Marshall Catch kicks off its next decade with new album

Ahead of the release of its third album, the Marshall Catch band hauled a baby grand piano to the top of Crane Mountain in Bigfork overlooking Flathead Lake to shoot a music video for its title track.

The Flathead Valley-based band has been voted Best in the Flathead four years in a row in the Daily Inter Lake’s annual contest and has garnered national attention in the past decade-plus of its career.

From its founding in 2010 by songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Luke Lautaret, Marshall Catch has been a local favorite while honing a reputation across the Pacific Northwest marked by its trademark sound.

The band is celebrating the release of its latest album “Chasing Ghosts and Dreams” at a CD release party Feb. 5 at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish.

It took five days to prepare for and the weather was iffy on Oct. 21 last year, the day the band planned to haul the piano up Crane Mountain — a perfect metaphor for how Marshall Catch has grown from a grassroots band into a regional success story.

“That piano is over 100 years old and has been in my studio a long time,“ Lautaret said. With the help of two homemade dollies, road and film crews, and drummer Jared Denney’s ATV, the team made it to the top, along with all their instruments, and audio and video equipment.

“It was insanity, but it was worth it,” he said.

A Flathead Valley native, Lautaret graduated from Whitefish High School in 2000. In fact, all the members of Marshall Catch have deep ties to the Flathead, and most have been with the band in one form or another for years.

Known for its unique blend of soulful, gritty Americana sound peppered with inflections of hard rock and infused with Lautaret’s poignant lyrics, Marshall Catch has garnered widespread acclaim.

Marshall Catch’s 2010 debut album “ad meliora” featured the song “The Ballad of the USS Arizona” — a touching tribute to the largest battleship sunk during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that claimed the lives of more than 1,170 crewmen — brought them to the national stage when they were invited to play it on the Pearl Harbor Memorial in 2011 at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the attack.

A decade later, Lautaret’s impressions of that experience are still powerful.

“That was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “We are the only band, other than military brass, that’s been invited to play there.”

The day before the anniversary, the band was invited to a private event at a nearby military museum where the owner had opened all the display cases of World War II memorabilia and they had the chance to play their song for and talk to an intimate group of Pearl Harbor survivors.

“For me that was so poignant,” Lautaret said. It was humbling.”

Though he writes the lyrics and melodies for the band’s songs, back when he started the group Lautaret wanted a band name that reflected all the musical textures the band members bring to the table.

“What they all contribute is invaluable,” he said, adding that they’ve started composing as a group.

Lautaret describes himself as a gangly, un-athletic teenager who was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome as a child. In fact, it was his awkwardness on the field that gave the band its name.

“I used to play baseball and we would warm up in teams of two, but no one wanted to get stuck playing with me because I was so bad,” he said. “There was one kid named Marshall who was too nice to say no though, so I’d always throw the ball to him so I’d have someone to play with and yell, ‘Marshall, catch!”

Lautaret says it was the muscle tics, facemaking and throat clearing that hampered his ability to socialize and what drove him to music and songwriting.

“I always seemed to have kind of a gift for writing and I got a guitar for a high school graduation present,” he said. “I could process my emotions through my music. Music helped me come into my own.”

Besides Lautaret and his longtime drummer/keyboardist Denney, base player Matt Haun, fiddle and mandolin player Max Armstrong and lead guitarists Chauncey Wilde and Tyler Rounds comprise Marshall Catch.

Wilde will launch his official debut with the band at Saturday’s album release party, while Rounds, who recently completed his master’s degree in archaeology, will make his last official appearance with the band that night.

The band describes the songs on “Chasing Ghosts and Dreams” as crafted and honed during years of life on the road, cultivated during a season of immense change in the personal lives of several band members, exploring life, loss, new experiences, and rolling with the changes. Fans will recognize many of them since the band has been touring with them for quite awhile.

Now that Marshall Catch has gotten its new album out, the band has a renewed focus on live music for 2022, with plans for both local and regional shows and festivals. Check the band’s Facebook page for calendar updates.

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The release party for the Marshall Catch band’s new CD “Chasing Ghosts and Dreams” is Saturday, Feb. 5, at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The concert is from 7 to 9 p.m.

Tickets are $5 via the online ticketing retailer EventBrite, with remaining seats available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. All ages are welcome.

SunRift Beer Company will be providing locally-brewed beers and a selection of wines for purchase.

The album will be available for digital download and streaming on all major services beginning Feb. 5 and hard copies will be available at the album release party.

A video for the single recorded on Crane Mountain overlooking Flathead Lake can be found online.

Community editor Carol Marino may be reached at 406-758-4440 or community@dailyinterlake.com.