by Kenneth Morton

Mark Williams is a talented singer/songwriter who at the age of 15 has already recorded a full-length CD, toured through many parts of the States, and has even shared a stage with the legendary BB King. Based out of the Stroudsburg, PA area, his Reckless CD and live performances are gaining Mark and his band a good deal of fans. We had a chance to speak with Mark while he was in Nashville...

How supportive had your parents been when they found out you wanted to pursue music professionally?
Incredibly supportive! I could not ask any more for them. They have made so many sacrifices to allow me to play my music. For example, both my parents are down here in Nashville with me, and they’re staying down here. Not only are they sacrificing their time, but they’re in these clubs that I’m playing at. They have to be there since I’m a minor. And I’m playing till like two to three in the morning and they’re right there with me. My mom helps me with getting promotional stuff together. They are just great, and I could not ask anything more from them.

How easy or difficult was it to release a full-length album and get this recording contract that you have?
Well, the initial challenge for me was writing the music. This was my first attempt at actually writing songs, to be honest. It was like, “Okay, we need you to write ten songs for an album, and we need you to have it in like two months.” I had written 16 songs for the album, and we cut five or six of them off the top. And then it was just a matter of making every song its own, and making the album an album that fit together. That was a big challenge for me. The recording and all that stuff was a lot if fun, but the thought behind it was what was really a challenge.

Has being 15 years old been a help or a hindrance when it comes to your musical career?
Both. It has given me a lot of opportunities because some people look at it as a novelty because at this point in my life, there’s not a lot of a 15-year-old kid who have this kind of support from their parents, and are able to play around so much and really have an album out. I’ve been very fortunate to do a lot of really cool things throughout my musical careers, and not a lot of other kids my age have had those opportunities. However, the big, big drawback is that I keep musically progression and my voice keep maturing and getting older. So every time I record and play something, I keep changing. That album is almost a year and a half old. The songs I wrote when I was 13 and 14 – the vocals I did a year ago. So it’s certainly a drawback in the sense that I record something, and six months later it’s already out of date if I want to give it to any other labels who might be interested in me. It’s sort of hard to me like, “Here’s this. But I can sing better now.” Sometimes people don’t take me seriously. They think, “Oh 15” and they write me off right away because they don’t think someone at my age will be able to really put on a good show or be professional about everything.

A lot of the music in your new video seems more blues oriented. Do you like the blues?
Yeah, definitely. Jazz is my roots, but also blues. My first experience to if you want to call it guitar gods, was the whole Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King type scene. That’s what I really started listening to at first, as far as good guitar players went. And then I got into jazz. But yeah, blues is definitely a part of my roots. I was fortunate enough to play with one of my heroes and someone who I have learned a lot from just listening to his albums over and over again – BB King. I played with him and that was an incredible experience. But blues is honestly the root of a lot of American music. All the current American genres, if you really look at them, have developed from that – whether its current rock, pop, anything really started with the blues. I look at the beginning of rock and roll coming from Elvis, who was really inspired by the blues. People have since then taken that and developed that – but if you trace this alternative rock that I’m playing back like who influenced my stuff – people who influenced me and all their predecessors musically, you’re definitely going to find the blues as something that is inescapable and everyone should be really familiar with it and study. It is in fact the roots of a lot of music.

How did you wind up on stage with BB King?
This was actually the most incredible, unexpected experience of my life, to be totally honest. BB King’s blues club in Nashville has been a really big part of my growth musically. I started playing there when I was 12, just sitting in with the bands and then actually doing some full shows there. A lot of my performance experience comes from playing on that stage. I was going to be on a TV show down here in Nashville called Tennessee Mornings. It’s a big show that goes out to a couple million people. I was actually rehearsing with the band – BB King’s manager at the time was kind enough to allow me and the rest of the band that I was performing with on the TV show to rehearse downstairs. Afterwards he said, “Hey, BB King in upstairs. He’s playing and we’ll let you guys in for free.” Of course I’m thinking, “BB King! Yes! He’s my hero. Of course I wanna see him play.” So I go upstairs and the greenroom where the musicians hang out was literally ten feet away from the stage where they were playing. I’m sitting there on top of my guitar, and I had talked to the other band members about BB when they were jamming on some stuff. The one horn player leaned over and said something to BB, and two songs later he pointed to me, and asked me to come up and play with him. So I get up onstage and I’m expecting to play a song and maybe if I’m lucky two songs – but I end up playing with him for over 45 minutes and it was really incredible. And afterwards he invited me onto his bus, and I spoke with him for a while just about music. And he spoke with me about a lot of stuff – telling me to focus – to really set my goals, follow them, and try to achieve them. And it was honestly a really incredible night. And I ended up getting back to our hotel at about two in the morning – and since the TV show we were on was an early morning show – sound check was at 5:30 – so I was going on about three and a half hours of sleep that night. It was a lot of fun and it still really hasn’t hit me that I played with BB King. It’s just one of those things that everyone dreams about – playing with a musical legend. And for it to actually have happened – I’m still sort of in disbelief.

It’s surprising that you could sleep at all that night.
I don’t think I did. I think I just looked at the clock and it said 2AM – and I just laid there, closed my eyes, and was jumping for joy inside myself and inside my brain. And then I opened my eyes three hours later and said, “I guess I need to go get some coffee – try to look presentable – and actually look like I got some sleep for this TV show.”

How close are you to recording new music?
Right now, I’m in the process of writing again. The whole album I had written on my own for the most part. But now that I have a solid lineup – Chris Connors is playing bass and does some vocals – he’s a great singer. And we just newly added Jackson Lukas on drums and vocals to the band. They’re both really creative guys, especially in the realm of music. So instead of it just being me in my bedroom with my guitar, we’re going to write some stuff as a whole band and I’m really excited to see the direction it takes. We’re all really influenced by different bands. We’ll probably have some stuff done by the end of summer – some demos – and we’ll pop some of that stuff on Myspace of course.

If there was one band or musician you would like to open up for, who would it be?
There’s so many! I really, really love Paramore. They are totally an awesome band. They’re very cool. I take vocal lessons with Brett Manning who also teaches Hailey – and that would be sick to open for them. I just saw them play last Friday night. Jonezetta and As Cities Burn opened for them, and I was very envious of As Cities Burn right when they said, “Coming up next is Paramore!” We could be those guys! That would be awesome. But they’re a really fun band live and I really like their music. I think their style of music is a lot like ours, so I think it would definitely be cool to open for them.

Do you have any messages for people reading this now who might want to check out your band?
For anyone who wants to check out my music, I really hope they give it a chance. Give it a listen through – and check out our videos. We’re all about making the music stand out and we’re about having fun. And if anyone likes our music, then they have to see us live. I can’t say enough, but live is best! Playing live music is definitely where my passion lies – it’s my favorite thing to do. I would not care if I could never, ever record an album again or if I had to play covers for the rest of my life. As long as I would be able to perform live in front of an audience – that is what I love to do. That is what music is meant to be and I have so much fun performing for people. I love connecting with an audience and sharing my music with them. That’s what me, Chris and Jack love to do is play shows in front of people. So if anyone likes our music, which I definitely hope they do – they need to try to check us out live. That would be awesome! If anyone reading the article and decides they want to see us out in LA – hook us up and we’ll be out there in a heartbeat!

Mark Williams links

Mark Williams: His official Home Page!
Mark Williams: His Official Myspace Page!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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