Mary Norris of Slow Funeral is one of South Carolina’s songwriting gems, offering a unique perspective on what it means to be queer and grow up in the South. Her songs are open, honest, and personal, set to rock & roll arrangements that are cathartic and deeply thoughtful. Mary and the band are fresh off their first-ever Northeast run, with shows in D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, and will perform at the Charleston Pour House for Extra Chill Fest 2024 on August 10th.
The Northeast run brought unexpected success for the band, including one fan who drove six hours to see them play in Philadelphia. “Having things like that happen was really meaningful,” Mary says. “The people who are interested in what we’re doing, like really, really care about it and care about my music, which is wild to me.”
Slow Funeral has gained traction over the past year as both the band and the songwriter behind it continue to unleash their full potential. Mary Norris has grown a lot since the days of Salti Ray, the much more lighthearted indie rock band that she previously spearheaded alongside guitarist Noelle Taylor. Slow Funeral’s three latest singles, “Hanging,” “Purple Roses,” and “Bugs,” showcase Mary’s evolution as a lyricist, and Slow Funeral as a studio band, thanks in part to producer Corey Campbell (Babe Club).
Slow Funeral – “Hanging” Video (2024)
While we may be hearing these Slow Funeral songs for the first time in 2024, Mary explains how many of these songs were written much longer ago, with a notable shift in her songwriting during the pandemic.
“I’ve been writing songs that are very personal for a long time,” Mary says. “It did feel like I had this wall that was kind of preventing me from showcasing those things, or felt like it wouldn’t appeal to people, or I didn’t know how to portray that in the way that I wanted to.”
Her previous band, Salti Ray, was a collaborative effort, and Mary says she didn’t feel the songs fit the project, but she would play them during solo gigs occasionally. She continued to write songs that would become Slow Funeral songs, but they remained in the background for several years.
“And then I got to a point where I realized that I needed a space that was my own. So that’s where Slow Funeral started. I needed an outlet for these really personal and intimate songs, so I could actually do something with them. I really needed the catharsis too. I have so much about my life and my experiences I want to share, and I feel like that could be meaningful and important to other people too.”
Mary has a unique perspective to share, both from her own personal experiences, and the cultural perspective of having grown up poor, as a queer woman in the South. Historically, voices like Mary’s have not been heard in the South.
“Once I got so isolated in the pandemic, I started to face a lot of my life experiences and traumas a little more directly, and that impacted my songwriting.” Mary explains. “I spent more time with my influences and people I really liked, and I just reached a point where I realized I can incorporate different things which different people are doing into my own sound in a way that still is authentic to me. I’m learning more about what it meant to really come into myself and face things more directly. I think it caused this emotional intimacy and directness in my songwriting that I hadn’t quite achieved before.”
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Social media has allowed Slow Funeral to connect with new people in the all over the world, especially people in the queer community. Browsing Slow Funeral’s Instagram or TikTok, you’ll notice that Mary posts a number of humorous reels in addition to serious musical reels, featuring both her own original music and music from famous artists like Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan.
What truly shines through, overall, is Mary’s personality, which also aligns with the personality that is depicted in the music. This paints a fuller picture of Slow Funeral as an artist, whether she is discovered through the music or the funny videos. It’s truly endearing, and it’s a significant reason for her recent surge in popularity.
“I think there’s a lot of appeal for what I’m doing with the queer community, because a lot of those artists that I’m making these parody videos of either have a large queer audience or are queer themselves. There’s been so much crossover and I’m like, oh, that’s right. Even if my genre is a little outside of this pop world, what I’m doing still appeals to this community because it’s my community too. And that shows in what I sing about and how I present myself. So that’s been really cool to see, that even though I’m in this rock world, I still have a place in the LGBT community.”
Mary says that sometimes new fans will DM her to say that they discovered her through a silly video she posted, which prompted them to check out her music, and they love it.
“I’ve definitely gotten DMs from people who are like, I found you through your silly poopoo peepee video, but I love your music and I listen to it all the time,” she explains. “Even if it’s 5 to 10 people that still means a lot to me. People it’s that I have no mutuals with, who don’t know me at all, who care about what I’m doing and really like it. And that is really, really meaningful. For someone who doesn’t have any connection to me just seeing something silly I do. And then they’re curious and they go check out my music and they like it and it resonates with them is really, really awesome.”
Slow Funeral – “Bugs” (2023)
And She Shreds
In addition to sharing her intimate songs with the world, Mary has also been honing her skills as a lead guitarist, which opens up her songwriting to new possibilities. This can be heard both on her recent singles, and anytime you’re lucky enough to catch Slow Funeral live.
Mary’s last band, Salti Ray, featured a strong lead guitarist in Noelle, while Mary held down the rhythm guitar part. She had always been a guitarist, but her powerful vocals were more in focus. When Salti Ray dissolved, Mary wasn’t sure what to do.
“I was really scared because I didn’t know what I was going to do about finding a lead guitar player that could bring to the table what Noelle brought to Salti Ray, or if I was capable of doing it,” she says.
She remembered how she picked up the guitar first when she got into music, and it wasn’t until years later when she began to view herself as a singer. So, she picked up the guitar again and set out learning more about it.
“I just started writing lead parts for the songs and writing these solos,” she says. “And I was like, Oh, shit, I can play the guitar. It just kind of pushed me to write more lead parts, and learn all my lead parts. I didn’t write all of them on the record. It was combination of me, Corey and Camden Bragg wrote all these lead parts.”
On the Record
Slow Funeral is in the process of recording and releasing their debut album. Mary and the band are working with Corey Campbell here in Charleston, and the plan is to keep releasing singles one at a time until it’s done.
“I’m super grateful for my band and for Corey, because they’ve played such a pivotal role in me being able to even get to a point where I’m playing shows that are really exciting to me,” she says, “and being able to tour and having songs that feel authentic to me and feel really good.”
Mary closes with a note about “Purple Roses,” which includes a mellow-vibed out slide guitar part that really ties the song together, which she mentions was Corey’s idea.
“I mean, Purple Roses sounds so good, so much in part to Corey’s production skills and he even helped with the songwriting a little bit when it came to structuring the song. So I really just can’t thank the musicians I collaborate with enough for their role in making Slow Funeral sound good.”
Slow Funeral does sound good. Find out at Extra Chill Fest 2024 or at slow-funeral.com.