Steve Marion on Miles

I first met Miles for coffee before my band Delicate Steve was to go on tour opening up for Akron/Family in 2011.

Miles personally invited me for a hang to get to know each other before the tour. I forget the name of the spot we went to but it was significant to Miles, either because he worked there or because the coffee was the best, something...it was all news to me. I was a kid from NJ, I'm pretty sure I drove into the city to meet him that day. I didn't really care about coffee and that much I'm sure about. But I took note.

After the basic introductions, at which Miles made me feel very much at ease, he talked to me about my newly-released debut record under this name Delicate Steve that I had just put out. And he was talking about it like he actually listened to it. And he was talking about it like he liked it. And specific things about it he related to. All of this blew my mind at the time. Miles was able to recognize something about what I was doing that I wasn't able to recognize in myself or my own music. Miles was able to effortlessly instill a sense of confidence in me about what I was doing. I remember bringing up Stevie Wonder and Alice Coltrane to him, and I wish I remembered more of that conversation.

The following Akron/Family tour was a life changer. I still look up to Miles, Seth and Dana as a force of a band, and three of the most unique and awesome people I've met. I feel lucky to have experienced their awesome power as a true band, and I feel lucky to have kept in touch with all of them over the last 10 years.

In 2014 my band supported Tame Impala on an east + west coast tour. We flew to LA bare bones with minimal equipment, and cobbled together amps and drums for each of the west coast dates through friends and friends of friends. Miles was eager, EAGER, to let us use his bass amp for the LA show. I remember us picking him up at the coffee place he worked at/hung at, driving him to his practice space to get the amp. I remember texting Miles after our opening set and running up to see him and Leanne in the lobby of the theater. I remember feeling slightly nervous about whatever I had just done on stage in Miles' presence and I remember both him and Leanne beaming and radiating so much good energy back at me.

When I think about a lot of these moments, I think of my own self-consciousness, and I think about how fully Miles was able to completely dismantle it in his presence and make me feel warmhearted and okay.

The things I've seen Miles do on stage, and the things I've heard him say to the audience have also brought up a similar feeling of self-consciousness in me, because he was truly an openhearted soul, and sometimes while watching I would feel nervous and anxious. That has been such a rare thing for me to feel from watching a performer, especially from the comfort of being an anonymous spectator in a dark crowd. But with Miles it would happen regularly on tour, and I would always be left feeling so much lighter and more open and raw. And that was part of Miles' power to me.

I last saw Miles in September 2020 when I was in LA for about 5 weeks. I was doing okay, but in general, I was feeling pretty run down and depressed. From the pandemic, the natural disasters and wildfires in CA and AZ where I was staying, things in my relationship at the time, the general uncertainty of what's to come, it was all peaking around that time for me.

Miles randomly texted me, and I told him I randomly happened to be in town. Instantly we made plans to meet up the next day right before he left for Oregon.

He scooped me up in his car–came right to where I was staying and scooped me. He was blasting Moroccan music, windows down, shitty air quality and everything, and his vibe just totally snapped my depression in half like a twig. We got coffee and sat in Echo Park by the lake, and I don't think I'm quite able to put into words exactly how that hang made me feel. But I won't forget it.

One of the things he told me about that day was his daily journaling. Just write, just write, every day, just fill the pages if you have nothing to write about, make it part of your day.

When we parted ways after the hang, he gave me the strongest bear hug. We talked for a little bit more, said more goodbyes and more small talk, and then had to come in for one more bear hug. I will remember those two bear hugs.

When I got back inside that day, I instantly begun my research on all it was that we talked about, all of the people and books and art that he referenced.

Since that day I began journaling every day, I only missed a few days, and its become one of the most clarifying habits in my life.

Miles, thanks for leaving me with that and with all of the memories. Love you man and thank you for introducing me to such special people and for giving all of us your music and your soul. We will all never forget you.