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PrintThe Many Faces of Marcy Mays
Mays, with general manager Aleks Shaulov, at Ace of Cups.
Jeffry Konczal
For many years, Marcy Mays, a computer geek by day, had made a habit of shedding her office attire for that of a rock star and jamming out with a guitar and microphone by night. Lead singer and one of the two founding members of the longtime Columbus-based rock band Scrawl, Mays also co-owns Surly Girl Saloon in the Short North and works a desk job as a software tester downtown. And in August, she opened Ace of Cups, a bar and live music venue near North Campus.
Aptly described by one YouTube user as being “like the Bangles on crack,” Scrawl formed in the mid ’80s and signed with a handful of smaller independent labels before ultimately getting inked by Elektra Records. During its heyday, Scrawl toured with some fairly big-name bands, such as the Meat Puppets and the Afghan Whigs. Though grateful for their fortune, Mays has fond memories of the earlier days. “We had way more success on the indie labels than we ever did on Elektra,” she says.
Mays and co-founder Sue Harshe, along with drummer Jovan Karcic, continue to gig occasionally. “We don’t play very often,” she says, although “I think CD101 still plays Scrawl from time to time.”
For quite a while, she’s wanted to start her own live music venue—much in the same vein as the defunct Stache’s and Little Brother’s. These ruminations came to fruition with the recent opening of Ace of Cups, 2619 N. High St. The bar, in the space that formerly housed Miani’s and later Sloopy’s, had a soft opening in August, though Mays says there’s still plenty of work to do. Her hope is to have a live band booked every night the bar’s open (Tuesday through Sunday). Acts that already have performed include Blessed Feathers, Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds, and a number of local groups. “I want it to have that feel of Surly Girl, where you kind of lose track of time and feel comfortable,” she says. “It’s a pretty big space. The dreams are there. It’s got a lot of potential.”
Asked which of her distinct niches—techie, rocker or entrepreneur—she considers her career, Mays hesitates before answering she hopes her bar business is what ultimately defines her. “That’s way more me,” she says. “Even going down [to Ace of Cups] and mopping is 10 times better than sitting in front of a computer any day.”
—Ben Zenitsky
