The Anachronistic Whelks: Craigslist, Whimsy, and Reverse Mermaids

Peri DeLorenzo (fiddle), Mark Dobbyn (guitar), and Erin Lobb Mason (upright bass) are Rhode Island based acoustic trio “The Whelks”, whose three-part singing is inspired by classic American harmony groups and whose approachability and goofiness are all their own. I’ve seen how their music fills a room with joy and nostalgia, all at once. They share an unspoken language, create melodies and harmonies by holding space for each other, and strive to perform songs that sound sharp and well-rehearsed. They create a musical recipe that makes them as players, and us as audience members- feel good! How do they accomplish this? By playing 3-hour gigs(!!)- having post-show rehash sessions to improve, and writing lyrics that reflect the humor and heart of being human. This band of classically trained musicians and a luthier (a maker of stringed instruments), treat their craft and its execution with the utmost seriousness- all of which is apparent in their 10-track debut record, Reverse Mermaid (released at a packed Nick-a-Nees show in September). After listening to their album and chatting with them about their origin story- I wanted to sing, waltz for a bit, and have Derby pie. Fort Foreclosure, founded by an artist who the band considers a Warren treasure-William Schaff, was the backdrop for our conversation.  

Mayté Antelo-Ovando (Motif): Let’s start with a get to know you question, how’d you meet?  

Erin: We met on Craigslist! I’m from Kentucky originally and growing up my family was very musical; my grandma taught me to play piano and when I was a kid I wanted to get away from the traditional music I grew up with, so I played and studied classical music. I went to conservatory and as soon as I left Kentucky I was super homesick- and everywhere I went I found other people that were playing and writing songs that sounded like home (she even got an opera singer to sing a bunch of country songs about sex and drinking). So, I put out an ad when I was moving to Rhode Island that just said what kind of music I wanted to play, and asked if anyone wanted to jam. But we struck out the first few times we tried to get together because it was right around my Kentucky Derby party. I really wish I had just invited you guys…

Mark: We were strangers…

E: Yeah, I just didn’t want to be turned into a lamp!

Mayté: Ooh that got dark! 

Mark: Erin listed a bunch of music that we liked and we thought this person seems cool… and she said she’d bring whiskey and pie when she came- she brought whiskey not pie the first time- those came later.

Peri: Oh yeah, pies have been brought. 

Mayté: What kind of pie?

E: Derby Pie.

Mayté: What is Derby pie?!

E: It’s like pecan pie, but with bourbon and chocolate, where the chocolate stays melty, but it still gets that sugar crust on top.

Mayté: And after your jam session how did you connect creatively? 

Erin: I feel like the songs that I want to write are already in Mark and Peri’s ear in a way, like we have a similar vocabulary for songwriting, so it’s very smooth to bring songs to them and have them help me make them more interesting and less trite. 

Mayté:  What is this vocabulary?

Mark: It’s roots of American music, blue grass, country, folk, western swing. I feel like our music kind of swings more than we had maybe even anticipated it; and harmony singing is a big part of it- from the traditions of the folk music world. I remember Erin mentioning her influences in her post- the Delmore Brothers, Andrews Sisters, the Carter Family. I feel like you can tell who people are when they say what music they listen to… So, because my profession is vintage musical instruments, keeping an eye on Craigslist is something I do out of habit (Peri mentions it’s like his window shopping). I’ll occasionally look at musicians listed… I don’t know how else you find people.  It’s so anachronistic, but there’s nothing more current that’s reliable, and I was keeping an eye out for an upright bassist… 

Mayté: Tell me about you, Peri. 

Peri: I’m from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, proudly, and I grew up playing the violin. I started when I was four, and like Erin, it was all classical. I got my Bachelor’s of Music in Indiana and afterwards I was like, I never wanna play my violin again. The program took everything out of me, it was exhausting. Then I moved to New York and fell in with this guy (Mark) and his friends. They were just jamming, playing country music. I had never heard classic country before and we would sit around and play. I’d also never taken a solo before or played something that wasn’t on a page- really scary. They were so open and welcoming. There were no judgments, and it was just a totally different scene from the classical space. 

Mark: Peri and I have been friends for 15 years. We lived in New York (though he is a native son of Warren, RI) and played in bands, then eventually started dating, and playing as a duo called the Bank of Ireland (a band they still play in). 

P: When we met Erin we wanted to be a whole new project and needed to figure out what to call ourselves, we wanted it to be something native to Rhode Island. 

Mark: The whelk is a carnivorous sea snail that is just that… It’s the one you find on the beach that you put up your ear and you can hear the ocean. People also call them conch but the Rhode Island one is called the whelk. 

P: I feel like the three of us are pretty whimsical. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, we take practicing, performing, and all aspects of the band seriously, but we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. I mean, the carnivorous sea snail-  just even thinking about that is funny. Our website is https://www.whelkswhelkswhelks.com/ – we’re trying to be kind of goofy about all this, but hopefully, in our mind, putting out a good product that sounds sharp and well rehearsed.

Mark: The craft is taken seriously.  

Mayté: It sounds like you’re wanting to be approachable.

Mark: Yeah, and we figured out our sound from playing a ton of long gigs. We spend a lot of time paying attention to what works. In what situation do we win the crowd, and in what situation do they ignore us?

E:  One of the important things I feel like that has gelled from that is hearing in my head, what kind of solos you guys like to take and how best to- as a bass player- bring those out, how to respond in the spaces that you leave, or how to leave space to give you a chance to shine. Sometimes you’ll do certain rhythmic motifs over again and I’ll notice. 

P: Did you say motifs because of this conversation?

E: Oh haha, no!

Mayté: Let’s chat about your record! What songs do you want to highlight? 

Mark: One is an ode to Warren institution Jack’s Bar.. It’s a dying breed of place where there is no entertainment, there’s no music on. There’s nothing happening. You just sit and you get a beer and you chat with whoever’s on the stool next to you. 

P: Whether you like it or not!

Mark: And sometimes the whole bar is chatting together… There’s a joke in the song about how it has to end because there’s no music allowed there, “Melody might be the one thing it lacks, cause don’t you know they don’t play music at Jack’s.”

P: Do you wanna talk about the witchery in Wooly Worms? 

E: There’s a song called Wooly Worms- which is the caterpillar form of the Isabella Tiger Moth. It’s an homage to Kentucky and loving a place that doesn’t always love you back…holding all the things from that place, and letting them go. The chorus is based on a superstition… If someone dies in your family, you’re supposed to tell the bees if you’re a beekeeper, or else they’ll swarm, “Who will tell the bees? If I want it to be you, is that coming on too strong?” Each verse has a different bug featured in it (like cicadas).

P: Erin is a badass artist and a lot of the art she does is bugs. 

E: I worked on a series of woodcut prints that have themes from that song. There’s one that’s a child’s hand being held by an old weathered hand with a wooly worm across it. Jacques Bidon printed them at his studio. For the t-shirts, tote bags and posters we have- I depicted reverse mermaids– fish on top and naked humans on the bottom, sometimes covered tastefully with shells (printed at AS220 for their release show). 

Mark: That’s the name of the record! We took posters to our local print shop and the guy was completely scandalized. He goes, ‘I really don’t know what these are- I haven’t seen this before. Some of those are men!’ 

Mayté: Anything else you want to share?

P: The Whelks are a first date band, okay? Or a golden anniversary band. Why? Because we play in the afternoon! Maybe you’re older and you’re celebrating your golden anniversary and you go to bed earlier; or you’re on a first date and you might not know if you’re gonna end up wanting dinner after… or not. 

Mark: And there’s gonna be at least one good moment where we’re holding out a harmony for that extra second and a half, and it’s gonna be a great smooching moment. There’s waltzes too. It’s modern dating. (They have a song titled, “If This Were a Date” so this all makes sense).  

E: People can take it however they want. In the end, I hope that y’all have a good time, but I’m definitely having a good time!

Want to experience these things with The Whelks? Come to Nick-a-Nees every second Saturday of the month, 4pm to 7pm- (an afternoon show, as promised!). For more music, reverse mermaids and wooly worms in your life, follow them on instagram at @TheWhelks or go to their website: https://www.whelkswhelkswhelks.com/