We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Spencer Haddad a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Spencer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Personally I’m very happy as an artist and a creative. I do have a job outside of this band though. I work as a musical instrument rental technician. Its always been a goal of mine to make working in music my full time source of income. Whether its playing professionally as a guitarist or working in live music i just wanted to make it part of my life. Playing in my band Marvel of Decay is a lot of fun and is actually profitable in and of itself. Everything we make from playing shows and selling merch goes right back into the band. Our goal with this band is to have as much fun as possible making music that people want to listen to it and wear our shirts. Just like we do with our favorite bands. If we can make this effort our full time career that would be an excellent bonus. Overall, as long as we’re having fun playing death metal that is all that matters.

Spencer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Spencer Haddad. I’m a professional musical instrument rental technician or a backline tech as we say. I work for a backline company called Shaboo Productions LLC. Shaboo has been in business since 1980. Before that the Shaboo Inn was a nightclub in the 70s. I started working as backline tech after graduating the University of New Haven for music industry. During college I played in the AC/DC tribute bands Dirty Deeds and Back in Black. Playing in bands was my main source of income towards the end of high school right through college. Currently the only band I play in and write music for is my death metal band Marvel of Decay. Playing extreme metal has always been my musical goal. Currently there’s a blooming death metal scene in Connecticut. We are very proud to be a part of it. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for this kind of music to be so appreciated. To be coming up with other excellent bands out of this state is incredible. I’d like to mention the excellent venues in the state that have allowed such a thriving scene to exist. Without Cherry Street Station, The Beeracks, The Webster Theater, The Cellar on Treadwell, Toad’s Place, and Strange Brew Pub this wouldn’t be possible. I’d also like to mention some of the other amazing bands in the scene including Roots of Deception, Fatal Sacrament, Murder Monday, Glass Divide, Apostasy, Cryptic Entity, Alcyone, Svn.Seeker, Delta Protocol, and Okami just to name a few of them. So many talented artists here its hard to remember all of them.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best thing society can do to support artists and creatives is to go out and actually support them. It can be as simple as liking posts of bands and artists in the scene. Going to shows, buying merch, listening to the music, and spreading the word is even better.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect for me and my band is being able to perform our music live and see people enjoying it right in front of us. Its fun making music and recording it for people to enjoy, but nothing beats seeing that in person. It is the main reason we do it.

Contact Info:

• Website: lintr.ee/Marvelofdecay
• Instagram: @marvelofdecay
• Facebook: Marvel of Decay
• Other: We’re on all music steaming services including You Tube, TikTok and Bandcamp by searching Marvel of Decay. Also, we have several upcoming shows: 2/15 at The Webster Theater Underground in Hartford, CT 3/18 at Koto Sushi in Salem, MA 4/1 at The Beeracks in East Haven, CT

Image Credits
All the images I send are by the photographer Kyle Roscetti. The first one is from Strange Brew Pub in Norwich, CT and the second is from The Beeracks in East Haven, CT.