You:
It is a well known fact that you have been writing songs for quite some
time. When did you compose your first work?
Mark: Well, I think I was about six.
You: Wow, six years old?
Mark: No, months. After conception. I
used to write a lot while in the womb - the environment is very conducive
to the creative process.
You: Some people may find that hard to
believe.
Mark: Trust me, I know. I had a hard
time believing it myself. After I got out, I did realize that many of
the tunes that were swimming through my head weren't mine at all. Brahams'
Lullaby - Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star - Old McDonnld - those were
all mine. Or so I thought.
You: You thought you wrote those?
Mark: Yeah. Apparently my Mom used to sing
to me when she was pregnant. Pretty mean trick if you ask me. I mean,
how could I have known those weren't my own songs? I was just a fetus
and couldn't have known any better.
You: How did you find out that those
weren't your songs?
Mark: Well, once I was born and figured out how to lick a postage
stamp, I tried to copyright them. Needless to say, I got a nasty letter
back from the Copyright Office.
You: You must have been pretty broken
up.
Mark: Yeah, *sniff* I don't like to talk about it too
much.
You: Sorry. So did any of the womb tunes
that were yours make the cut to appear on the album?
Mark: No, it only seems like we've been working on it that
long. The song "Placental Dreams" made it to the last cut, but we had
to drop it because it didn't really fit the vibe of the album. Oh yeah,
"Anastasia" was origina lly "Amniotic Sack Lunch." It's changed a bit
over the years.
You: What music has influenced you most
over the years?
Mark: Oh, pretty much everything I have ever listened to! Actually,
I am a product of early 80's corporate Top 40 Pop/Rock. You know...
Journey, Survivor, Rush, REO Speadwagon, Styx. It took years of therapy,
but I am now at a place where I can comfortably admit this in public!
I also really got into 70's rock a bit later in life... Alman Brothers,
Lynard Skynard, Molly Hatchett, Pink Floyd, Boston.
You: Were there any specific albums that
you recall impacting you most?
Mark: Journey's Escape album made me want to become
a singer, Boston's first album made we want to rock, Rush's Exit
Stage Left made me want to be a great live musician, Prince's Purple
Rain made me want to groove in a pop context, and Pink Floyd's
The Wall made me want to be an artist.
You: What about today's music?
Mark: Well, I guess everyone views modern music through the
scope of the "Nirvana Effect" so I will too. I personally think Nevermind
was one of the greatest and worse things to happen to the music industry
in a lon g time.
You: How so?
Mark: I liken it to London Calling by The Clash. It
was a much needed album by '79/'80 and legitimatized punk/pop for the
mainstream audience. Unfortunately it also spawned a new generation
of really disturbing New Wave. Not that I have or had anything against
the genre, but it so consumed the airwaves that I think we may have
lost a lot of good music in the process that just got pushed aside,
or at least shelved by the record companies.
You: And you think this happened again
with Nirvana?
Mark: Yeah, in a sense. When Smells Like Teen Spirit hit the
radio, it opened up the door for other bands lumped into the alternative
music category to push through. I am happy for those bands, but again,
now the world is c onsumed by this type of music - corporate America
is dishing it out, and we are eating it up. And as always, I think there
is a lot of stuff out there that people would enjoy if they had a chance
to hear it.
You: Like Not The Joneses?
Mark: Exactly! But I digress... It has been great for me personally
because I think the music of today has a lot more to offer me than anything
that was happening in the late 80's.
You: Tell me about your previous band
experience.
Mark: There is not much really. My first band was in High School,
"The Beautiful Mutants." We were this pseudo punk/pop/slop band that
used to play all the New Wave stuff I just made fun of earlier! The
name came from a De vo song I think. We used to play tunes by Devo,
Surf Punks, Guadacanal Diary, Echo and the Bunnymen, and a few originals
with titles like Guillotine, The Electric Toe Jam, and Ode to Dick
Tracy. We were weird!
You: When was this?
Mark: Well, I've always been weird! I think at the time in
question however, I was a Junior in High School - 1985. One of the guys
found out that my dad and I had rebuilt this junky old garage sale 3/4
scale guitar. I actua lly had to learn how to play guitar to be in the
band. I didn't know what to expect, but I figured it would at least
be a great way to meet chicks!
You: Did it work?
Mark: Actually, yeah! Kinda... We played a total of two gigs.
The first was for a party that a friend was having. There were nine
people at the party, and five of them were in the band! We had the whole
show planned out, with costume changes and the whole bit. We used to
wear these gas station jump suits that we hand painted with paint pens!
It was really bad! Our second gig was at the High School for a new students
dance. The only gal I ever met from playing in a ban d came with me
to that show for our first date... Actually, now that I think about
it, the band probably had nothing to do with it!
You: But she went anyway?
Mark: Yeah, in fact, I ended up marrying her! That was the
first date for Juli and I... High School sweethearts... No wonder it
seems like we have been through everything together... We have!
You: So what happened to The Beautiful
Mutants?
Mark: Well, we all graduated and went off to college. In fact
our lead singer, Scott Anderson, went to the same school as me - Augustana
College. We played together one last time. It was the Freshman Variety
Show early tha t next fall. I played guitar and he played this cheesy
old Casiotone keyboard with a makeshift shoulder strap so he could jump
around the stage, complete with the "Samba Rock" beat and annoying analog
synth sound. Another friend of mine, Erik Lindquist, sang. We did Taking
Care of Business by BTO wearing shirts, ties, blazers, boxer shorts
and canvas high tops!
You: Were there other bands in college?
Mark: Plenty. But I wasn't in any of them! Actually I was in
one other cover band. I think we called ourselves "False Alarm." Our
set list was made up of stuff like The Cars, The Outfield, a little
Bon Jovi - I think we ev en did a Whitesnake tune. We had a few gigs
here and there but always had a hard time keeping band members together.
They'd be graduating, flunking out of school, forgetting they were in
the band - you know, the usual stuff.
You: Then you went to Sweden?
Mark: Yes! Boy, you have done your homework! My Junior Year
in undergraduate school, I spent in Sweden. I was a Scandinavian Studies
major focusing on languages and literature and it was a great opportunity
for me. Plus I got really messed up my first couple of years away at
school. It was a really bad scene with the illicit substances, partying
- the whole shebang. I needed a change.
You: And turn over a new leaf?
Mark: Yeah. And I did just that. I've stuggled some since then,
but I really made a decision while I was there that I was on the wrong
path and I needed God's help to keep me on the straight and narrow - then
and always.
You: Has that desicion affected your
music at all? NTJ in particular?
Mark: Oh, without a doubt. It really opened up my eyes to the
world around me, and when I write, I always write from the perspective
that there is good out there... It just may be difficult to see sometimes
because our vision has been so blurred by the horrible things that
are going on in the world and within ourselves.
You: So, is NTJ going to change the world?
Mark: Well, I highly doubt that. None of us have the power
to do so. But if I may steal a Steve
Taylor lyric, "He ain't gonna change the world, but he knows w ho
can!"
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