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Backed by bachelor’s and master’s degrees in composition, multiple musical studies, and loads of cooperation, guitarist/composer Mark Vickness dropped his concept album In The Rain Shadow on the 15th of May under his collective project MVI (Mark Vickness Interconnected) alongside 7 of the most talented artists on a wide range of instruments. And today, we’re gonna have a chat with Mark and dig deeper into his world together.

Welcome to Rock Era Magazine Mark, really looking forward to talking with you after reviewing  In The Rain Shadow

 

  • You started learning music at the early age of six, what made you take that step?

My mother insisted that I learn how to play piano. She arranged for a teacher to come to our house. My memories of that are not altogether favorable as I recall my first teacher being fairly old school and very strict. Not much fun for a six year old!

 

  • With such diverse sounds and approaches, what were your early influences? And which ones of them are present in In The Rain Shadow?

My early influences were classic rock and roll (Led Zeppelin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, etc.), folk (Paul Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell), Motown, and Funk (Sly and the Family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire, etc.) and classical. They all make their presence felt on In The Rain Shadow. For example, the funk comes up in the intro to The Gorge and the middle section in Cloud Shadows. The electric guitar solo on The Gorge pays tribute to the great rock guitar soloists. The intro to Alluvial Fans shows the classical influence.

  • With such multi-layered structures and arrangements, I’d like to know how your writing process usually goes?

My process usually starts with an idea I develop while improvising on guitar or a melodic or rhythmic idea that comes to me frequently while either driving or hiking. These ideas are recorded on my phone. Once I have some musical material I think is worthy of developing into a composition, the idea gets recorded in Logic and then developed using the compositional tools of the trade I’ve learned over the years. After that, we will head to the studio to start recording for real. So it’s really a three-step process.

  • In The Rain Shadow is mainly influenced by nature and living within it, can you tell us more about tackling such a theme? How was it incorporated into your music?

Living in the high desert, in the rain shadow, surrounded by high mountain peaks has a profound effect on my state of mind overall. I’m not trying to paint musical pictures so much as attempting to capture the spirit of this place.

  • You have 7 world-class artists alongside yourself on In The Rain Shadow, how did you manage to choose each one of them?

I’ve known almost all of these musicians for years, and in some cases, decades. Knowing each of their capabilities and their sound was critical in putting this music together. These players are the reason I was able to cover so much stylistic ground on this album. They have six Grammy award nominations between them and three Grammy awards. Such an honor and privilege to work with them!

  • How did the writing and recording process of In The Rain Shadow go? And how did you manage to coordinate the writing and recording with your collaborators?

These pieces were written over a period of roughly three years. Once I had the pieces in good shape, it was simply a matter of putting the various players, studios, engineers and video crew in place. The most challenging part was the composing. All of the people that participated in making this album are serious professionals meaning once I get them in a studio I know they won’t stop working until we are all happy with the result!

  • How did your sound evolve in In The Rain Shadow? What did you do differently that you’ve never done before?

The addition of two percussionists on this album allowed for a tremendously varied and colorful sound spectrum. Ty Burhoe is a remarkable tabla player and virtuoso. MB Gordy is a Grammy winning percussionist who plays instruments from the world over. So we were able to combine drums from India with percussion elements from Western music, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and we even managed to get some Japanese taiko on the album (at the end of Rupak for Ty). None of this was sampled sound. 

  • Do you have any live plans in 2024 in support of In The Rain Shadow?

Yes, we will be getting out to perform this music.

  • Thanks so much for your time Mark, I wish you the best of luck.