Whelan's - Gigs - Mark Geary

Mark Geary - CANCELLED

'So you tour two records, see the world and you build up, somehow; a fanbase and some records get sold. Had I been on a major label, I would have been dropped by now, or shot in the head or whatever happens to those poor bands who don't make money for their labels. Bye bye time. I would love to have a comfortable life etc, but at what cost... so I never took the fast money and artistically speaking at least seem to have lived to tell the tale?'

Instead its 2008 and Mark Geary is releasing his third album Opium. 'It's about escape and the notion of consequence. All of that plays a part in what I think about or was thinking about when I was making the record. I think sometimes I kinda like to torture myself with these dark thoughts of which I struggle for answers and it may be true, that I do torture myself and in so doing reveal some of my demons and drugs of choice.'

The First Single from the album is 'Tuesday' -' It's the day -all the shit changes. A guy, the guy in the song, maybe me, just has to change, change the way he lives, what he thinks about, all the shit and baggage that he has been dragging around. But also the struggle to change, that things can be so comfortable, that a little tiny bit of agony maybe isn't such a bad thing because change brings uncertainty and that can be scary so maybe your/ he is better off -just living this kinda quiet hell. That's really what it's about, the first line sets it up.' I'm just holding on / one more than I'm gone.'

'I started writing this record over two years ago. I had written a song called 'Maid Of Gold' that seemed to me to be a beginning of something new. Like a new record, another chapter. you never know these things and you certainly don't call them the beginnings of a new record but it felt like a different angle. Really I had that song and the beginnings of 'Tuesday.' I had just being singing phrases and melodies into my computer and searching for something that might tie the whole thing together, hence Opium.

I had being reading Robert Fisk's books and the God Delusion; the 'war on terror' was on the news every night. just a scary and bizarre time to be living. I became aware of my disquiet or uncomfortablity with people on telly using words like 'God' for some kind of agenda, 'God ' as a belief. 'With God on our side', 'In god we trust' with 'God's help we will prevail'. It seemed on both sides of this war -that people were using God - as an example of rightness, their rightness. I was just really interested how people find themselves with this kinda belief; how they feel they are born into it, how that manifests in their life. and I'm interested in this notion of 'crusade'. All fun stuff, I was thinking about. Also about my own relationships. and obsession, hence 'opium. you know. What is your drug of choice? Religion, TV, the opium of the masses, the despair but also the misery of it. all the things that fascinate me, frighten me, which I don't understand, your motives, my motives. all the things we do to fill the void or the hole in us. God, money, sex, religion.'

'I had definite idea's about how I'd like the record to sound. Get a band together; record somewhere, live for the most part, that some of the songs would be pretty heavy and dark so therefore it would need lots of instrumentation. Etc. . Rather than hiding behind melody and being kinda obscure, I would try write as much as I could more directlyI had this drummer Eric Gebow, whom I had developed a friendship with over many years in New York. He started playing drums with me and we toured a lot together. And then I had Karl Odlum who had dome the great records with his brother David and had worked with me on the soundtrack stuff. So we all got together in Dingle and played for three weeks. Amazing. With them I had confidence that I wouldn't get lost down blind alley's trying to find some sense of a song or worrying too much if this idea worked. Because I trusted them so much and they and I had developed such a sense of instinct that I wouldn't be fooled when things aren't working. That can be a terribly crushing point in a record. Where you have a song or two, that you've worked on and worked and worked, months have gone by and this tiny little voice in your head, tells you, what you have always known, not good enough, a crushing blow only if your ego gets in the way. And you say, 'It will do'.

So I came back from the session in Dingle with about 16 or so songs -bits and pieces. And really for the next year and a half worked on vocals, guitars and over dubs. Month after month after month. Adding new songs. New vocals etc etc. I've never spent as long making and listening and changing a record than this one. Over and over -until all the doubt and disquiet was taken out. And we were left with the guts of the record.

Sam from Josh Ritter's band had been a friend for a few years and had got in touch about doing some stuff on the record. Of course he hadn't heard any of the songs. So I simply picked three or four songs I thought could use some work on. It was that simple. He put strings on some -'Maid Of Gold',' Always' and piano's etc on other 'Cold Little Fire' and then we, Karl and I just got it back and deleted parts that didn't work and mixed the record. 11 songs and then off to Abbey Road for one day of mastering. Job fucking done. haha.

http://www.markgeary.com/
http://www.myspace.com/markgeary

Location: Dublin City

Type: Music and Theatre

Mark Geary at the Whelan's. More