When De Marrais and Fischer realized they were the only ones attending their class's extra evening sessions, they began to use the time to write poems that would turn into Rainer Maria songs. Before long, De Marrais moved into the band's practice space and became an official member. But her voice quickly became more important than her bass, creating a new dynamic when combined with Fischer's vocals and his then-prominent guitar. Within six weeks, the group produced a demo, and quickly went through the initial run of 350 cassettes. Now, six years and umpteen all-ages shows later, Rainer Maria have reached No. 1 on the CMJ top 200 with their third LP, A Better Version of Me .
Sexuality remains indelible, however, in both sound and nomenclature.
Rainer Maria Rilke, the early 20th-century German symbolist poet who serves as the band's namesake, encountered tension between the masculine and feminine from the beginning. Rilke's mother called him Sophia and dressed him as a girl until the age of five. Five years later, his stern father sent him to St. Polten, a military academy in Austria. Fischer says the band originally selected part of the poet's name only for its resonant quality.