Mainard Larkin is a rare new signing to Lil Chief Records and his debut single 'Rattlesnake Boy' is out now!
Mainard Larkin first broke through as the hip hop artist Randa - but this new project takes a sharp left into alt-country.
‘Rattlesnake Boy’ is the title track of Mainard’s debut LP out 22nd May. The song perfectly captures the bittersweet, reflective mood of the album as a whole. On the surface, it’s a playful song about a pro-wrestler facing the decline of their career and trying to keep their chin up, but this story is used to channel Mainard’s own feelings after a relationship break-up.
Mainard made the record with Shannon Fowler, who previously found success as Tom Lark (his song ‘Something To Tell You’ was the most played track on Australia's Triple J over the summer of its release). The project started from a throwaway comment from Mainard about wanting to make a country album - but now it's become a reality!
Mainard has been a fan of professional wrestling since a young age - as a teen, Mainard not only attended a Raw event in the US but also joined a gym and learnt the basic moves. It later became clear that many of the wrestlers of the early 00s were actually working within an industry in which drug use was common and health & safety concerns were non-existent. Mainard decided that a playful way to express their own moment of being at an emotional crossroads would be to use the story of a pro-wrestler who was going through a similarly disruptive upheaval:
“The song is a portrait of a wrestler in the prime of his career, but is facing this sudden dip and he’s aware that he’s not living by the most amazing amazing values. He's trying to figure out what to do with his life and find meaning in existence. Then at the end, he finds hope.”