Interview with Dave Bannen from the Houston Fort Bend Songwriters Association

Mark, I want to thank you for taking some time out of a busy day to share your thoughts on song writing with the Houston Fort Bend Songwriters Association.

You are an amazing song writer. I’ve heard your songs, and read what others in the music industry are saying about you. So this is exciting for me; I’m delighted that you are willing to spend some time with us. I’ll be printing everything you say in our newsletter, so watch your language.

I understand that you hadn’t travelled to the US until you came over last year to record your new CD. How long have you been writing Country Songs from the UK?

Mark: I’d never travelled anywhere! It was my first plane ride. I’ve been making up songs ever since I can remember. I guess I was an odd kid – usually in the corner of the school yard babbling some miserable Hank Williams style lyric to myself. I’m forty two now so I guess you could say thirty-odd years.

Dave: How popular is Country music in the UK? Is it easy to find?

Mark: There always seems to have been a general snobby perception that you’re a subnormal idiot if you like country – dead dogs, pick up trucks and all that stuff. I don’t know why but I just always loved it from the first time I heard Hank Williams on an old record when I was a little boy. I learned a lot growing up from the BBC Radio 2 program that used to play country for about two hours a week. And Country Music People magazine has always covered all the good stuff. With the internet it’s easy to find now. I reckon we’re having the last laugh ‘cause since the Johnny Cash film everyone’s suddenly decided that country’s the coolest thing going.

Dave: Who are your influences?

Mark: Don't know if they're influences but the people I love are: Hank, Haggard, Waylon, Willie, Johnny Paycheck, Vern Gosdin, David Allan Coe, Ernest Tubb, Floyd Tillman, Lefty Frizzell, Bobby Bare, Shel Silverstein, Bobby Braddock, John Prine, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Billy Joe Shaver, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kris Kristofferson – there’s hundreds of ‘em! Lately I like Robbie Fulks & Dale Watson.

My favorite pure songwriter is Max D Barnes. Because it was, and still is, a treat to listen to the heart and craft in all his songs. In the days when you could read writer credits on LP sleeves, if I spotted his name I bought it - simple as that. Then I'd sit down for days and try to figure out how he did it.

Dave: What can you share about your writing process? Are you writing line by line, or do you write page after page and sift out the golden lines?

Mark: It seems to vary with different songs. The one constant is the overwhelming feeling of “sh*t I’ll never be able to write another line.” I enjoy the ideas part – when you just get lines in your head when you’re driving or something. Sitting down to turn them into songs is more of a discipline thing. Now and again you get one that just falls out in one piece – I Crawl Out was one of them. Mostly I work and work on them, sometimes for years. Then march round telling everyone they took five minutes and no effort to write.

Dave: I can tell some serious thought has gone into your lyrics. How long will you typically sit on a song before you deem it finished?

Mark: Kind of a stupid answer – but as long as it takes. I’ve got stuff kicking around that must be twenty years old that I still get out and try to finish – changing odd words. I guess it annoys me when things don’t seem to fit. I suppose I deem it finished when it stops annoying me. Or when it heads for the trash followed by a load of foul language. I do worry that I’m a very slow writer compared to the Nashville guys who write hundreds of songs a year.

Dave: Where do you come up with these great ideas?

Mark: Someone asked me this and I said I spend too much time on my own. They thought it was a comedy answer but it’s true really. The honest answer is I don’t know. Got a new song called Miserable Women And Feminine Men – that title came when I was hanging round in a new-age type bar, probably sulking about something, and deciding – like many moaning old blokes my age - that the world had gone mad since I was a boy.

Dave: Does re-writing come to you naturally as a song writer?

Mark: Not sure if it comes naturally but I do re-write a lot. I don’t much like doing it and I’m pretty lazy about getting to it, but, like I said, if the song doesn’t seem right it annoys me so I’ll keep re-writing ‘till it stops annoying me.

Dave: I love your song “Pass on By”. It seems to work really well for you. How did this song come to life?

Mark: I was homeless for a short while. The bones of this song came when I was working with homeless people. I took it to a songwriting seminar where Darrell Scott encouraged me to finish it. I sat in my car, in the rain, for a couple of nights and finished it.

Dave: “Bluer than the movie” is one of the cleverest and humorous songs I’ve heard. I hope there no truth behind it. What is the story behind this song?

Mark: Yes – every word of it’s true! Copies of the video will soon be available at all premium pornography stores. Nah, the story behind the song is far more boring than the story in the song. I’ve no idea where the hook came from – it just kind of popped up in my head. I wrote it just for my own amusement never really thinking anyone would get to hear it – apart from my teenage son who thought it was the foulest thing he’d ever heard. I don’t think I’d have written it if I’d been thinking of people actually hearing it.

It’s the complete opposite of everything I ever read about what Nashville’s looking for. Looking back I don’t know what I was thinking pitching up in Nashville with a song about blue movies and all manner of sick perversions. Loads of people told me not to play it over there, “for godsake don’t play that – you’ll get deported”. Funny thing is it’s the song that people seemed to like. I was happy as hell when Ralph Murphy said it had the “ooh factor.”



Dave: What was the hardest song to finish on your new CD?

The hardest one to know was finished was I Crawl Out ‘cause it fell out all in one piece – I thought, “Nah, that’s not really a song” and was going to throw it away. I played it for someone the next day and she started crying – I seem to have that effect on women – and I thought “hmm…maybe it is a song.” Here’s the story behind that song:

I was lucky. I had a chance to get feedback on a song from Darrell Scott. Trouble was I was shaking so much I couldn’t play guitar, and when I tried to sing all manner of peculiar squeaks and grunts erupted. As I stomped off, sulking and raging at myself, this song fell out my head – all I did was write it down. It’s one of my favorites ‘cause it gave me some answers when I needed them, and it reminds me of Darrell’s generosity in a week that changed my life.

Dave: You currently live in Cambridge, UK, yet decided to produce your CD half way around the world in Nashville. How did you decide this was best for your music?

Mark: It all happened pretty quickly after the seminar I went to over here in April 2005. I booked up for NSAI Songposium in August of that year. I thought “well, if I’m finally gonna go there I might as well go the whole hog and record some demos while I’m there.” It’s where all the music I’ve ever listened to was made (apart from Texas obviously!) and I knew that’s where a lot of the best musicians and songwriters in the world hangout. So I figured if they weren’t gonna come and find me I’d better go and find them.

I stayed three weeks, a week for the NSAI classes, a week to make the record, and a week to do some tourist stuff - spent most of the tourist week staring at Hank Williams boots in the Hall Of Fame - I met you at the classes week and you led me astray for a while - but the recording week went pretty well.

Dave: You were fortunate to have Fett produce your CD. How did that come about?

Mark: I’d seen Fett writing in Performing Songwriter, and knew his name through NSAI. I didn’t do a heap of research. Without getting all spooky about it – once I’d made my mind up to be in Nashville it was like it was meant to be. Fett was absolutely the right person for me to do this with and I’ve got a lot to thank him for, but, I don’t really know what made me choose him – I didn’t go round interviewing a bunch of people or anything. Willie says, ‘fortunately we’re not in control’ and that’s kind of how it felt.

Bowling up in a Nashville studio when your only experience of recording is in an English kitchen was intimidating to say the least. But Fett made the whole thing fun and enjoyable. Apart from his technical expertise he’s just a good guy and a pleasure to work with, we left a lot of laughter in the studio (and some outtakes featuring prime quality English swearing that he’s threatening to release).

Dave: I was excited to hear about your ‘deal’ while in Nashville for the first time. Can you share that story with us?

Mark: This was a scene from one of the cheesiest Elvis movies never made: overly impressed with myself for being able to drive an American car, I decided to try and find my friend Lorna Flowers house – in the dark and without the aid of a map. This plan really was hatched from childish glee at cruising round on the ‘wrong’ side of the road without killing myself or anyone else.

When I found the place – about ten hours into a ten minute trip – I saw maybe three people in candlelight on the porch. I didn’t want to interrupt if they were talking privately so I drove up and down a few times. They told me later they thought I was some kind of loon planning to shoot them. Eventually I plucked up my courage, parked, and walked over. (This is where you gotta think Elvis movie)

“Hi Mark this is my publisher – Mike”

“Allo”

“I’ve heard about your songs. Play me one”

“Sorry - I haven’t got my guitar.”

“I’m sure Lorna has one”

So I played him a song.

“Play me another one.”

I played another one.

“Play one more.”

I played one more.

“Don’t sign anything before you come and talk to me.”

And that’s how I bumbled my way into a staff writing deal. I’m still a bit bewildered by what’s happened and at a loss when people ask me for tips and tricks – can’t see myself writing a How To Open Doors In Nashville book.

Dave: Any advice you’d like to share with some fellow Texas song writers?

Mark: I don’t really feel that qualified to give advice. If you do what I did you’d spend thirty years writing songs before you got brave enough to show them to anyone – not much of a life plan. Harlan Howard told a happy young songwriter to go and get a good divorce and a few years of misery under his belt. If it’s good enough for Harlan Howard I guess it’s good enough for us. Not sure if it applies to what they call country music nowadays though…

Dave: What instrument do you write with?

Mark: My guitar’s a Takamine Santa Fe – something like ten years old. I tend to do a lot of writing in my head before I sit down with it though.

Thanks for giving me this chance to spout on, Dave. Don’t know how useful it is but I’ve enjoyed it. Can I say thanks to Darrell Scott and Kathy Chiavola – without them these songs would still be hiding in my kitchen, so would I. So many of my musical heroes come from Texas, I never honestly thought I’d get a chance to visit – let alone be singing over there – not sure when my trip will be yet, but I’m making do with watching Live At Billy Bob’s DVD’s and moaning – never stop moaning, you never know when it’ll come in useful…

Dave: Mark thanks again for sharing some of your insight, and your good sense of humor.

I’ve heard Mark’s new CD, and I’m telling you, it’s real, and it’s as close to Texas as one can get without living in Texas. Mark's debut CD “I Crawl Out” was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee in the spring of 2006. He’ll be touring Texas later this year. You won’t want to miss him.

SongU.com

Why do you write songs?

It's easier than digging ditches.

Who are your main influences?

Don't know if they're influences but the people I love are: Hank,Haggard,Waylon, Willie, Johnny Paycheck, Vern Gosdin, David Allan Coe, Ernest Tubb, Floyd Tillman, Lefty Frizzell, Bobby Bare, Shel Silverstein, Bobby Braddock, John Prine, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Billy Joe Shaver, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kris Kristofferson. Lately I like Robbie Fulks & Dale Watson.

Who's your favorite songwriter and why?

Max D Barnes. Because it was, and still is, a treat to listen to the heart and craft in all his songs. In the days when you could read writer credits on LP sleeves, if I spoted his name I bought it - simple as that. Then I'd sit down for days and try to figure out how he did it.

How would you describe the type of music you primarily write?

Country

How would you describe your music and the kinds of songs you write?

I think they're called alternative country.

What's your favorite song that you've written to date?

Bluer Than The Movie - 'cause it makes people laugh
Still A Drunk - 'cause it's so damn sad it busts me up. Technically it's all wrong, and I may never play it for anyone else, but if I'm sitting around at home it's one I always play.

What's your favorite quote?

"There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes." John Prine

"Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."
Willie Nelson

What's up next for Mark Evans?

Hopefuly not a sharp stick

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Probably in a box - not sure if it will be pine or cardboard.