Lead singer Laini Marenick of Laini And The Wildfire shared insights to her songwriting and more:
Q: You’ve compared your sound to the likes of Grace Potter and Lake Street Dive, what other artists/bands influence your creative process?
Laini Marenick: The band and I actually have pretty diverse influences. Our drummer and guitar player definitely have more rock/alternative influences, our bass player leans more soul/R&B, and I’m somewhere in the middle. I love artists who blend genres in their own unique way – Fiona Apple, Hozier, Amy Winehouse, and Florence + the Machine to name a few. I also really love lots of older soul music and Motown artists, as well as piano rock artists like Elton John and Carole King. And of course, I’d throw some classic rock artists in the mix too like Tom Petty and The Beatles.
Q: How do you think your profession as a therapist informs your songwriting?
Laini Marenick: I think I just have a very deep understanding of human behavior because of the nature of my profession and my education in clinical social work. I don’t often think about it consciously when I’m writing songs – it’s just rooted in the way I see the world at this point, the way I reflect and dig deep to understand things that are happening to me and around me. I didn’t realize it until after the fact, but many of the songs on our new album ‘Hold On To Your Soul’ were kind of like messages from my “therapist self” to help me cultivate more compassion, love, and authenticity in my own life.
Q: What is the overarching message that you want to get across through your music?
Laini Marenick: I think it shifts from album to album, but in general, it’s a pretty positive one: show love to all the parts of yourself, even the parts that you don’t like or are afraid of. There are a lot of things we can’t control in life, but the way we talk to ourselves, the way we feel about ourselves, significantly impacts how we function in the world, and only good things will come from learning how to treat ourselves with the kindness and love we deserve.
Q: What inspires your songwriting the most?
Laini Marenick: I tend to be pretty self reflective in my songwriting, so a lot of times it’s interpersonal change that I’m going through, challenging moments in my life that I need to process, and messages I need to hear. Much of our most recent album was inspired by my decision to consciously show myself more love and compassion and self love’s accompanying journey.
Q: What was the inspiration behind the song, “Hold On To Your Soul”?
Laini Marenick: I wrote “Hold On To Your Soul” at a time when I was feeling a little lost musically and was also at the very beginning of this conscious journey to learn how to love myself more. So, the song serves two purposes for me. It was a reminder to myself to literally hold on to the soulfulness in my music that I felt like I had lost sight of , as well as an affirmation that there is so much value in authenticity, in being exactly who you are, and that should never be compromised.
Q: What’s next for you and the band?
Laini Marenick: Right now we’re working on booking some shows in the New England area for spring, summer, and fall of 2024 to continue to build an audience and get the word out about our music. We’re also working on some new video content, including our favorite yearly summer cover series, Live from the Lake, where we perform cover songs on our drummer’s boat, and we are already in process of writing new songs that we hope to be able to share soon.
Interviewed by Travis Boyer
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