Marshmallow Tree

On the Edge…

Desire — Heaven's Gate — Laughing — Am I For You — Lovergirl — Song for Govinda's Friend — Alone Together – Summer Day — Rear Window — Nikki B. — Life is Precious — The Seashore — Am I For You (Acoustic)

Frequently Asked Questions

Marshmallow Tree

THE ALBUM

On the Edge. . .

The debut album from Marshmallow Tree is a refreshing collection of twelve power pop delights.  From the swooshing rhythm of “Party Dress,” the spiritual intensity of “Heaven’s Gate,” through the ecstasy of “Desire,” to the pure pop of “Alone Together,” On the Edge. . . propels the listener through a myriad of mood swings.

THE MUSIC

What do you sound like?

We play intense, driving and catchy acoustic-electric power pop.  We take the intensity of Live and add in the moodiness of the Cure.  We write our own songs with a mix of a 12-string acoustic and loud electric instruments and drums. One simple, radio-ready label would be modern rock.

THE BAND

Who are you?

Marshmallow Tree is a four-piece Quad-City band.  The lineup is Chad Holtkamp on lead vocals and guitars, Chip Schumann on lead guitars, Mike Cordell on bass and backing vocals, and Chris Currie on drums.

When did you form?

Marshmallow Tree formed on Friday, October 13, 1995 after a disastrous gig for Mike’s old band at Sam’s Cavern Club in Rock Island, IL.  The guitarist and drummer didn’t show up so Chad and Chip helped out their old friend by filling in on guitars.  A slapdash set was arranged and consisted of covers from The Cure, R.E.M., U2, Green Day, and Smashing Pumpkins.  The crowd, however, was none-too-pleased since they expected to hear classic party rock like Bob Seger and Billy Joel. 

After several raucous songs, one woman came up to the stage and said, “Either you guys stop playing or they’re gonna come up here and beat the shit out of you.”  We debated for a moment and then stopped playing and left.  After imbibing in a few beers at our favorite local brew pub, we decided to form a band and played as a trio without drums for seven months.  Chris joined the band in May 1996 after seeing us headline Teikyo-Marycrest’s Pig Roast ‘96, at last filling the forever-vacant drum chair.

How can you be in a band? You look too normal. 

Normality is cool especially with all the weirdness going on in rock & roll today.  We feel pretty radical since we are all such normal guys.  We all went to college or are still going.  Chip graduated with a degree in finance, Mike has a degree in math, Chad has a degree in humanities, and Chris is working on a degree in computer animation.  With the exception of Chad’s occasional forays into different hair colors–black, purple, and red–we all are pretty clean cut.  

THE NAME

Where did you get that weird name?

Mike was a substitute math teacher when we started and gave his students extra credit if they could come up with a cool name for us.  They were creative to say the least, coming up with all sorts of gangsta rap-type names.  One that wasn’t so hard-core was Hanging Marshmallows.  Chad thought it was cool, but changed it to Marshmallow Treat.  Mike thought he said Marshmallow Tree and the name stuck.  It was just weird enough to get people’s attention and so far it has worked.  By the way, marshmallow is spelled with an ‘A’ and not an ‘E.’