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Rock meets folk, meets blues, meets jazz...!!!
‘My Mate Mark’ represents the combined musical talents of Mark Whitmore and Mark Bennett. From the very first chance meeting at a pub ‘open-mic’, a whole sequence of uncanny coincidences have come to light that have just kind of indicated that this duo ‘was probably to be’.
The last song of Mark W played that first night was going to be the first of Mark B’s following set! (fittingly, that tune was the first thing they chose to look at as a duo! - and hardly surprisingly ‘Wild Wood’ was high up the shortlist of possible band names!!). Born the same year, just three months apart, they both have Irish cousins, both had the same bike as a child, both are ex-triathletes, and they even chose the same kitchen from Ikea (it turns out!). The fact they both happen to chose to use the same brand/colour/thickness of guitar pick almost goes without saying….. With the friendship that followed, some form of musical collaboration was inevitable.
And musically, although coming from two quite distinct musical directions, once the two elements are brought together the rapport is very obvious. MB’s bluesy/jazzy guitar style compliments MW’s powerful vocals and forms the core of what they do. The warm fat bluesy sound of MB’s acoustic finger-style blends wonderfully with the more open-stringed brighter often folkier sound of MW’s (often altered tuned) Yamaha. The two guitars work together wonderfully to create a rich multi-layered sound with much texture and depth. Add the vocals and it is a classic case of it all very definitely adding up to far more than the sum of the parts.
Mark Bennett:
‘We came into this musical collaboration in the first instance with material we were doing ourselves solo. The initial appeal lay in combining our strengths, notably Mark’s powerful vocals with my own guitar style (I have always regarded myself very definitely as a guitarist that sings rather than a singer that plays!). The first couple of things we ran through surprised us both (I think) – even though our styles, and musical interests, were quite different, they blended together perfectly from ‘the off’. Having established that the core combination of ‘me adding additional guitar to Mark’s material’ was going to work we set about exploring the reversal. What could Mark bring to my stuff?
Within a few bars of the first tune, however, it was obvious that this was going work as well. A great set of ears and a knack for finding and adding just the right amount of texture in just the right places really filled out the sound. It also allowed for me to go for a fuller lead approach where appropriate which was refreshing. With harmony backing vocals added here and there, this was starting to get exciting…
With some impending dates adding urgency to our need to build some repertoire quickly, the adapting of existing solo material was inevitable (be it either covers or originals). However, this first phase has now moved into the second - choosing and arranging material together. The third, a true writing collaboration, has yet to be tried, but we’re both confident this is where our future lies – a truly exciting proposition.'
Mark Whitmore:
'I've often found it difficult to accompany, or indeed be accompanied by other guitarists and musicians in general. My style (if you can call it that Lol!!!) does not come from any technique that I've been formally taught and rather is an amalgam of styles of guitarists who's 'gib ' I've liked the cut of. I've also been wary in the past of musicians who are technically very good, as some can be embroiled so much in the technique that they miss the whole point of it all. The Edge summed it up for me in the 80's when he said “the art is not in being able to play 50 notes a second, but in communicatingâ€.
I need not have worried with Mark. He has brought a new dimension to the songs I perform whilst being careful not to steam roller over the whole shooting match. And we have very different voices - in tone, key and style of delivery - which I hope means we'll have something to suit most people palettes, as well as of course adding to the diverse range of sounds we can produce.
Each time we meet to play it seems to get better and better. This can only bode well for future writing projects, where we intend to start with a completely blank piece of paper without any half worked ideas, so we can truly see what the combination of styles, tones and mindsets can bring.'
Watch this space!!
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'My Mate Mark' can be contacted for bookings via myspace messaging or email (via [email protected]).
See top friends below for our individual myspace pages:
Mark Bennett at www.myspace.com/markbennettacoustic
Mark Whitmore at www.myspace.com/urisk1 (Mark Whitmore is Urisk!)
