Marina Rocks shares a squirrelly story of romantic misadventure and mayhem in her new single It’s All Messed Up — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
A sneak peek at the Texas troubadour’s upcoming third LP S.O.S. teXas — due April 4 — It’s All Messed Up is a freewheeling roots-rock ripper that led none other than fellow Lone Star State singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard to pronounce, “It’s rude, crude, jail-tattooed, I dig it!” And no wonder: Fuelled by a propulsive four-on-the-floor backbeat and laced with Marina’s searing fretwork, the track takes you on a wild ride to the weird side. And it’s all true, according to Marina:
“A friend named Darrell came to me with this story about an ex-girlfriend who called him one night,” she says. “She said she needed some help. From the stage some nights I joke: Darrell, being a nice co-dependent kind of guy, went over to help her out. When he got to her house he found she had a baby squirrel in her purse. At 60 mph over on Highway 225 outside of Houston, this woman jumped out of the truck! The lady survived and the squirrel did not. Two weeks later local authorities dropped her back at Darrell’s front door. Darrell in his very rich southern accent said, ‘You know that’s just all f—d up!’ ”
Born during an Austin heat wave, Marina played her first guitar till her little-kid fingers bled. Then she played it some more. When she turned 12, her mom bought her a Marshall stack instead of a party dress and the rest is history. From 2005-2015, Marina led the Houston power trio The Guppies, playing major venues with rock royalty such as Aerosmith, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Deep Purple and Joe Satriani. Since going solo, Marina has opened for Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines, Joe Ely, Hayes Carll, Shake Russell and Jesse Dayton, to name a few.
When Marina lost her mom to breast cancer in 2018, she channeled her grief into action, building a home studio she dubbed Two-Fisted Pixie and crafting Austin to Houston, the next chapter of her next musical journey. True to its title, the Texas-centric album was partly a reflection on her journey from her native Austin to her adopted home. The compositions featured epic storytelling delivered with unwavering conviction and fire-in-the-belly ferocity. In addition to engineering and producing the recording, Marina sang all the parts and played almost all the instruments.
LIsten to It’s All Messed Up above, sample more tunes from Marina Rocks below, and ride shotgun at her website, Facebook and Instagram.
