The Big Friendly Corporation

The Big Friendly Corporation
The Big Friendly Corporation performing live in Las Vegas.
Background information
Origin	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Genres	indie rock, alternative rock
Years active	2004–present
Website	www.thebigfriendlycorporation.com
Members	Melissa Marth (Rhodes, vocals), Ryan Marth (guitar, vocals), Jeff Ford (bass, guitar, vocals), Brandon Johnson (drums), Andrew Karasa (guitar)
Past members	Timothy Styles (bass, vocals), Mike McDonald (drums, vocals), Rick Miller (bass)

The Big Friendly Corporation is an indie rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada formed by Ryan Marth and is part of the indie music scene in Las Vegas. Since its formation, the band has acquired members Melissa Marth (keyboards and younger sister to Ryan), Jeff Ford (bass, guitars), Timothy Styles (bass), and newest member Brandon Johnson (drums).

The band has four official albums that include performances by the entire band, and one album recorded and released solely by band founder Ryan Marth. Ryan and Melissa Marth's middle sibling Tommy Marth also performed saxophone on the band's albums. Tommy, who committed suicide in 2012, was best known for his role as saxophonist for The Killers.

In September 2013, the band performed their final show with bassist Tim Styles, who after 5 years with Big Friendly announced he’d be leaving to focus on his family and his other band, Skorchamenza. The show was held at the Dillinger in Boulder City, Nevada. Big Friendly closed out the show with a solo performance by Styles who sang a cover version of Ty Segall's Goodbye Bread. Soon after, the band told Las Vegas Weekly's Leslie Ventura that they would be returning to their roots as a foursome, with guitarist Jeff Ford reprising his role as bass player.

On April 29, 2017, The Big Friendly Corporation returned to the stage after a long hiatus, to perform music from Carry On, Carrion, a double vinyl album the band released earlier that month. They were joined on stage by new guitarist (and Melissa Marth's husband) Andrew Karasa of The Clydesdale, and Dustin Apodaca of Dusty Rhodes and the River Band.

The 24 song double album was recorded and mixed by Karasa over a period of 5 years, beginning with the death of Tommy Marth, and was released on the 5th anniversary of his death. It serves as what the band describes as "a diary of our grieving process [over the past 5 years]", and includes guest performances from members of the Las Vegas music community, including Halloween Town's Ryan Pardey and Black Camaro's Tom Miller.