Seasick Mama on Her Video for "Man Overboard," Her Butt, and Boys Who Lack Balls

Let’s just cut straight to the chase: this video is awesome. In an era where new artists are scrappling around for a few hundy to cut a pop promo on iMovie, to see this five minute epic play out in a mansion in the Dominican Republic, in the wide open sea, and on the back of a horse in an endless sugar cane field, is as amazing as it is surprising. It’s not a music video, it’s a mini-movie called Hombre al Agua, directed by Jay Bulger (the man responsible for Ginger Baker's documentary Beware of Mr. Baker), and starring Rhode Island-born Marial Maher. Otherwise known as Seasick Mama and her fantastic behind (more on that later).

Soon to release her second EP, out on No Shame on November 5, Tip Top Shape is a husky cull of songs. It's rock-leaning with bluesy undertones, and like "Man Overboard," boasts some reggae swagger. Meanwhile, production was left in the magic hands of TOTR's Dave Sitek, Peter Wade (one half of MNDR), and Phantom Planet's Sam Farrar, among others. I first met Marial a couple of years ago. I was at Soho House trying to figure out if all my loose change would add up to a $20 gin and tonic. I was hitting a new low. But then my friend Sedi arrived with a tornado of a woman on her arm. Marial's vibe was somewhere between Heart, Brigitte Bardot, and Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. Onstage she translates her whirlwind energy into raw, magnetic performances. I was an instant fan.

Noisey: You happy with this video?
Seasick Mama: I'm super stoked. It was the best experience working with Jay Bulger.

This is the first time a lot of people are going to meet Seasick Mama. Tell me a little about the song and the video, what's it about?
I write a lot of songs about relationships. It just happens. Especially as a new songwriter it's just easy material for me. Most of the songs on new record are about specific people and situations, including my mother. There is something therapeutic being able to talk about someone and not feel as vulnerable. “Man Overboard” is definitely one of those songs. It's for someone I am too scared to talk too.

Do tell…
I was seeing this guy. He was the type that was super charming and would take me out everyday, buy me gifts, show me the best parts of New York City that I couldn't afford. Eventually I found out he was already in a very serious, long term relationship. I was so pissed off. And the only way he could apologize was to send me another gift: a $500 gift card to Agent Provocateur.

Christ.
The guy had gone overboard, you know? Has he fucking lost his mind? I was so embarrassed and so hurt. A part of me thought maybe the whole thing was all just a daydream, all just bullshit. “Man Overboard” was the perfect outlet to get my feelings out and figure out what really happened. When I started the song it was really vulgar, I was basically saying, "Fuck you," but then Peter Wade, the producer of the song, was able to help me fine tune those lyrics a little and get the message across by leaving the imagination open.

It could be interpreted in a couple of different ways, when I first heard it, it felt like a statement about this guy's personality. Like he’s a failure, treading water and flailing around.
That's how it was. I felt this guy was too scared to take the leap, to fight the storm, and the storm in his life was breaking up with his girlfriend and taking a chance with me. He was too scared to make waves, and take on a challenge he may not win. Some dude flailing in the water is the most unattractive image, like, "Save me!”

All photos by Dan Dealy. The video makes a little more sense now, but this character who is keeping you captive has a different kind of craziness it seems…
Jay came up with the idea of my character being this kept woman and me being the one that's too scared to leave, or me being frightened by a certain relationship. The video is this weird mind-fuck where you're like, “Wait, what? What's happening here?” It's all about trying to make that leap, or break a certain tie, or bind you have in your life. Jay was able to take the idea and make it even bigger.

Where on earth did you film this? Is that house actually a compound with security cameras?
In the Dominican Republic there’s this community, or compound, where you have to scan your fingerprints to get access. I feel like they'd even take your blood if they wanted to. It's called Casa De Campo, one of the wealthiest areas of the Dominican Republic. The only people who live here are celebrities, doctors, etc. It's very bizarre because outside this compound is all poverty.

The Elysium of the DR.
Yeah, elites.

What made you decide to film there?
It was offered to us, through members of the No Shame family. When I first started working with Jay on the script, I told him many personal stories and he went in writing the script knowing there would be unbelievable house in the DR. The founder of the label has an old-time wealthy family and lives this unusual lifestyle. He owns that house. And, I believe, Jay likes to be an instigator and take personal things and make them Hollywood. I am not sure if Jay wanted to hit home with this one, but there are parts of it that are close.

Sounds like you're very close to the people behind your label.
Yeah. It's overwhelming.

Funny how it's almost like, you're being a kept women with them.
I AM. I could go into so many things.

I suppose that as an artist in general, you grow so quickly in these formative years, but you gotta stick with your mom and dad. They’re guiding you.
They're very responsible for my success as a musician. They gave me this opportunity to shine. If it wasn't for No Shame I wouldn't have this video, but there is also a very gloomy side of the entire artist/label relationship. It's a double-edged sword.

Time will tell if that's true.
Time will tell and I am going to stay positive through my experience. It might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me. That's why we took the video to such an extreme place, we wanted to make our odds better.

It is pretty extreme. The production quality and level of stunts and props in this video is huge for a new artist. I mean—have you ever ridden a horse before?
It was funny. I grew up riding horses, but the last time I rode was probably 13, so over 10 years ago. I told my mother before I left for the Dominican Republic, oh my God I need to ride a horse and she was like, “It's muscle memory! It'll come right back it's like riding a bike!”

And was it?
The day I got to the DR, we went to look at this farm in the middle of nowhere, nobody spoke English, it was 110 degrees, all the horses looked depressed. So I picked the horse that was making the least amount of trouble and rode it in an arena for a bit. It felt good. Then on the day of the shoot I get a wake up call at 3.30am being like, "Okay get ready we're going to go do the horse scene now!” What the fuck! It’s 3.30 in the morning? This is not going to work!

Nuts!
Then they take me out to a sugar cane field that took four and half hours to get to the center of.

Wait, what?
This thing was about 15 miles across. We're going through dirt roads, there's even this small village inside the field where all the workers live, and they all came out of their houses to look at the commotion because we rock up with a bus, changing rooms, craft services, generators, horse trailer, all this stuff. I was like, “Am I in the fucking Twilight Zone?” They got me dressed and put me on this horse and I was so scared. Jay was like, “Are you alright? It looks like you're about to cry. This is supposed to be an orgasmic happy moment you're supposed to be at your max!" They wanted me galloping along this runway of corn with my ass bouncing on the saddle, looking beautiful.

I mean…

I'm going to talk about your ass now because I have no choice.
[Laughs] Believe it or not they cut the ass jiggling out a ton. There was a scene with good 15 seconds of ass hitting the saddle in slo-mo.

How many gym sessions went into that ass before this hoot? Don't say this is genetic.
I did go to yoga, I definitely prepared myself a little bit, but Jay was said “Please, please don't lose that ass! That ass is going to make the video.”

The ass shots are epic. When you've got it, you've got it. What you gonna do?
Jay promised: "I'm gonna make your booty locked in history."

I want to talk about your sound. The cool thing about this song is I hear different genres being mixed in, a bit of The Police, reggae, No Doubt. Were there major influences?
The first time I met Peter Wade, we just met up in the studio to share music and hang out. A lot of my choices were the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ESG, Little Dragon. All these women that have a voice that inspires me. His suggestions came from a funny place. He was working with a reggae artist who ended up going to jail, so he had all this material that had been shelved. I heard the demo that started “Man Overboard” and it was just some horns, some piano, that reggae vibe, and I realized I would love to mix the reggae with the sound that was already in my head. It just came out this like Police, Talking Heads-sounding record. It was a really good match.

Dude, I feel like we have to talk about your band name for a second. I've known you for ages, but I've never understood it or asked you about it.
When I was in college a boyfriend of mine at the time wrote me this song while we were going throughout this really bad breakup. One of the lyrics in the song was, "You're nothing but a seasick mama." I didn't know what it meant, but it stuck with me for the longest time. So I googled seasick mama and it was a lyric from a Neil Young song called “For The Turnstiles.” It's typically a sailor’s wife or a woman who waits for her man to come home from work. He is always gone, she is always waiting for him at the docks, but doesn't know if he's returning or not. There is something really romantic to me about that. A woman being so loyal. It just struck me because it's kind of my personality. I feel like I'm such a loyal person to anything I do. I want to always stay loyal to my music.

Woah. I was always like, “Marial just has some weird crazy band name.” That's a cool story.
[Laughs] You thought I was just some crazy bitch.