Hi everyone, it's Mark. Sorry I've been remiss in posting on Buck's cool site, but I've been really busy with the new CD.
OK...first of all, Katya and I got married on November 3rd (Adam was my Best Man and Steve was an usher…Chris was a guest and played) and Ruby Topaz rocked Lake Pearl. We played for an hour and a half. We played songs from MARK BRAM / RUBY TOPAZ AGAIN and from TOPAZ RARITIES. As the guests got hammered we whipped out some covers for fun. We did Heartbreaker and Communication Breakdown by Zeppelin, It's Late by Queen, No Matter What by Badfinger, All Right Now by Free, a ton of Beatles and Won't get Fooled Again by The Who. It was a Blast! It was also the first time playing in public with Chris on bass. He did a great job, and after I finish the CD, we are going to start gigging.
The hold up with the CD? Here goes. I actually had half of it done by last fall and then decided to revamp the studio. The learning curve for the DAW software (and other software, as well) was rather steep. I also needed a ton of new equipment and couldn't purchase it all at once. The purchasing isn't all done yet, but I'm already working on new material and rerecording of the stuff I had already done. I'm working on about four songs at once, at the moment. So, I'm trying, bear with me.
OK, so I guess a blog should include opinions, so here goes.
I hope I don't offend anyone with this, but when are the powers that be going to pull their collective heads out of their asses? When I was young and tuned into the big radio station in RI, WBRU (before they turned format alternative), they turned me on to stuff I never would have heard, had it not been for the cool DJs with eclectic tastes. In one show I heard Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Firesign Theater, Monty Python, Golden Earring, James Gang, National Lampoon Radio Hour material, etc. It was Blues, Jazz, Rock, Classical, Comedy and anything that was good, anything by anyone who was talented. It didn't matter how old they were, or what they looked like. It seems that these days if you are not as thin as a heroin addict, have bed head, look like you buy your clothes at the Salvation Army and just got out of high school...you can forget about anyone in power even looking at you. This is absolutely crazy. And when did versatility become a four letter word. I actually saw a youtube bit put out by TAXI showing a record exec saying that if you are versatile, then you are unprofessional. Zeppelin was versatile, The Beatles were hugely versatile, as was Queen, David Bowie and The Who. All hugely successful, long lasting artists that sell records to this day. As a business person, I would think that versatility equals a much larger demographic and thereby would equate larger sales...more money for them, and isn't that what they are all about? Pushing units? It used to be about the art. Record companies would sign a band and give them four albums to develop their talent and their audience. They weren't expected to hit it out of the box. Someone was moved by their talent and wanted to share it with the world (and of course make money, nothing wrong with making an honest living). We have played parties at colleges and have had the students tell us that they are not thrilled with the music scene and that they are listening to the music that I was influenced by or that were our contemporaries. After a show they'd tell us how blown away they were by the musicianship and that nobody plays like that anymore. This is the record buying public. We played an all ages show where there were people from 16 to 60 there and they all melted down when we played. To me this would translate to a lot of sales, if someone had the foresight to see that. And how about the baby boomers that grew up on great music and are dying to hear something new in that vein. I feel that the record companies are looking for a quick fix and are ignoring a huge market. C'mon, wake up! The cool thing about a Topaz gig is: We're not retro; this is new music from that era!
OK, that's enough ranting for now, I've got to go and start recording more tracks (I think that I'm too obsessed with tone). Love to everyone who has supported us and to Buck, who is the number 1 Topaz fan, for putting this site up for me and emailing me when any of you have a question