Mark Barnwell
Mark Barnwell is a very talented Spanish style guitarist from the UK. His latest album "Mandala" has been released on Axe Calibre Records and it is a fine example of guitar virtuosity. The album showcases a diversity of styles throughout the collection of songs. As Mark explains, "Mandalas symbolically represent life and its constant cycles and interconnectedness. Our Earth is a mandala." "Mandala" features a mixture of: World Fusion, Latin, Flamenco, Rumba and Eastern influences. Mark's seasoned guitar playing has been showcased at many fine historic venues throughout Europe and the world. I recently asked Mark some questions about the new album and his thriving career.
R.V.B. - Congratulations on your current CD release "Mandala". What is behind the name of the title?
M.B. - Mandalas symbolically represent life and its constant cycles and interconnectedness. Our Earth is a mandala. Mandala came to me as being such an appropriate name for this album, as the whole album really does revolve around the interconnectedness of everything. One of the themes that "connects all the dots" with Mandala is the band "Incendio".
I discovered their music in a small gift shop in Looe back in 2003, the shop being called "Pendragon Crafts". I was immediately very taken with their virtuosity and the energy and excitement they created in a genre that I was quite new to at the time (outside of the pure Flamenco genre, I'd only really previously heard of the Gipsy Kings). A few years later, I became good friends with Jim from Incendio via the internet - unbeknown to each other during the writing phase, we both released albums in 2008, mine being "Exotica" and Jim's being "Guitarra Exotica".
When I started work on the (then untitled) "Mandala" album in 2014, I had some rough ideas for songs, one of which had a nice guitar riff, but it just wasn't working with just me playing it, I thought it needed another guitarist to feature (in equal measures) on this piece. I had a chat with Jim, and he was happy to play on it. As the track evolved, it also had Liza Carbe on bass and Bryan on percussion, and the obvious name for the track was "Incendio". To complete the circle, Jean-Pierre Durand also came on and the 2nd half of the piece now features a real "guitar solo extravaganza" between myself, Jim and JP! This is one of many highlights - back in 2003, it was beyond my wildest dreams that this band would ever know who I was or get to listen to any of my music, let alone feature on one of my albums. Playing with the two "musical heavyweights" Jim and JP, I really had to up my game on the solos and pull some fire out of the hat.
So the album evolved with more serendipity - being a long time Strunz and Farah fan, their percussionist Ramon Yslas plays on 4 of the tracks, and also a long time Incendio fan, with Bryan Brock (Incendio) playing percussion on another 4.
The other musicians on the album are also people I have encountered in the last 10 years or so, or maybe people I was meant to encounter. They are the violinist Jonathan Stromberg, who I met when I was playing in a Tapas bar in Plymouth, Saxophonist Helen Rimmer who I met while busking in Exeter, Judy Whitlock, who is in Jonathan’s band, fellow Nuevo Flamenco player Al Marconi who I met busking in Plymouth, Yannaki Arrizza who I met via the “music review” site Garageband, and then we became great friends later on Facebook, and last but certainly not least, Chris Magrath who I met when I lived in Taunton as we were both regulars at the same venue.
Another element of serendipity brings us to the subject of the cover. I was first drawn to the "Incendio" CD by the fabulous cover, and of course bought it upon listening. Another such CD which had the same effect on me in a record shop back in 1999 was "Under a violet Moon" by Blackmore's Night. Fast forward to 2015, and I was taking Jim and Stella on a mini tour of Cornwall, with Tintagel being high on their "to-do" list, especially with Jim's love and knowledge of mythology and legend. Inspired by my photos, a few weeks later my mum wanted to go there, having never visited Tintagel, so we took a trip there, and while walking around, discovered "Another Green World". I was immediately taken with a picture on the wall of a woman emerging from a lake holding a sword (Excalibur). An idea popped into my head... "what if that was a guitar instead of a sword?"
A few weeks later I went to Tintagel again in search of the shop owner, Peter Pracownik. And there I found him, we had a great long chat and I discovered that he'd done the Blackmore's Night "Under a Violet Moon" cover, a favorite of mine - the cover and the music. Peter very kindly agreed to do a cover for my album, which was great as he is incredibly in-demand for his talents.
So there things have come full circle, and everything is connected - from "Pendragon Crafts" to "Tintagel", of legendary King Arthur and Merlin fame. And just to make things really magical, I received the album cover on the day of the summer solstice!
R.V.B. - When you set out to make the album, did you have a the theme first and then build upon it or is it a collection of songs from different ideas?
M.B. - I generally don’t have a theme in mind as such, other than to take the listener on an exotic musical journey. My albums tend to evolve organically, and when a musical idea comes along, if it feels right, I’ll expand on it, and if it is right for the album, it will go on. There are some tracks I’ve written that haven’t made it on to albums, not because they’re not good enough, but because they’re just not right for the album, or as is the case with a future track called “Sambana” – when I wrote it back in 2008, I wasn’t in a place where I could fully do it justice musically, but I feel I am now. The one thing I do have a tendency to do however, is to make the last track one that’s quite medium to slow paced, relaxed, yet exotic too, and maybe a bit different to the rest of the album, so that it will hopefully leave the listener in a magical place at the end of listening to the CD.
R.V.B. - Who are some of the people that helped out on the CD?
M.B. - Mandala is, for me, very much a “the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts” album. Jim and Incendio played a big role in the album – both in terms of playing and the people I was introduced to by Jim.
So number 1 mention of course is Jim playing on the album, along with fellow Incendio guitarist Jean Pierre Durand. Incendio’s Liza Carbe plays bass on most of the album, and percussion is split between Bryan Brock and Ramon Yslas. This forms the main basis of the album. There are also of course many other players that add some excitement, flair and magic, including Jonathan Stromberg on violin, Yannaki Arrizza on Turkish Saz, Helen Rimmer on Sax, long-term collaborator (since 2008) Chris Magrath on piano, Al Marconi on guitar, and Judy Whitlock on flute and double bass.
Bo Astrup deserves a big shout out too, Jim introduced us, and via the internet and sharing mixes, Bo gave me some really insightful and valuable mixing and mastering tips that played a key role in giving the album the sound it has.
R.V.B. - Would you say that Mandala is an extension of your recorded music or is it a new piece that stands on its own merits?
M.B. - I think it’s quite different from my previous work, in that previous albums were about my guitar playing and compositions, often using session musicians who I’d never met or connected with, whereas “Mandala” is more about the connectedness of the people on it. Although we’re on the other sides of the Atlantic, I feel when you listen to the tracks, you can hear a musical connection between the people playing on it – be it “Endless Rain” where my solo segues into JPs, “Moroccan Skies” where towards the end there’s a solo section where Jim and I do a kind of this thing where I play my solo then it’s over to Jim, but it sounds almost as if we were live playing in the same room, and likewise with the track “Incendio” where it has the vibe that we could have almost all been on stage together (which of course later that year we were).
R.V.B. - Was there any event that made you want to play the guitar? Did you come from a musical family?
M.B. - Yes, very much so. When I was about 6 years old, we’d started having music at school. And of course the thing you learn there is the recorder. After a few classes, I came home from school one day and my mum said to me “Mark, do you want to learn to play the recorder?” Without a millisecond of hesitation, I replied “No, I want to play the guitar!”
I have no idea where it came from, but never before have I had such an immediate and passionate response to anything.
My mum played a little bit of piano, and although I never met her, my great-grandmother was also quite a good pianist by all accounts, but I’m not aware of any guitar connections.
R.V.B. - What were some of your early influences in your wood shed years?
M.B. - My first years were spent studying Classical guitar, and then as soon as I turned about 12 or so, the electric became a lot more interesting, as is often the case! The first tunes I learnt in my early electric days, were all the Shadows numbers. Hank has such a good sense of how to write a catchy melody. Then I got into heavier stuff, the usual things, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, AC/DC, Vai, Satriani etc. Right from the start of my rock era though, I’ve always loved Brian May, and still do to this day. As for my post 2000 “Spanish” era, then there are many great players I have listened to and been influenced by including Incendio, Jim Stubblefield, Strunz and Farah, Jesse Cook and Johannes Linstead.
R.V.B. - Tell me about some of your rock bands you have had? What covers did you do and how did some early gigs go?
M.B. - I think the first rock band I was in was when I was still at school, we were somewhat ironically called “Last Orders” (not sure if you have that over there, it’s what they call in the pubs over here when it’s time to get the last round of drinks in before the bar closes!). We were all of course far too young to drink being mostly around 15 or so, with the exception of one of the teachers, Viv Hendra on piano/keyboards and Jason Carter who was a few years older on guitar. We did all sorts, from Dire Straits to Queen and Guns ‘n’ Roses.
Not long after that was a band called “The Deep End”. We were a bit heavier, with a bit of AC/DC, Whitesnake, The Who, Deep Purple, Hendrix and Van Halen thrown in the mix. We were all around 18 I think, and had some very interesting early gigs, playing in pubs around Cornwall, where the crowd would often get very “over-enthusiastic”. A “Moshing” crowd in a small country pub where the room is only maybe 5 or 6 meters wide was quite an experience! I think the pub had to re-plaster the walls after we’d played there!
R.V.B. - Who were some of your teachers through the years and when did you make the change to concentrate on classical guitar?
M.B. - I get asked a lot who taught me guitar, and often the best answer is “everybody and nobody” – in that I’ve had lessons here and there, and in-between those just listened to lots of different music and developed my own style. As for memorable teachers, when I first started moving away from rock and into Flamenco around the year 2000, Jon Salfield taught me a lot of Flamenco stuff for which I am eternally grateful. He’s a great player, although doesn’t have as much time as he used to for it as he’s often very busy travelling around the world coach the UK Olympic fencing team! I also did a residential course at Bath University with a Spanish Flamenco player called Rafael, which was very good too. Listening to many styles of music and getting into recording is also a great teacher in itself.
R.V.B. - With classical music being more complicated than a standard 1 - 4 - 5 rock/blues song, how did it change your practice habits?
M.B. - A lot of the practice I do, even today, is when I’m learning new music – sometimes covers and often original material that I’ve written, which sometimes turns out to be quite challenging to play! I usually work out the tab, and “woodshed” until I’ve learnt it. Amazingly that is a term I only discovered in the last 12 months, but I love it. Some of the parts that are quite challenging may even need to be played on certain guitars, depending on if things like a cutaway or low action are needed. One thing I’ve learnt over the years is that recording / playing to a click is a great way to improve too. You listen to yourself back and can really work out what areas need improvement.
R.V.B. - What are some of your memorable concert performances up to this point... Both as a performer and a listener?
M.B. - Memorable performances I’ve been to:
One of the most memorable times for music was November 2010, when with about 4 days of each other, I was fortunate enough to see Paco de Lucia at the Royal Festival Hall in London, followed by Jesse Cook in Amsterdam a few days later. Both were amazing shows, and the icing on the cake for the latter was getting to hang out with Jesse after the show, and have a chat and he even offered me a spring roll from his tray of canapés!
M.B. - Memorable performances as a performer:
One of my most memorable was when I was playing a concert in a small town in France in 2014. It was just one of those magical nights where everything goes right and the audience is so enthusiastic that you feed off their emotions and it becomes an ever-increasing circle of energy feeding energy and emotions feeding emotions and wonderful things can happen.
There have been some great shows that I’ve played with my duo, Esperanto (myself and another Spanish guitarist, Jon Boyes). We’ve done some big Art Centers and Churches around the country – although some of the craziest and most memorable times have been at festivals. As well as sometimes playing there in a concert capacity, we sometimes go busking too, and have had some crazy experiences. I recall a few years ago we had 100s of people watching us in the road, cars couldn’t get past, and although most people would be a few coins in the guitar case as tips, one chap came over with a very unusual (but welcome) tip - a bottle of champagne and 2 glasses! I will always remember that. Someone said to me afterwards – wouldn’t you have rather had the money? I said “Absolutely not, money can’t buy a memory like that.”
Of course something that will always be a magical memory for me was performing with Incendio in California last September/October.
R.V.B. - You mix a lot of styles into your songs: World music, Flamenco, Rumba, Latin, Middle Eastern and more. do you feel that this gives a unique sound to your music?
M.B. - I don’t like to be tied to any particular genre; I guess “Exotic World Fusion” would probably describe best what I do. I think playing such a range of styles makes for a more interesting musical journey (in either CD terms or at a show) and also removes any barriers or limitations to the creative process, so if for example, I’m drawn to write a little Eastern European/Klezmer type tune (“Potchka” for example) then it will kind of seamlessly fit in the melting pot of ideas.
R.V.B. - What are you proud of in your place in music up to this point?
M.B. - 2016 was quite a landmark year – as well as releasing Mandala, I traveled to California and played a few shows with “Incendio”. It’s been quite a while since I played in a band, most performances in recent years being solo or duo. To play with these guys, who are not only so superb musically, but also great friends and some of the nicest people on the planet, was just such a musical highlight for me. The journey from discovering them back in 2003 and thinking “wow these guys are amazing”, and being in awe of what they do to actually being on stage (and on CD) with them I still find amazing.
R.V.B. - What do you have going on for the year 2017?
M.B. - At the moment, it’s “the busy season” – in the UK, certainly for this genre of music, April to September seem to be the busiest months of the year, with the winter being a lot quieter. So I’m quite busy playing a lot at the moment, which often also involves a fair bit of travelling around, but you’ve gotta may hay while the sun shines. I also have some new ideas that are a work in progress, I’ve recorded the guitar parts for about 5 new tracks and got a few more written but not yet recorded, but I’ll crack on with recording more things in the autumn winter. There will be some very different things (including a Clarinet / Guitar piece) and I hope to bring back some familiar faces to play on the album as well as maybe one or two new and exciting surprise ones. Watch this space.
Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz
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For more information on Marl Barnwell visit his website www.markbarnwell.com
Thanks to Robert Steven Silverstein
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