Whether sweating up a storm during a live performance or just relaxing in hometown Philadelphia on a Monday night, Dave Bielanko of Marah has no problem making himself accessible -- even if it's right when the Eagles are about to kick off.
"I try to keep my distance from it because we get a broken heart every year," Bielanko explained, waving aside an apology for the interruption.
And if the past is any indication, music fans should expect Bielanko, brother Serge and the rest of Marah to deliver a performance as spirited as any football game when they take the stage at 11 tonight at Zeno's, 100 W. College Ave.
"I've been looking forward to this since the last time they came here," said Tyler Kulp, local DJ and Zeno's employee who took the night off to be just another audience member. "They always put on a really exuberant show and it's great to still see them in a small, intimate venue."
Zeno's certainly does seem conducive to Marah's rollicking brand of storytelling roots rock. Including a generous selection of originals and a cover of The Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait."
The band's last appearance at Zeno's in February culminated with an extended version of the O'Jays' "Love Train," which resulted in, yes, an actual love train weaving through the crowded bar with the brothers Bielanko at its head.
By that point, Dave's military jacket had changed colors and Serge was on his back wailing away on a harmonica.
"They were one of my favorite bands to come through Zeno's in a long time," bar manager Dave Staab said. "We're happy to have them back on their way up to do a show in Chicago."
After six weeks on the road, Marah returned to Philly for a short break before tonight's show, the first on their way to the Windy City. Bielanko said big city crowds especially have been very responsive, and this tour has yielded some of the best- attended gigs the band has ever played.
The enthusiastic response could be attributed to the release of Marah's fourth full-length this June, 20,000 Streets Under the Sky, which has been hailed as a return to form.
By contrast, the band's third effort, Float Away With the Friday Night Gods, was generally lambasted by critics for the slick production of Owen Morris (Oasis, The Verve), and hit the slump that 2000's acclaimed Kids in Philly easily avoided.
But Bielanko that said he's at the point where such criti-
cisms just bounce right off him.
"I almost feel like we've come to a place in our lives where it doesn't even matter," he said. "We make the music we want to make. If it affects the people that truly love our band, that's all that means anything to us."
Bielanko said the band is very happy with the support from its new label, Yep Roc, which has allowed Marah to create its own imprint, PHIdelity Records.
"And they're big fans, which is all you can ever expect from a record company because most of them are evil ..." he added.
The deal has given Marah the freedom to go ahead and release anything, be it re-issues of the band's own music (an expanded edition of debut Let's Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later on Tonight is forthcoming) or otherwise.
"Plus, when I start busting out my solo s---," Bielanko said jokingly.
One possibility for a future release would attempt to encapsulate what most fans think of as definitive Marah: a live recording.
At the moment though, Bielanko said this is premature, as he's hesitant to decide for Marah fans what is and is not an official live show.
"I really think you gotta be there," he said.
