Mariah Schneider Tunes into Herself

Over the past year, Mariah Schneider has been part of three tours either featuring and/or headlining Julien Baker, but before she could bless the ears of the world, Schneider needed to weigh the reality of a year away from her own band, Slider. Schneider approached this dilemma without confining her passion to a linear scale.

She shares “I think about my decision to go on tour with Julien and therefore missing out on some Slider time. Naturally, this came with a transition of focus, but I don’t like calling it a 'priority.' This would imply that one thing is more important than the other, when in reality they are two different things that I love to do and I want to dedicate time to both. Thankfully the boys in my band were extremely proud and supportive. I hope they know how important that was to me. I don’t know what I would have done if they had reacted differently. Whenever I got to play in front of a big crowd with JB, I couldn’t help but dream of a day when I will get to do the same with Slider.”

Slider is a product of teamwork. Playing together since 2014, Mariah Schneider, Marcus Wanner, Kyle Hanson, and Caleb Powell make up the progressive rock quartet. The band's two LPs, Lucky Penny and Gravity Waves, are filled with jazzy melodies, punk riffs, and honest lyrics begging to be sung by every listener.

One of the most popular Slider tracks is the song “Cut me Loose” featured on both Gravity Waves and Lucky Penny. One line, “I set you equal to my happiness”, is a powerful lyric delving into the challenges of knowing boundaries.

Schneider shared, “I still struggle with balancing my own happiness and the needs of others. I’m terrified of not showing up for my friends or making people feel like I don’t care about them, so I have a very hard time saying ‘no’ to things.” She continued to compare personal relationships to her musical ones. “When it comes to creative collaboration I don’t really struggle with the same thing [fear of not living up to expectations] because it is my happy place.”

The key to finding balance, Schneider explained, is self compassion. “Just to round out this conversation I will add that I think it’s important to always be kind with your own thoughts and remember that other people struggle with the same things. We are constantly faced with decisions where we have to prioritize and/or compromise some things. Our phones, especially social media, make it seem like we should be able to do a million things at once. Sometimes it’s important to shut everything else off and focus on only one thing at a time.”

Photo by: Bella Peterson