Cover Art for G. J. Marlowe’s debut rock single “Most of My Scars (feat, Otu)” by Arielle Katarina.
G. J. Marlowe makes music in a different way than we usually expect from local artists. Though this creative is not a musician, he still writes and puts out his own original songs. His latest hard rock song, “Most of My Scars” was featured on 979X’s “Locals Only” Sunday night radio show.
We often think of bands and musicians in terms of getting together in-person to jam in someone’s basement, but in reality — there’s more than one way to make a song. This songwriter and lyricist starts with a vision and then constructs from there by collaborating with right singers, musicians, and other talent to bring the song to life under his label, BC Music.
About five years ago, G. J. Marlowe began turning his poetry into songs. Without any musical training, the challenge became getting each song out from his mind and onto the track, while ensuring what he envisioned remains intact. Once he realized he needed outside help to bring his song to fruition, it was a game-changer.
G. J. has always been an inventor. An idea comes to him, he scratches out the concept and then leverages many kinds of creativity to make it happen. Inventions come with needing outside help to fill the skills he doesn’t have to create a finished product. Now, he’s putting that same thinking into making music.
G. J. Marlowe’s debut single, “Most of My Scars (Feat. Otu)”, hit all streaming platforms at the end of May 2023. He wrote the song himself without outside help or editing. It was important to G. J. Marlowe to put out the song for June’s PTSD awareness month but, by early April, he was still missing one major thing — a musician.
He was concerned about trying to find the right talent to do the song but Otu Suurmunne, was the perfect writer-artist match. Serendipitously, he discovered Otu and his production company, Moonic Productions, through a friends’ Facebook video and reached out via email to get him on board with the project. They worked together remotely and when G. J. received the finished product back — he was blown away!
He listened to it probably 50 times within a few hours. It just clicked. He was hearing his imagination come to life just the way he wanted. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out,” said G. J. Marlowe. “I had creative oversight throughout the process as he further built the music around my lyrics and the input I provided upfront.”
“Most of My Scars” is a powerful song that also carries an important message. The single deals head-on with PTSD, a mental illness that although G. J. Marlowe hasn’t struggled with it himself, it’s close to his heart. “It’s a really important subject that effects a lot of people and doesn’t get the attention it deserves,” said G. J. Marlowe.
G. J. said he’s seen those breaks before in people dealing with deep psychological trauma, and he’s also known friends that were deployed didn’t come back quite the same. The Veteran suicide rate is 1.5 higher than that of non-Veterans in the United States. His lyrics deal with that poignant topic directly. Lines like “They gave me drugs, they gave me meds, but never faced what’s inside my head” and “most of my scars are on the inside” speaks to the struggle of what those suffering from PTSD really go through.
“The song has kind of a heavy, sad ending because if you listen to the lyrics, it’s in the first person. The person takes their life when the tense of the song changes in the outro,” explains G. J.
But he says the song also reminds others than you can get help, you can turn the corner. The last lines, “I probably could have beat it, if I got the help I needed. Well, I guess we’ll never know” talks about what could have been if only they’d received proper care. It’s a hard-hitting message tucked into a banger of a hard rock song.
There are more future releases to come from G. J. Marlowe under his label BC Music. Many songs he’s working on are in this same hard rock genre but others may even border on hip-hop and whatever else feels right for the lyrics. He intends to transcend a lot of different genres. He’ll also continue searching for the right creatives to help him create the music of his dreams, but anything in the hard rock and metal genre he says he’s sticking with Moonic Productions.
G. J. is writing and releasing music in the digital age. A “project” in the modern arts world may not always mean simply your traditional band. He’s always been a writer and an inventor, but now he’s able to utilize those skills in entirely new ways with music as his muse. “You don’t have to have an idea and let it sit on the shelf. NO matter where you are on the planet you can reach everyone else on the planet,” said G. J.
Listen to “Most of My Scars (feat. Otu)” by G. J. Marlowe on all your favorite listening platforms like YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Deezer, and more. Tune into 979X’s “Locals Only” show on Sundays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to hear more locally-made songs like these!
