Mark Collins

Mark Collins began his musical journey while in the 1st grade when he was first introduced to the piano. It wasn’t long after, that he began performing live in front of audiences and writing his own material. In fact, Mark met his first critic at the age of eight after performing his first original composition at a piano recital in Silver Spring Maryland. “I didn’t like it. You kept playing the same thing over and over again,” a classmate told him. Thus lit the fire in Mark’s belly to begin the quest to one day silence his critics once and for all!Although Mark was unaware of it at the time, his life was about to be transformed in the summer of ’92. His high school friend John invited him to a party at his house and was about to introduce Mark to the world of rock n roll. “It was a moment I will never forget.” Mark has said. “As the party was raging on, John came down the stairs with a beautiful, dark red, Gibson Les Paul, and a tiny, black Gorilla amplifier. After plugging in the amp and turning it to the appropriate volume, John ripped through the intro to ‘Back in Black’ by AC DC. He proceeded to play ‘Iron Man’ by Black Sabbath, and ‘Spirit of the Radio’ by Rush. I was mesmerized. I told John, ‘Show me how to do that!!’”From that moment, Mark became an obedient disciple to the guitar. First, since Mark was unable to afford a guitar of his own, he had to find his father’s guitar in order to practice. His daily practice regimen was delayed a couple of months when upon locating the guitar, Mark popped a string while trying to tune it for the first time. “I had no idea what I was doing. After popping the string, I was like ‘Oh crap!’ I thought they cost $100 a piece or something. So I ended up putting the guitar back in the box and not telling anyone.” After acquiring enough courage to tell his father of his misdeed, Mark learned that strings only cost about a buck a piece. Finally, he was ready for his rise to rock stardom.Mark’s first electric guitar was a black GTX with yellow Sunburst. “I placed the guitar in just the right spot in my room. Every day when I would wake up, the morning sun would come through my window and shine upon the guitar, and I would just stare at the colors while listening to Pearl Jam or Jimi Hendrix play through my stereo,” Mark has said. During these fertile years, Mark began honing his improv skills with his friend Tim every Friday night after working at Santuccii’s Deli in Silver Spring Maryland. “I had this little black tape recorder that Tim and I would sit around, and we would just jam for hours. After we exhausted ourselves playing, we would pop the tape in my stereo and listen. Sometimes, we would bring the tape into the deli and blast it for the customers who came in,” Mark said.While in college, Mark continued to evolve as a songwriter and performer. “I remember setting up my amplifier in my college dorm room window, turning the volume as high as I could without feedback, and tearing through the introduction to Michael Jackson’s hit song ‘Beat It’ and people looking up to the second floor window with expressions like ‘What the hell is that?’” Mark was also responsible for co-writing campus favorites like “Buck Night,” “Black Light Beauty,” and “Munch, Crunch and Cram.” Mark also received his first taste of playing in an established rock band while in college. He was humbled by the opportunity to perform at “Gullapallooza,” Salisbury University’s end of the year music festival. He also was fortunate to play the world famous CBGB’s in New York City before it closed. “Being young and naïve, I was unaware of the clubs rich history before playing there, unfortunately,” Mark has said. “The one thing I remember was the toilet. There was this toilet bowl that was sitting on a platform about two feet in the air. There were no walls to the stall or door to the bathroom. Just an elevated throne for all the world to see.” Again, it was unfortunate Mark did not understand the rich history of the club.The years following college brought Mark back into contact with his high school buddy, John. They formed a hard rock band called “Quadropus” with the great Vern on bass, and another high school friend Stan, on guitar, that rocked venues in D.C. and Baltimore. “It was a dream come true,” Mark said. “The chance to jam and perform with my friend who inspired me to play guitar in the first place, was special.” After five long years, the group disbanded to pursue other interests, like families.In the meantime, Mark has continued to write and record his own material in the houses and apartments he has lived in since, further refining his craft. He has written and recorded 4 albums, “How Far to Burn” (2004), “Keep Pushin’” (2006), “You’ve Got the Music” (a kids album co written with Carol Liu 2007) and “Don’t Look Back” (2008). He has recently moved to LA to play guitar for the gifted and talented Chick P and G and continue his journey as a musician."Jimi Hendrix": Walk of Fame, Hollywood Blvd."Don't Look Back": Album Art"G and Chick P": Room 5 Los Angeles, CA"The Ryman Auditorium": Nashville, Tennesee"The Crossroads": Clarksdale, Mississippi"Waterfall": Dupont, N.C."Max Patch": Pisgah National Forest, N.C."Cold Mountain": Pisgah National Forest, N.C.Most of the photos on this page were taken on my cross country trip from my move from Asheville N.C. to Los Angeles CA.I am currently assembling a band interested in playing kid's music! You can view my page "Flyboxer and Friends" at: http://www.myspace.com/flyboxerandfriends