Get To Know : Mary Shelley
The name Mary Shelley comes with a lot of imagery (monsters, humanity, creation etc). How do those themes show themselves in your music or performances?
We’re spooky, we’re groovy. Monster mash. How was Nirvana influenced by Buddhism?
You pull from a wild mix of influences such as punk, dance, pop, even Dolly Parton. How do those inspirations actually show up in your writing process? Is there a moment where one of you says, “Let’s make this section a little bit Dolly”?
Often we’ll start with a nugget of an idea influenced from another genre or artist, then bring that into the rehearsal room where we all hammer out different versions and iterations till we’re left with something we feel is iron-clad. Tempered in the flames of the democratic writing process and our own individual tastes. It takes a long time, but results in distinct songs.
You often use characters to explore themes like identity, masculinity, or social pressure (like in your songs Brother or Bourgeois de Ville). How do you decide when to express yourself through a character and when to let your own voice come through?
Speaking through a character gives us more freedom to explore our feelings or thoughts. Anxious times we’re living through and it’s fun (possibly cathartic) to take certain worries and build those out into different versions of ourselves. If we’re being honest, 3/4 of the band come from an acting background and the last 1/4 from film & tv, so it might just be all we know.
Your songs often blur the line between sincerity and satire. How do you use humour or absurdity to get at something real?
Unfortunately, we cannot stop joking. The line between sincerity and satire was lost long before we met, and the problem has only worsened. Pray for us, Fs in the chat.
You’ve talked about how playing in the UK felt refreshingly open and free of pretension compared to some New York crowds. How does performing outside Brooklyn affect the way you connect with audiences?
It’s always a fun experience to play in a new place for the first time and feel out the character of the crowd live on stage. Each city and country offers a different spin, but that’s the magic of live music isn’t it? The emotional intermingling of audience and performer creates a kind of feedback loop. Like oysters in a bay.
You’ve said you wanted every song on your first album to sound different from the others. As you think about what comes next, are you still chasing that kind of contrast, or are you more interested in creating a unified sound?
Man, we love experimenting. I think it’s a huge part of what drives us in writing and definitely in performing. Everything we try is with an ear for how will this feel onstage? As long as that’s our MO, I think we’ll be making whacky songs till we die.
You once said that “Rock ’n’ Roll can never die. She’s been born and she can’t die.” In an age of algorithms, streaming, and AI, what does keeping rock alive mean to you? How do you hold onto that human spark in what you do?
Well I for one welcome our new robot overlords! May they be pleased by our offering of song and dance. Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.
Catch Mary Shelley - The Shacklewell Arms, 28th October 2025