Marc Davis reflects...

Marc Davis is the only person I know who can keep perfect time playing a drum solo while simultaneously biting into a can of soda.

Marc has been in numerous bands over the years and is one of the few remaining torch bearers for the local music scene.

When I asked Marc to contribute to this blog a far away look crept into his eyes as he remembered all the faces that have come and gone.


"When people bring up "the scene," I don't generally think of the years I played in The Anchorite Four. I think of the times I first got into it. I had always gone to Metallica and Primus concerts, paying 50 dollars a ticket for nosebleed seats, 30 dollars for a t shirt- drunk people everywhere. That’s just the way things were. If bands played in a bar, they were cover bands. I wasn't even aware of places in Fort Myers like the Draft House, 1 Fish 2 Fish or Offbeat Records. Finding out about them AND that they housed bands just as good as, if not better than the bands I grew up listening to was a shock.

At the time,(1995) downtown Fort Myers was teeming with punk rockers, rude boys,(true!) emo kids, hardcore kids, traditional skinheads, (true!) goths, and so much more. It was invigorating talking with these people about their love for music and art; to hear someone talk about liking something other than because it's what's placed in front of them. I started listening to ska, and then made my way into some punk and then down to hardcore and indie rock and much, much more. I learned of layers and layers of music that were right under my nose for years, but I had no clue.


It's important that indie music isn't sold off as some kind of hot commodity, which unfortunately is what’s happening now. People have to FIND indie music. It’s a lot harder now with the internet and major record labels scouring the independent scene for The Next Big Thing, but if you look hard enough there's still a world untouched. And the people who dig hard enough find it and few turn away. There’s just something so alive about a hardcore show in a cramped basement or a ska show in a small club with the horn section right in front of you. Talking to bands that would normally be so out of reach, it becomes so real. It becomes something anyone can do. And it is. And it's great to know that."