Alma College’s own rockstar

LIATHANO RAMIREZ
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

MEGAN NEELEY
COPY EDITOR

3/18/2024

Alma College’s own graphic designer for the Communication and Marketing Office, Cody Marecek, is the drummer of Liquid Mike: “the best Midwestern indie-rock band fronted by a mailman you’ll hear all year,” according to Rolling Stone.

That’s right, Rolling Stone. The famous, multi–platform publication with a readership of over 60 million people per month picked up a feature on Liquid Mike, recently reviewing their newest album: Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot. Stereogum, the self–proclaimed world’s best music blog, has also accredited Liquid Mike as a “band to watch.”

In Paste Magazine, a site with more than 8 million monthly visitors, Grace Robins-Somerville, during her review and feature of Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot, poetically argued that “as far as 2023 breakthroughs go, there is perhaps no artist who had one as serendipitous as Marquette, Michigan’s Liquid Mike.”

“It feels pretty strange to be honest. [Liquid Mike] spent so much time just making music for us and for our small group of friends, so to see some of that stuff finding a national and sometimes international audience is pretty amazing,” said Marecek, referring to being featured in these notable publications.

“Just seeing these publications even talking about us at all is pretty incredible, but we are all very appreciative of it and excited to see what happens next,” said Marecek.

Along with Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot, Liquid Mike has an array of other released music released. From their start with Stuntman to You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, you will find ingenious power pop, a subgenre of rock that can elicit comparisons to The Who and The Byrds.

The band has already gained new Alma College listeners as Marecek’s dual worlds become more widely known to students. “[They] sound like Motley Crue or Metallica after listening to my favorite song, K2. [The] best thing is the guitar instrumentals,” said Brent Riehl (‘26).

“I didn’t hear about them until recently, but they’re just fun to listen to. I read something about [their music] feeling like summer in Michigan and I have to say that’s exactly what the vibe is,” said Kylie Demarets (‘25). 

Liquid Mike “started in 2020 when [Marecek] first moved to Marquette to attend [Northern Michigan University],” said Marecek. The band now consists of Mike Maple, the frontman, songwriter, guitarist and the mailman himself; Monica Nelson on keyboard, mellophone and vocals; Zack Alworden on bass; Dave Daignault on guitar; and, as mentioned, Marecek on drums.

“They invited Mike Maple [and Nelson] to play with us… We played through a few songs Mike had written at the time and knew something cool was brewing. For a while we played as a five piece, but two members left and it was just Mike, Monica and I,” said Marecek.

“We were mainly just a studio band, putting out self made records and EPs and such. Eventually, we started playing out a little more, adding [Alworden and Daignault],” said Mareck.

Seeing as Marecek is now Alma College’s graphic designer, he has to “live about 6 hours away from the rest of the band… [he] can’t always make it to the shows, so Nick Erickson fills in on drums when [he] can’t do it,” said Marecek.

Over time, Liquid Mike has grown to acquire 22.7 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. This growing following will forever be thankful that Marecek “went to go play drums with a few friends out in the woods” during the pandemic, as it laid the foundation for the Liquid Mike that audiences are listening to today.