Marathon announce final shows; give explanation for split

Marathon have let loose the information for their final shows and an extended explanation for their split earlier this year.

[...] we have witnessed the saddening widespread erosion of the quality of the underground music scene. The bands that play for their love of music are far outnumbered by the bands that spend more time on their hair than practicing their guitars. It was simply exhausting to spend every night of tour seeing bands who play harmless, vacant songs, and whose obvious goals were to be catapulted to success on the merit of their appearance alone.

Their final few shows include an appearance at No Trigger's CD release show and dates with Fire When Ready, Nakatomi Plaza and Fifth Hour Hero amongst others. Read More for the full statement from the band and the details for their farewell shows. The band released their Self-Titled debut album last year.

"The what and the why…

Plenty of people have asked us why we’re breaking up, and I’ve struggled with what might be the appropriate and concise way to explain the situation. Unfortunately, I don’t have a very satisfying answer to offer, nor are any of the causes of the break-up particularly exciting.

Over time, it became clear that the only way Marathon could survive and persevere was with absolute commitment to the band from all its members. This was a level of commitment that we were unable to maintain over the past year. Plenty of factors led my commitment to evolve from literally living in the van for this band to deciding to leave the band a year later, and there is no single reason that changed it all for me. And though I am the one who suggested that we break-up, I know that the majority of us believed that this was inevitable.

We have lived a life of consistent frustration. Bottomless financial debt, strained personal relationships, and the stress of being our own managers have made it very difficult at times to enjoy what we do. In addition, we have witnessed the saddening widespread erosion of the quality of the underground music scene. The bands that play for their love of music are far outnumbered by the bands that spend more time on their hair than practicing their guitars. It was simply exhausting to spend every night of tour seeing bands who play harmless, vacant songs, and whose obvious goals were to be catapulted to success on the merit of their appearance alone.

Though we have been playing in Marathon for only three years, we have each given nearly a decade or our lives playing in bands, driving in vans, and creating music. After seeing thousands of bands across the continent over that time, I think is fair to say that Marathon has shared itself with a passion and an energy that is rare for our age, and that is simply rare in general. We have met a handful of generous and inspiring people while playing in this band, and those people have become our closest friends. We have found ourselves sitting on the docks of Key West at sunset and relaxing in the woods of Vancouver Island, and these moments have brought us enormous satisfaction. And, most importantly, we have shared some truly amazing and fulfilling moments with you in basements, clubs, legion halls and artspaces.

Some of us will keep making music, and some of us won’t, but all of us intend to stop living with music as the priority by which all other aspects of our lives are defined. There is much more we have to do in this world, and much of it lies outside New York, outside of the punk scene, and outside of music.
- Aaron/Marathon"