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Talk to Mark

About Me

By equal turns both raucous and melodious, St. Petersburg, FL quartet Talk To Mark mix power guitars, impassioned vocals and pop songwriting into a straight-ahead rock style all their own. The band began in the spring of 2005 when frontman Mark Murphy and original bassist Paul Bernardini decided to expand their musical horizons beyond their acoustic duo act and begin playing full-band electric shows. After booking a gig with only 10 days to rehearse a 3-set show, and eschewing finer details such as a band name, they hastily enlisted Gene Young, a jazz/reggae drummer friend of Murphy’s who had learned to play rock as a teenager, to complete their trio; their world premiere took place at Limey’s Pub in St. Petersburg on March 13, 2005. During a set break an enthusiastic fan inquired as to the band’s name, to which Young replied, “I don’t know, talk to Mark” – unintentionally settling the band name debate for good.By the summer of ’05 Talk To Mark were becoming regulars around the St. Pete live music scene and had brought in guitarist Scott Swift, whose collaborations with Young went back nearly 30 years, to round out the band’s sound as a four-piece. After a parting of ways with Bernardini in autumn ’06, current bass player Joe Arruda signed on to solidify the Talk To Mark lineup as it is today. Arruda had also played in bands with Young & Swift as far back as middle school, and the comfort level in the Talk To Mark rhythm section was immediately obvious; the band’s grooves were tighter than ever, and Arruda’s harder-rock sensibilities only seemed to up the intensity of the band’s hard-driving alt-rock sound layered behind Murphy’s earnest vocal style. Bigger gigs followed, including an opening slot for Lou Gramm, Alan Parsons Project and Loverboy at the St. Pete Oktoberfest in 2007.By this time Talk To Mark were moving away from their strict cover-band persona and branching out in to original music. With two writers (Murphy and Swift) in the band, it wasn’t long before they had enough material to hit the studio for their first recording sessions. The result was Unfamiliar, a 6-song EP of original music, recorded under the tutelage of producer/engineer extraordinaire Steve Connelly. The disc received immediate airplay on WMNF 88.5, the listener-supported radio station out of Tampa that had already made Talk To Mark regulars at the station’s many live concert events. Bursting onto the WMNF circuit with a blistering 20-minute set at the summer 2008 Tribute to The Clash event, Talk To Mark subsequently appeared at 3 additional concerts sponsored by the station, including the headliner slot at their New Year’s Eve Bash on 12/31/08. Our CD "Unfamiliar" is now for sale at the following record stores:Vinyl Fever 4110 Henderson Blvd Tampa, FL 33629 (813) 289-8399 , The Disc Exchange 6712 Central Avenue St. Petersburg, FL 33707 (727) 343-5845.................................................... .

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/08/2006
Band Members:Mark Murphy: Lead singer, lead and rhythm guitar.I’ve been writing and playing music for almost 30 years, which is amazing because it seems like only yesterday I was picking up my first guitar in 8th-grade music. I was 13 years old and required to take a music class … it was either guitar or Show Tunes: easy call.My first band, back in Rochester NY was called Fury(!). Total adolescent hard rock, complete with black t-shirts with a snarling cobra on the front. Yeeeaaaah baby! lol We covered Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Billy Squier, et al – but even back then I was doing original music, and we had a repertoire of about 8 to 10 of our own songs. Mercifully, we left behind no recorded evidence.As for my songwriting influences, I could name so many … but the Big Four are Michael Stipe, David Lowery, Neil Finn and Paul Westerberg. Brilliant writers all. I try to take a little something from each of them – Stipe is a master at painting with an abstract lyrical brush; Lowery is great for non-sequiters and off-the-cuff irreverence, which reminds you that rock-n-roll is supposed to be fun. Finn can move melodies and chord modulations in synch like none other, and Westerberg is as raw as it gets without sacrificing melody. But I digress ….The thing I like the best about our band is the disparity of our influences. Gene comes from a jazz & reggae background; I’m all about melodies and grooves. Scott is more into harder rock, and Joe’s into harder harder rock, and somehow that all comes together to create the Talk To Mark sound.

Joe Arruda: bass guitar.It’s crazy I actually started off playing snare drum and tom tom drum in concert band at my Elementary School. That’s where I met our drummer, Gene. I hate to say it, but I was better than him .Well, since we had a drummer I thought I’d take up bass. Gene was jamming with a friend, Doug, which had a guitar. Somehow my mom got word and practically killed herself to buy me a bass guitar. That was one great Christmas. A total surprise!!! A long neck, full scale Cortez. It was basically a Fender jazz precision knock off, with a case!!! I was going crazy.I wish I could remember the first song I tried to play on that bass. Shortly after getting it or immediately, Doug, Gene and I started jamming and playing mock concerts. Cheap Trick, Kiss, Van Halen, Rush, and Tom Petty. Boy we sucked, but it was countless hours of fun.Now I own 5 basses. The Cortez is totally broken down waiting to be restored. Each one has a story and a different sound. I still want a five string, but I’m waiting on the record deal for that …My main music interest is Rock. I’ve played the New Wave, the Old Wave, the College rock, Reggae, and most other styles, but my heart is Rock-n-Roll. Some of my favorite bands would include: Cheap Trick (they made me want to be a bass player. Take a listen to Straight to Hell) STP (Stoned Temple Pilots), Tool (seen them 3 times), Foo Fighters.I wish I could play better. I find myself wanting to play something note for note. It might be good enough for some or the guys in the band, but I want to play it chapter and verse.My sound is Rock. I play with two different cabinets. For our small shows I just an old 15’’ Ramdell cabinet made here in Tampa, but for large shows I break out my new Amp 6x10. Both setups I power with my Hartke Transit Attack 350.“Hello there Ladies and Gentleman, Hello there Ladies and Gents, Are you ready to Rock?” Cheap Trick, circa 1979 At BudokanThat pretty much sums it up!

Gene Young: drumsMy first drum kit was at age 4 or 5 – Top of the line Dennis the Menace. I loved that kit until I broke all the paper heads. I even had the matching double breasted blue jacket. My next kit, the drums I really learn to play on were my Dads. Before I knew anything about drummers I would attempt to setup my dad’s classic Lugwig – one mount and one ride cymbal. He didn’t have a floor tom because it didn’t fit into his Volkswagen bug so he hocked it and hit the road touring for several years.Now for that cymbal - a Zildjian 26’’ with 6 rivets. I have more drummers ask if this cymbal is for sale. I think this cymbal really defines my drumming style and sounds. I can’t really talk about my drumming without talking about my Dad again. My origins as a drummer are his roots – Jazz. I grew up listening to all the Blue Note players. Not only does he play drums my Dad plays piano and horn. He and my grandfather really wanted me to study piano and I did, but by year three I ran my piano teacher off playing drum solos when she showed up for lessons.Like most young drummers in the 80’s I thought I needed four mounted toms, two floor toms, and a half dozen cymbals to be good. I took this classic Lugwig kit (which I’d kill to have now) and completely destroyed it. I found and permanent borrowed drums from friends and school and added them to my kit. I actually took the hardware off all my new found drums and covered them in silver wall paper. Looking back, God was it awful, but I loved it.As I grew out of my Peter Chis and Neal Pert phase I changed out my rack of miscellaneous toms for ROTO TOMS! I played this kit for the next 10 years. You can’t believe the looks we got when we showed up to gigs. Me and my makeshift kit and a sender block to hold my peg less bass drum. As my Dad always told me the drums don’t make the drummer.So over the years I’ve played with several bands of different styles. My first, call it big gig, was my 8th grade talent show. The band was Savage. I still remember the songs, “Good Girls Don’t” by the Knack and XXX. The first paying gigs I had were playing drums in a steel drum band. As a young drummer learning Calypso and Reggae changed my drumming and me. I like to think I have found a nice mix of styles in my drumming. Oh, I’m presently playing a Peal Export, one mount, one floor, and four cymbals.
Influences: Elvis Costello
John Mellencamp
The B52's
The Doors
The Rolling Stones
Weezer
The Clash
Love & Rockets
Blur
The Smiths
Stray Cats
Jimmy Eat World
Camper Van Beethoven
Bob Dylan
Church
Lou Reed
Social Distortion
Coldplay
Record Label: N/A

My Blog

Saturday is Scott's Last Gig!

Saturday will be my last gig with Talk To Mark so I wanted to send a sincere "thank you" to anyone who ever attended one of our shows over the past 4 1/2 years. Watching the happiness on people's face...
Posted by on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:29:00 GMT