Mary's Iguana

January 11, 2007
By: Paul Grimshaw

A local band more and more folks are hearing about will perform a two-hour showcase concert Saturday (Jan.13) as part of the House of Blues' Bluesapalooza series, which we told you about in last week's Music Notes column.
It might have never been scheduled if one of the band members hadn't run out of cigarettes. It's a good thing these musicians smoke, or they'd never have found each other. This was the case in formation of the 4-piece rock band Mary's Iguana. Guitarist Nick Cheri, the last member to join the fold, needed a pack of smokes and walked into The Southside Tobacco Store in Myrtle Beach. Behind the counter was store manager Matthew Sellers (formerly of Walona) and he saw something in Cheri. Musicians have a way of spotting each other, a kind of "play-dar."
" Do you play music, dude?" he asked while ringing up the purchase. "Well, kinda, sorta," Cheri answered and before long he was on the studio playing guitar, recording and rehearsing with drummer Sellers, lead vocalist Lopaka Perez (formerly Brownhouse,) and bassist Liz Blackstone. Thus came the final contraction in the nicotine-stained birth pangs of Mary's Iguana.
"We had to mesh personally first, and musically second," said Sellers. "It's way more important that we get each other... then comes the music." Actually, Perez and Sellers met first. After jamming and messing around with riffs, they soon decided they needed a band building on Sellers' stint in popular regional act Walona and Perez's time with Myrtle Beach rap outfit Brownhouse.
Perez has enjoyed past tastes of sucess as a rapper opening for Vanilla Ice and Grandmaster Flash while still in high school when they played at the Headroom (now closed) in Myrtle Beach. Cheri, with The Buzz Effect created drum and bass loops within the Washington D.C. electronic music scene as his first foray into live performance, before devoting himself to the guitar. Cheri recalls a time when he used to frequent the now defunct Freaky Tiki, not for the foam parties, or under-aged drunk chicks but to watch Travis Newman (of Eason) play the guitar. "Man, he was unbelievable... I was like..., I should have never put the guitar down." Re-inspired to play after a summer of watching Newman shred, Cheri worked hard on his skills and recalls a moment when he finally felt confident. "I was messing around with Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" and I looked down and realized I was playing it! It's like... holy shit! I'm really doin' it! I've wanted to play that song since I was a kid."
Sellers invited high school friend Blackstone to join the band and she parlayed a long musical career, beginning when she was 4, into a spot in Mary's Iguana, as a somewhat rare, female bassist and backgroun vocalist. "I love playing in this band and playing in front of an audience," said Blackstone. "The guys are great - in fact, in this band I'm just one of the guys."
Even with their respectable resumes and new-found confidence, this is a band still in its musical youth; a new wine. The group's marketing efforts, however, show a maturity and business savvy most bands would envy. The Mary's Iguana web-site (www.marysiguana.com) is really well put together; it's easy to navigate and makes a fantastic marketing tool. With free music downloads, the curious may get a taste for the band's style as evidenced in the 7-song EP Chainletter. The free EP is available only on the web-site and since October of 2006 has been circulating as part of a international chain letter email- very smart. The songs are catchy, the live 8-track recording and production are raw (but real), the guitar parts are crunchy, well-played but predictable, the sometimes pitchy vocals are occasionally inspired, reminiscent or early punkers such as the Ramones and the drums and bass groove together well. You come away from listening to the EP thinking "this is a fun garage band but I bet the recordings don't do them justice." Cheri agrees. "You know, the EP is cool, our full length CD has better sound quality and rocks (Close Cover Before Striking), our new Cd will rock... but when we play live it's a whole new energy- you only feel it when we're live."
Mary's Iguana has some 50 gigs under its belt, including last Saturday's performance with Something About Vampires & Sluts at the Clubhouse in Myrtle Beach. The bands performed as part of the Nathan Clements Film and Music Festival. Mary's Iguana will have a chance to prove itself to a growing fan base with Saturday's performance at the House of Blues Bluesapalooza event, starting at 9 p.m. on the venue's Gator Bar stage. "in our 2-hour set we probably won't do any covers... except every now and then we do a little Nirvana," said Cheri. "We're just staight-up rock 'n roll - in your face," adds Sellers
You can usually find one or more band members at The Southside Tobacco store discussing songs, band politics and upcoming gigs, honing their "play-da - The Surge

Mary’s Iguana’s CD release party will be held tonight at the 007 Hard Rock Tavern.
Mary’s Iguana, a local group from Surfside Beach, is an alternative rock/grudge band that exploded onto the local music scene with its debut album “Close Cover Before Striking,” which features 11 original songs.
The band, which formed in 2004, consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Lopaka Perez, lead guitarist Nick Cheri, vocalist and bassist Liz Blackstone, and drummer and piano player Matthew Sellers.
Mary’s Iguana will also perform at the Jackass Saloon in Conway on September 21.
Other performers tonight are All Points Failed, Ironside and Tradeskin.
- The Sun News, Myrtle Beach SC