kind of ridiculous. The only thing we would identify as “negative” would be the fact that it took us a very long time to be a part of the music community because of the years we were under 21. There aren’t a whole lot of opportunities for young musicians to integrate themselves in the music scene because so many of the venues in Boise are bars for audiences 21 and up. However, this is slowly changing because of a great nonprofit organization called the Boise All-ages Movement Project (B-AMP). They’re establishing a pretty great, all-ages art community that’s slowly growing.

360: What, when and where has been your craziest gig?

Radford: When we first started as a band we were in high school and were originally a three-piece. We were still learning how to write music and we just wanted to play and get as much experience as possible so we ended up playing a lot of bar gigs that required three to four-hour sets. So, while some of us were 18 and 19 years old, we played a couple times at a venue in McCall called The Yacht Club and they ended up being the craziest sets we’ve ever played. Due to McCall being a resort town, people went out to party a lot and they would party HARD. As we played our rock ‘n’ roll, there were people who would dance in the zaniest outfits and, as the night progressed, clothes literally came off on the dance floor, past the underwear, crazy times.

360: Who are your go-to musicians for inspiration?

Radford: We really like bands that explore different genres, much like My Morning Jacket, but we’re also getting into bands that bring a lot of technicality into an accessible rock genre, like King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

If You Go

Who: Marshall Poole
When: 9 p.m. Friday, June 8
Where: Hogan’s Pub, 906 Sixth St., Clarkston
Cost: $5