We were lucky to catch up with Pedro Noyola recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Pedro thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I think ever since I learned guitar I’ve wanted the play in a band, even if deep down I didn’t want to admit it. I tried to start bands in middle and high school, and even joined the school-sponsered rock band. A couple years would go by till I would meet my favorite band, Muse. That’s when I really knew I wanted to pursue being a professional musician.
Pedro , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started going the musician route when I majored in music at St. Mary’s University. I was learning music theory, music performance, everything in between. Shortly after, I started my currrent project Mary Maria, in 2014. My brother and I wrote the first songs and started playing around town alot at dive bars, diy spaces, and other venues with our friends and their bands. We took a hiatus in 2016 while finishing up our semester. Both my brother Diego and I, ended up joining another local band we really liked, called Noise Quota. That took us all over Texas, and had the opportunity to play many great shows and open for some even better acts. That project lasted about 5 years and ended sort of abruptly in May of 2021, due to one of our band members dealing with a sudden death of someone close to them, aside from them also dealing with serious health issues. It was a great run and were happy to have had that opportunity, we will always cherish those times. Mary Maria picked back up a few months later to our 3 piece now with me (Pedro), Diego and Jack, who was also a member in NQ. These days we try to play shows out of town in surrounding cities all over Texas, but really enjoy playing local shows as often as we can alongside our beloved music community. We love a lot of bands out of this city and we feel lucky to be a part of this diverse community driven by art and music. We hope this project takes us to places weve never been before. We write heartfelt songs about inner feelings you might not share with just anyone, so we hope to reach the hearts of as many people who will listen.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think the most difficult challenge for us was that we already had a good thing going that we were all proud of, and worked really hard on, and suddenly we had to watch it crash and burn. We pushed forward and did our best to pick up and gather some of the pieces that were left, and just make the best of it. We knew we wanted to keep going and believed in us. So we did that. There was some material to work with, but we kind of hard to start from scratch. Lots of trial and tribulations but we just kept writing and practicing and getting out there to perform as often as we could.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
We strive to receive organic engagement and feedback on our socials by often promoting our shows, we try and get good content to post, wether it be photos by local photogs or live song clips, with every show announcement or flyer. Were also always engaging with other artists and creators online, sharing and commenting to show our support and build more community. I think thats the base of it all. It can be hard to stand out online or to gain visibility sometimes because the algorithm can be tricky, so Its important to create that sense of community and always work on building those connections. We do plan to use ads for future releases and music videos to help increase our reach.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marymariaband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marymariaband/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@marymaria6629/featured
Image Credits
Shaun Raven Alvarado Devin Michael De Leon