Getting Beyond the Drone – Saint Rich discusses new album, recording and cops

Steve Marion and Christian Peslak collaborated years before recording under the name Saint Rich, the duo’s latest band, which performs tonight at 9 p.m. at Mud and Water.

Chemistry doesn’t even begin to describe Marion and Peslak’s relationship. They played together in the indie favorite Delicate Steve, but knew each other well before that band garnered popularity, Peslak says.

“We were playing music before Delicate Steve started,” Peslak says. “We just started playing together and recording each other’s music. Over that time, we became good friends. We were always working on things together. While the train of Delicate Steve took off, we were always working on other songs.”

With a little down time from Delicate Steve’s relentless touring schedule, they went to Marion’s house in northern New Jersey. Two other members were supposed to show, but a winter storm stopped them and locked Marion and Peslak in the house, alone with nothing but time to put musical ideas to tape.

Once they recorded the song “Dreams,” the songwriters knew they had to nurture a sound that spontaneously happened.

“It wasn’t so much that we needed to do something different musically,” Peslak says. “We were making this music, and after we recorded ‘Dreams,’ it felt like a totally new thing with its own life.”

Saint Rich’s music came quickly, with the base tracks and ideas for the majority of the band’s debut Beyond the Drone recorded during that winter storm.

“It’s always in the moment you least expect it when the inspiration comes,” Peslak says. “It just so happened we were locked in this house, together with all this stuff set up.”

You’ll hear a rural twang on Beyond the Drone. The song “Dreams” is infused with more acoustics while other songs like “Young Vultures” coast on fuzzy guitars. You even hear a bit of Peslak’s attitude on “Officer,” which is based on a personal experience he had with a high school policeman.

“It’s a love song for him,” he says, laughing. “He was just this constant, looming, Draconian ***hole. When I was in high school, I skateboarded a lot. I had super-long hair. I was the perfect type for this guy, among other people. He strip-searched my friend in the woods. He’d take my skateboard away. This guy became a symbol of repression in a way. [The song] comes from a fear. It’s a way to be mocking about it and overcome it. Plus, I just wanted to **** with the guy.”

Tonight’s show at Mud and Water starts at 9 p.m. Brass Bed will also perform. Tickets are $8.