I talk to Baltimore musician, Mark Hopkins, about working on YouTube. We cover how he got started and how he doesn’t really care about analytics. We geek out on guitars and gear at the end.
Meet Mark Hopkins
Doug: Hey, what’s going on? Welcome to the Doug Show. I’m Doug Cunnington, and today I chat with Mark Hopkins. He’s a Baltimore based husband, father, musician talk show host, YouTube personality, and all around nerd that is listed on his profile. So. That is his own description. He has a weekly live broadcast called At Home With Mark.
He interviews musicians, gear manufacturers, YouTube personalities, and everything in between. He does gear demos and loves guitar Gery. I think I saw a few demos from Mark and I thought. He could really fucking play. I dig his vibe and I think he was playing some slide and then some nineties riffs. So I was, I was hooked.
And I can link up to his channel for you here. You could check out his, you know. A few hundred videos and he has an Instagram and you could find more. He plays with a pretty war in the Baltimore area, and you can learn more about upcoming shows, most likely on his Instagram. I’ve seen a few posts pop up there.
Why Authentic Content Wins
Doug: I have a little bit of a spoiler, but it comes pretty quick. In this interview, mark is doing YouTube, basically for fun as a musician, as part of his outlet. He’s a true artist and he doesn’t really pay attention to analytics at all. I fucking love it. He’s making pure content that he wants to, that’s authentic.
He’s having great conversations with interesting people that he wants to talk to, and I think that’s one of the best ways to approach creating content. It’s easy to go down the slippery slope of. Being too deep in analytics and then creating content that the analytics are pointing you towards, and then you kinda lose your north star and your kind of aimless you’re following along with, with the algorithm however they’re pushing you, which is no, no way to live, you know?
So in this interview we talk about YouTube and being a creator for the first part, roughly, I don’t know, 40 minutes or something. But then we geek out about guitars and equipment at the end. And the way I do this is kind of like a sound check, so we. Break the ice a little bit, talking about gear and stuff, and then I’ll stop, I’ll check everything, make sure it sounds okay, and then we, we get into the other stuff.
But it’s a good way to just get to know each other a little bit. And Mark’s a cool guy. I think you could hear it in his interviews, where he’s approachable, he’s fun to talk to, and you know, there’s no, um, there’s no pretense there, right? He was just like, yeah. If you wanna do an interview, that’s great. Um, and then it felt like I, I knew him already, you know, so I hope you enjoy it.
Again, check out his channel, follow him on Instagram, and if you’re in the Baltimore area, hopefully you’ll be able to check out his show. Thanks to Mark. Let’s get to the interview now.
Interview Kickoff and Stats Talk
Doug: Mark, thanks for joining me today. How are you doing?
Mark: I’m good, man. How are you?
Doug: Doing awesome. And for. People that are listening and watching out there, we geeked out on guitars for about 15 or 20 minutes, so we’ll put that at the end. At the soundcheck. Today we’re gonna be talking about YouTube and podcasting and making it work and having a good time doing it.
So, mark, it was taking a look and you started your YouTube channel in 2011. You have about 6,500 subscribers. Over 700 videos, over a million views. Have you looked at this info recently? Did you know all that?
Mark: No, I don’t. I I’m gonna be a terrible guest ’cause I don’t pay attention to any of that shit.
Doug: I love it.
This, this, it’s gonna be perfect. You also have, you probably know this, you have over 200 episodes of your podcast?
Mark: Yeah?
Doug: Mm-hmm. Okay, so this is close to
Mark: 300. Of
Doug: course to 300. Okay.
Mark: Yeah.
Doug: And I just, I must have looked at the, just the live streams over on the YouTube side. But anyway, hundreds of episodes, lots of content, and we’re gonna talk about like, where you get your ideas for the content.
We’re gonna get into potentially some of the analytics. Uh, although it sounds like you don’t look too closely, so we could skip that part. One other thing is you have what looks to be, uh, an air quotes a, a modernized audience. However, it’s big enough for like manufacturers to reach out to you and even bigger, you’re interviewing some awesome people from the music industry musicians, where I’m like, how’d you.
How’d you get that person on there? Right. And just other producers and, and folks out there. So, super cool. When did you, um, start working on YouTube? ’cause I know you, you joined in 2011, but like many of us, you probably started it and you didn’t do much, but when did you start fully.
Pandemic Spark and Early Gear Demos
Mark: I mean, it’s gonna be the same answer you probably have heard from so many people, but it was when the pandemic hit, um, ’cause all my gigs shut down and I was just bored, honestly.
Mm-hmm. And, um, I had, uh, I think I had like a, a decent little camera that I knew if you go back and watch my first videos, it’s so different. It’s funny, it’s like super cringey. Um, but I just started ’cause it was pure boredom. I just didn’t know. What I could do to keep myself busy. And I, and I’m a songwriter, and you would’ve thought that I would’ve been sitting down here writing songs and, but I had a bit of a drought of writing songs for a little while.
And, um, so I turned to YouTube. I started doing, I had a ton of, you know, pedals and stuff, and I was like, well, people like this shit. I mean, the gear man, dude has done this. Yeah. And it’s just like, probably his phone, like, like on the ground, like facing the, the, you know, pedal or wherever the product is. So.
I just got into it and just tried it and people resonated with it a little bit enough to like, you know, tickle my fancy to be like, I’ll, I’ll just keep doing it and maybe I’ll get better at the, you know, lining up the audio, the video, all that good stuff. And I use, uh, I used for the time, the audio I was in was Pro Tools and I was using Final Cut to edit.
Uh, so it was a whole crash course in learning how to use Final Cut. And I’m not using it to its full potential whatsoever.
Doug: Sure.
Mark: Um, but I was pretty versed in pro Tools. Like when I went to Berkeley, I was in a bunch of production classes and like learned, I wasn’t a production major, I was a songwriting major, but I had to produce demos.
So I kind of got used to that flow, that work state, um, and that, so that felt very comfortable. So this all felt very natural to me to get this rolling.
Launching At Home With Mark
Mark: And, um, in August. I started to think about, ’cause I love, I love documentaries, like music documentaries and I love like interviews with musicians and stuff.
And I was like, I can do that. You know, I, I’ve, I feel like in. Give people, you know, honest questions and stuff that they’re not used to getting asked. Um, you know, stuff that’s nerdy enough that they’ll be like, Ooh, you know, you know what you’re talking about. Um, so I, I started doing that in 2020 in August, and I asked my friend Joey Landes to do it as my first guest, and I thought I would maybe do it once a month.
And so I sent out all these emails. To people and dms and everyone said yes. And I was like, shit. And I was like, I’m gonna have to do two a week. Like,
Doug: yeah.
Mark: And it was, my wife’s the one that came up with at home with Mark, um, which was so clever. But, uh, so I just was doing two a week. I was doing like one on Tuesday, one on Saturday morning, one on Tuesday, one on Saturday morning, and my friend Terry.
He was up in Canada. Um, we’ve been friends for a long time and he was like, I can help you with the graphics. And to this day, he’s the one that does the graphics when, you know, I have the shows. Um, so he connected with me. We started doing it and he was like, God damn, this is a lot. And then I was like, yeah, we’re not gonna, I’m not gonna do this like next season.
I’m not going to do two a week. Like we’re gonna just go to one a week. And from then on you can see it kind of slowed down. Like that first season it was like 27 or 30 some odd episodes, and then the second season is like 18, you know?
Doug: Got it.
Mark: And generally what I would do is I would do like start at the end of August, go till December, take a month off.
Um, around the holidays and everything, and then like end of January through June would be the next one. And then I would take a month and a half off for like summer break kind of thing. And then I would come back again in August. So I had it split up into like two segments per year.
Doug: And those constituted this season,
Mark: right?
Yeah, that’s what I call my seasons.
Doug: Perfect. Okay.
Mark: You know, so it’s a little bit confusing.
Doug: No, no, that, that makes sense. It’s a good way to do it. So you have like a discreet amount where it’s, you get a break because I publish every week and it’s like if you don’t get ahead, then you’re kind of doing it in the last, at the last minute and around the holidays or life stuff comes up.
So then you end up trying to catch up and rushing a little bit. So you publish on YouTube and on the audio side. What’s the breakdown as far as, um, number of downloads slash views?
Mark: Uh, you mean as far as my audience?
Doug: Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yeah. It’s one side. Much bigger.
No Analytics Just Passion
Mark: Dude, I have no clue. I’m so boring.
Like, trust me, I am such a just. You know, I don’t know. I don’t even know how to describe myself. I, I just don’t give a shit about that stuff. I don’t care about views. I don’t care about how many people are watching. I don’t care about making money from YouTube. This is 100% a passion project. And I’ve, if there’s anything that I’ve learned throughout my life, in my music career, it’s that you have to be doing things for yourself or, ’cause if you don’t care about something.
It comes off if I’m more worried about like how many views I’m getting or if I’m comparing myself, like comparison is the thief of joy. Like I don’t want to compare myself to my contemporaries. I’m really great friends with like people like rrg, rj, Ron Keo, buddy Blues, like all those cats that are doing, you know, bigger, way bigger numbers than I am, but I am a different animal.
I feel like I am just doing this for the pure joy of doing it instead of getting wrapped up in analytics. And that’s distracting me from like, kind of trying to come up with content because I don’t, dude, I have no shortage of content. I have a DHD. My brain is always flying when I’m asleep and I wake up in the middle of the night and have an idea, it’s like that bad.
So I just try to harness it and ride the lightning when I can. You know, it’s, it’s, I really don’t care about any of that shit.
Doug: Love
Mark: it. I know that’s, I know that’s boring, but like that’s really genuinely how I feel.
Doug: It’s a good, it’s a good message. Well, and it’s pure too, and it’s authentic. And because you don’t have an agenda, your incentives are lined up with your audiences or, or.
There’s no ulterior motive because if I’m over here pushing like fucking AG one or something like that. Mm-hmm. It cost like $8 a blood. I take that lovely. Yeah. I’m in my forties,
Mark: man.
Doug: I
Mark: gotta do something.
Doug: So, yeah. Yeah. So like it definitely comes through in Yeah, I was gonna say, I could relate where like over time I’m like, I should be covering this topic, but I’m like, I really don’t care about specific things.
I’m not gonna cover it, even though I see when I do that kind of content, like
Mark: mm-hmm.
Doug: More people watch and more people are interested. But if I don’t care, it does come through. So I wanna jump back, um, two things.
Music Career and Big Goals
Doug: So you went to music school, you went to Berkeley, and then were you touring, um, like nationally when the pandemic hit, or what, what will you do?
Mark: I was touring pre Berkeley, so I was touring and, and when I was younger, in my twenties, uh, from like age 20 to 25, I was touring. And then the band broke up and then I met my wife around that time. And then we got married and then we moved to Boston together so I could go to Berkeley.
Doug: Hmm.
Mark: So I was 28 when I went to Berkeley.
Um, I had a couple years where I was teaching music and just gigging. Um. Just trying to take it easy. Uh, and then, um, when we got, when we got back here, ’cause we moved to Boston, we were there for a while, and then actually I work for Berkeley, but we moved back to Baltimore. And that’s the one thing why it helps me, like I don’t have to worry about YouTube.
I have a day gig. Like I’m not, you know, I’m not struggling when it comes to that, but, so when we came back here. That is when I started to try to like get bands back together and everything. And then when the pandemic hit and when it shut everything down, that, that’s when I turned to, to the YouTube thing and was like, oh, I’ll do this for fun.
But it really does help. I mean, I think at the time, if I’m honest, if I, you know, when I started the podcast it was just ’cause I have like an inner, um, journalist in me. And a curiosity. And I thought if I could get to a place where I’m having bigger names on my show and bigger musicians, ’cause that was always the goal.
The goal was to meet people via the industry with gear, you know, um, manufacturers and stuff like that too. But I, the goal was always to get to the big name musicians that I love and I really admire. And I always kind of in the back of my head thought like. Yeah. Would it be cool if I got a call from Apple and they’re like, you’re great with these musicians.
Like, would you like to, you know, like, work for us and blah, blah, blah. Sure. Fuck yeah. In a heartbeat I would do that and I would do that in still gig, you know? Um, but the chances of that are like NFL, you know, it is, there’s, you can throw a quarter down the street and hit a podcaster now, and it, it feels to me like, I just feel, I don’t know.
It, I’m, I don’t wanna lose the fact of why I started doing it. I don’t wanna lose the curiosity and the enthusiasm for wanting to hear people’s stories, because that’s what it is to me. It’s stories. So if that makes sense.
Doug: Yes.
Monetization and Honest Reviews
Doug: Do you monetize your channel at all?
Mark: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Doug: Okay. So it’s just through the normal ads that would show, okay.
Yeah. I have YouTube premium, so I never, I never see those, which is cool, but um, yeah, I can’t see. Are you a YouTube consumer, your yourself or podcast? Oh yeah. Okay. Big for
Mark: sure.
Doug: Gear reviews and whatnot. Um, okay. Yeah.
Mark: Mm-hmm.
Doug: And, okay, so other, otherwise you kind of alluded to it, I just wanted to clarify. So you run some ads, but you’re not doing any other kind of monetization or are you, like, do you do paid reviews or anything like that?
Or is there any other money coming in the door?
Mark: I have not ever charged for demos. Cool. Um. My whole reason behind that is I wanted my guitar playing to speak for itself in the beginning. So I was like, I will do this for free, but like, you know, I’m keeping the pedal, whatever. Yeah. Um, and, and then like, if, if I want to sell that pedal, well then that’s my payment.
You know, that kind of, that’s kind of the always the deal that I have worked with people and they’re like, that’s fine. And I’ve never ever reviewed anything that I didn’t like. Like that. I wasn’t genuine. Like this is cool. Um, I think there’s a stigma there where people are like, you guys like everything?
I’m like, nah, you didn’t see the shit. I didn’t like, I sent it back. Like, for real. Like there’s, there’s been a couple that I was like, I, I just, it’s not that this is a bad product, I just don’t see that me using it. I really don’t. And I’d sent it back. Um, but that’s only probably happened two or three times if I’m honest.
And. That is with how many truckloads of overdrive pedals have I played? Um, and genuinely speaking man, like people are making cool shit. Yeah. It’s just, you know, and it’s just all like flavors of ice cream and it’s like could hit you on a day that you’re like, wow, this is the best mint chocolate chip I’ve ever had.
And then another day it could be like, this is. Terrible. This is like the most vanilla thing I’ve ever had.
Doug: Yeah.
Mark: So
Doug: interesting.
Mark: It just ranges, man.
Doug: Okay.
Staying Organized and Filming Setup
Doug: And then do you have any sort of, um, set schedule based on your, I guess, bandwidth overall where you’re like, I can’t review. This stuff, or I need to wait like it won’t be done.
’cause probably people are like, oh, you, you know, Mark’s reviewing stuff. We’ll send him a, a couple pedals. And you’re like, ah, shit, I got a lot of stuff going on. You’re recording and you’re, you can’t get to it. So how do you, how do you manage that portion of the content?
Mark: I generally am pretty disorganized.
Um, but when it comes to this stuff, I have a, a shelf right here where I keep all my pedals and I line them up in order of importance of like deadlines and things like that. Right now, there is nothing on that shelf. Um, the stuff that’s about to be, that I’m going to review shortly is stuff I actually bought months ago.
So I, with my own money, I bought the jam, wacko Wa, which I’m gonna do a demo of. I bought, um, what else did I buy? Oh, the, um, the Keely washer, which is a phaser. Um, but, so like, there’s, there’s stuff that like I still need to do, but when it’s stuff that I bought. I don’t feel super like, rushed to do it, but like there’s been stuff like, uh, JHS had me on the Lon release, which was awesome.
And, um, that was very secretive and very much so. Like you gotta have it drop at this specific time, this specific day. And I think that was my first one, my first big release, like day release. Gotcha. And then I have a pretty good relationship with Keely. So like we, I did like the Manus, which is their clon.
Um. Can’t remember what other stuff. It’s been such a blur the past couple years. Sure. But, but it is, it, how I stay organized is basically with that system, like that visual system in my office. I’m like, I gotta do this. Um, and then for amps, like I just had an amp that was sent to me from Marla Amps a couple, like weeks ago, and I didn’t have anything on the docket, so I was like, as soon as you send it, I’ll shoot it, you know?
And he’s a friend of mine, so I was just like, you know, as soon as I get this and then I usually try to shoot, believe it or not, like between seven 30 and 8:30 AM I don’t know why, but like my hands are really creative at that time of the morning. And when I shoot, I’ll shoot before my day job. And that way my wife is gone, my daughter’s at school.
Um, I can be as loud as I want here and, and you know, shoot. As many times as I wanna shoot. And if not, then usually it’ll be like Saturday morning when, when everybody’s up, um, I’ll shoot and I’ll be like, I’m going downstairs for a couple hours. So,
Doug: quick question on that. ’cause I have noticed, uh, you, it seems you like you do crank the amps up, you wear ear earplugs and, and such.
Is it in the basement? Is it like studio design, like double walled, um, drywall or it’s just like
Mark: I’m in my office in the basement. Yeah, it’s
Doug: okay.
Mark: But I have, um, we live out in the country, so it’s like, oh,
Doug: okay.
Mark: The one neighbor that is like there on the other side of this wall, they’re hella cool and they love music.
So like anytime they hear me playing, they’re like, hell yeah. Like so, and then the other one is. Far enough off that way they probably can’t even hear it, so.
Doug: Gotcha. I even if I play the acoustic down here, um, and I don’t know if you can see, but the, um, like the flooring joist store right here, it’s an unfinished basement.
Mm-hmm. So even an acoustic guitar, my wife could hear it, like hear it quietly across the house. So when I. Crank up anything. I think she could hear it like on the porch, like out the, on the driveway or something. So I’m like, ah, I have to wait till they go on a walk and with my dog or whatever. So anyway.
Mark: Yeah, man. Gotta be, uh, you know, a little bit, uh, respectful. I guess.
Booking Bigger Guests
Doug: Let’s shift gears. So one thing that you mentioned is, um, the journalistic, uh, sort of inspiration. You wanted to have bigger names. You started at the beginning, you started, um, you know, people just. Didn’t know who you are or they only knew you as a, as a musician, which is probably helpful.
And you were able to like level up over time. One benefit that you had was everybody else was stuck at home, so they were like, oh shit. Yeah, we’ll go. Like, you know, some people that I know, so they’re like, sure, you know, we will do it. Mm-hmm. So take us back. Um, you mentioned Joey Landreth, which. Love him.
Uh, you know, great band. And I was gonna say, I have a couple of his signature pedals and stuff. Mm-hmm. But yeah, take us back to the beginning. You were like, maybe this’ll work. And then it started to take off a lot.
Mark: Yeah. And I, you know what’s funny too is I, since I don’t pay attention to analytics or anything, like I don’t, I don’t know how much it’s taken off and everybody says like, oh, I love your podcast.
I’m like, I have no clue if anyone’s even listened to it. I really don’t. And you know, that’s the thing is like, it’s on Apple and Spotify and stuff. And like, I did that because people were like, I wanna listen to it on my way home from work or whatever. And I was like, okay, I’ll do it. And um, but I’m like, is it really doing anything for me?
I don’t know that if it’s doing anything for me. Um. That’s the thing is like, I didn’t even know if it was taking off or if people were digging it. I mean, I printed t-shirts last year thinking, oh, I’ll sell a shit load of t-shirts. No dude, I sold like 10.
Doug: Yeah,
Mark: okay. Like, so something just like, you know, the gear stuff gets more views.
It probably does more from my channel than my podcast does, believe it or not, even though I love doing the podcast. Um, and that’s the thing that I hoped would’ve been the thing that this podcast that, that the YouTube channel was known for. But, um. So, yeah, I think I started to know things were going well when I would reach out to a, one of, you know, a guest I wanted to have on, and they were like, oh yeah, I wa I know your shit.
I watched the episode with Joey, or I watched a thing with Charlie Hunter or whatever, and I was like, what? So,
Doug: yeah,
Mark: and it just, you know, got better and better and better and I think I was just, um. In DC this past weekend, because I do this other thing on my channel called Gear Gab, where I do like a rig rundown, but it’s, that’s like my version.
I don’t wanna steal rig rundown. So,
Doug: yeah.
Mark: Uh, it’s not hard to think of another name. Um, so I went and did this band Mo, which is this, this jam band that I love, that I grew up listening to and were my heroes, and I got to hang out with him and like my favorite guitar player, Chuck Garvey, and I’m just sitting there.
And he walks up after I’m, ’cause I’m, I’m not even doing the guitar player. I’m, I’m friends with the percussionist, Jim. And, uh, he comes up and he is like, Hey, what’s up, mark, blah. Because I’ve, I’ve hung out with him now three or four times and I’m, I told my wife the other day, I was like, dude, if I could like go back in time and like, just tell myself when I was 19, be like, bro.
Fucking strap in, man, because it’s gonna take a minute. It’s not gonna be until you’re in your forties, but like, you’re gonna be friends with these cats, like,
Doug: yeah.
Mark: Um, it’s just crazy now. And like, and even the crew, like, they’re like, oh, we, we know who you are. And I was like, what the fuck? Right. You shouldn’t, but all means you should not know who I am.
But, um, but yeah, it’s just, you know, it’s gotten better and better in the um. I really have pushed hard in the past year. I really took some chances and put myself out there to some people that I was just like, I really, really wanna get, you know, Chris Barons from the Spin Doctors on, like, he was my hero and for a long time.
And, um, some more of, of like the jam band cats, like Trey Anastasio was my white whale. I don’t think he’ll ever, ever come, even though I know his guitar tech, like I know his, like I’m friends with his guitar tech. Um, but I, I don’t think it’ll ever happen. That dude is like, you know, he’s,
Doug: he’s locked down.
Mark: He’s large and in charge. Yeah.
Doug: Yeah.
Mark: But it’s, you know, it’s been good. So the thing that I find about at home with Mark, that people may not even see this side of it, but more than anything, it is therapeutic for me. Because it is a way to talk about these things that I can’t discuss with my significant other.
She doesn’t fucking know about guitar, any, anything with music. Like she doesn’t even, she listens to music, but like, not to the level that you and I would kind of thing. Um, and I think it’s, it’s more than anything that, that once a week hang is just. A nice way for me to get to know people and explore their li their lives and like the shoes that they’ve worn.
Um, and that’s kind of therapeutic to me to kind of, you know, connect with someone that has walked the same path or a similar path, even if they’re like, way up here, you know, and I’m way down here. They had to do the singing grind, so.
Doug: So, yeah, like you mentioned, uh, Chris Baron from Spin Doctors, another one.
I, I’m a big, uh, black Rose fan. I grew up in Georgia. Oh yeah. And, uh, saw Mark fucking Ford on there, which was cool. Yeah, man. Um, yeah, just curious like how you connected and, and obviously there’s many other folks. I’m looking at your, the page here, there’s so many people that you’ve interviewed, obviously in the hundreds.
How do you reach out to someone? When maybe you don’t know them directly.
Mark: Usually it’s friend of friend type situation. Somebody will give um, them my information and then they’ll reach out to me. Sometimes I will try to find them via social media and give them a quick spiel, like elevator pitch on myself in the show.
Um, Chris Barrons was. So he was through Aaron Comas and through Jack Dailey. So Jack Dailey is the bass player in the spinning actors. Now, Aaron Comas is the drummer, Eric Shankman I had on in like my second season and he was like one of my heroes too. So that was wild. Um, but Chris, it was funny because Jack talked to Chris and then Jack hit me up and just gave me his number.
And I was like, bro, um,
Doug: is this okay?
Mark: Is he gonna be, he’s like, yeah, he’s expecting you. I was like, okay, let’s do this. And then I, I was like upstairs having lunch, texting with Chris Barron about the show and like, when I could have him on. So
Doug: Blowing, blowing the mind. Yeah. Crazy.
Mark: Yeah, it’s nuts, man. Like yeah.
That’s kind of organically how it’s happened. Um, Dave Cruzin, who played on Pearl Jams 10, which I’m a huge, that, that’s like my favorite band. Um, he was on, I haven’t had anybody from Pearl Jam on. Those are extremely big white whales. Bigger than Trey Anastasio. I’m sorry, Trey. But like, I’d rather talk to Mike McReady, like, um, well first I’d rather first talk to, like, I’ll say that I would love to talk Tore, but, um.
So that was, that was a huge moment for me, um, to be able to chat with him and like talk about like the impetus of Pearl Jam. Uh, you know, and there’s been a couple times that I’ve done some of these things where I have to like pinch myself because I’m sitting there talking to him and, and it’s just normal.
It’s like we’ve known each other for 30 years kind of thing. And I think there’s a. There’s a level of, uh, I don’t wanna say it’s innate skill to be able to do that, but I do have a leg up in terms of, I’m not even like an extrovert. I’m very introverted, but like, I feel comfortable. I’m not intimidated. By people just because they’re rock stars.
Um, ’cause they’re just humans. They just happen to have reached a, a pillar that I have not reached or may not reach, um, in the music realm. Um, but they’re humans and I think that, you know, the disarming of the way that I come at this stuff is what makes people relax. Uh, like you mentioned the Mark Ford one.
That one was weird because I felt like I was trying to. Pull it out of him. And I’ve only had maybe out of the close to 300 episodes, I’ve maybe only had two or three times that that’s happened.
Doug: Mm-hmm.
Mark: Um, so
Doug: I, I listened to a couple interviews with him and, um, yeah, he, he was a little closed at at times and I’ve seen a couple other things where he is a little more open, but, you know.
I don’t, I don’t know what makes him tick exactly. But he’s had, you know, a, a rollercoaster ride of a life overall. I would say so.
Mark: Oh my God. Yeah. And he, and he’s, you know, he’s a, he’s one of the episodes that I consistently get comments, like YouTube comments that’ll just pop up, like, mark four, holy fucking shit, blah, blah, blah, this stuff.
And I’m like, oh, sweet. Somebody saw it, so I hope they weren’t like, God, this was awkward. Um, ’cause it didn’t feel awkward. It just felt like I was like working real hard. Yep. Um, you know, and it, it a good conversation. I shouldn’t have to feel that way,
Doug: feels more natural.
Interview Prep and Better Questions
Doug: Speaking of which, do you prepare a lot, especially for, you know, people where you’re like, I can’t believe that I’m speaking with this person.
How much do you prep? How structured is it?
Mark: I do prep quite a bit. Um, most of the time though, the prep is alm already done because I’ve been a lifelong fan. You know, so I come at it with more of a curiosity of like, what’s some shit that these people are not getting asked? Like, and I’ll go back, my prep is mostly going back and trying to find old interviews, trying to find a reason, interviews with them to see like, okay, so the spin doctors just put out a new record last year.
What’s the boring bullshit? Like rolling stone questions that these guys are getting. Um, and what’s the, like the musician in me that cares about the, um. Uh, integrity, my integrity as a musician. What are those questions? Like, what are the things I want to know selfishly about how they made this record? Um, and I don’t, I don’t mean to shit on Rolling Stone, but you know what I mean?
It’s like, what’s the typical people that aren’t, didn’t spend 10,000 hours learning how to play the guitar and write songs, you know, those people are not asking the same questions I’m gonna ask. Um, so that’s the, mostly the prep that I do is looking up, um. What’s the can nonsense that’s going on out there?
Doug: Alright.
Mark: And how, how can I avoid that? Um, you know, ’cause, and normally I wouldn’t even instinctually go there, uh, anyway, but I, I do wanna know, like, okay, if someone’s asking the same, if I see three interviews and the same question is asked in all three interviews. Stay the hell away from that question.
Doug: It’s boring. And, and it gets them out of, I see this with like book authors. They kind of have their spiel memorized, so they get the question and they tune out. But if you hit ’em with something new, they have to think about it. And they’re way more interested in like. You afterwards as well. ’cause they, they understand that you spent time researching and you, you found the, the thread that you were super interested in.
So, very cool.
Mark: Yeah.
Doug: Alright.
Networking For Guests
Doug: Anything else on the interview side or, you know, getting guests or you, you gave great examples of how you were able to do it so people should be able to take that to, I mean, it doesn’t have to be music. Um, I do stuff in the personal finance area and mm-hmm. Kind of came at it sideways as well.
So I did more marketing and other stuff like that, but ended up like going sort of adjacent and had a parallel move and was able to like, connect with people that basically I didn’t have any business connecting with. Right. And it, it just, it worked out well. So, um, yeah.
Podcast Goals And Authenticity
Doug: Anything else on the production side?
Mark: No, man, I, I think, you know, if people are interested in get into that stuff, just lean into it, man. Like, just put yourself out there. I, you know, there is zero to lose. Like,
Doug: yeah,
Mark: I, I’ve never made any, like, significant money off of doing the podcast. It’s been nothing but a passion project and like, that’s fine for me.
You know, it’s like everybody has different, uh, intentions and different goals with it. But, you know, I, I think the most important thing is just staying pure to why you wanna do it in the first place. So, and own that if, if, if making money is what you want to do, then fucking own it.
Doug: Yeah.
Mark: You know, if you want to be a rock star, fucking own it.
If someone’s like, oh, you know, blah, blah, blah, you just wanna be a rock star, and you’re like, no. But secretly, yes, you do fucking own it, man. Just be like, yes, I would love to be a rock star and on stage and. Play my music and reach people. Like, that’s fine. Nobody’s going to like, you know, douse you in gasoline for, for wanting something and feeling passionate about it, you know what I mean?
Doug: Right on. Well, perfect transition.
Pretty War Origin Story
Doug: You have some stuff going on. So tell us about your band, where people could see you guys play and other projects you have going on. And I’ll ask follow up questions, but yeah, you could tell us all about it.
Mark: Yeah. So, um, I started a band, uh, back in 20, uh, I think it might have been 20, when I first got back here.
It was called Mark Hopkins in the hotel. ’cause I was trying to like work the SEO thing and I was hoping people would accidentally hit our website even though like the, you know, San Francisco hotel. Um, that didn’t work out. Um, but at some point I rebranded the band and called it Mark Hopkins and the pretty war.
It was a dream I had of like cannons shooting flowers and stuff over, like, on these like green hills and, and I was just like, okay. Um, that’s a cool concept. And, and I feel like being in a band and being on stage just kind of like, feels like you’re in a foxhole sometimes, especially when you’re playing improvisational music.
Like we do, like, we’re a jam band, so. We’re doing a lot of long stretch, you know, um, improvisational sections of, of tunes and sometimes you don’t know where you are. Like, what song are we even in? Like, are we supposed to segue into something else? So I felt like it had like a whole different levels of meaning.
And then, um, cut to only about six months ago, um, two of the guys that I would have play in my band were in this other band in town that was just. Constantly booked and busy. And they would do, like all summer long, they would be playing like Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. Sometimes they’d be doing triples and doubles on Saturdays and then they’d play Sunday.
They were just so busy. Um, so it was a drummer and a keyboard player. And at some point in the fall, the keyboard player, who’s one of my best friends too, by the way, um, was like, yo. I’m leaving that band. And I was like, okay. And he writes music too. And he also sings. And I was like, what do you think about this?
What if you joined my band? And we dropped my name and we just call it Pretty War. So rebrand it. And he was like, cool. And I was like, now we gotta just lock in a drummer. He’s like, you might wanna talk to John. Like he’s probably going to be a little bit more busy. I was like, dude, he’s still. Working in that band.
He’s like, yeah, but like he might be like interested if you like, threw out some dates. So I sent him all these dates and he’s like, yeah, I can do that one. Yeah, I can do that one. Yeah, I can do that one. I was like, what is going on
Doug: Uhhuh?
Mark: And then the next rehearsal, the drummer was like, yeah, I’m leaving that band too.
So let’s do this thing. So what’s cool about Pretty War is it’s four guys. It’s bass, me, guitar keys and drums and um, it’s all. It feels like high school because we’re all friends.
Doug: Yeah.
Mark: So no longer do I have to deal with the bullshit of hired gun, where people, they’re not invested in what we’re doing.
Every single person in the band is invested in the music that we’re writing, the music that we’re recording, the responsibility is carried on everyone’s shoulders. It’s no longer just on my shoulders. It’s a huge relief in that sense. Yeah.
First Shows And Momentum
Mark: Um, and our first. The first gig we played was in January under Pretty War, and we did a Phish tribute show at this bar in Baltimore called The Cat’s Eye, which is like this vaunted venue that everybody that comes to Baltimore goes there to see live music.
So we did two sets of fish. It was packed with a bunch of lovely hippies and people that love fish, and we. A bunch of people were filming it and stuff, and I put up all these clips and then our band just all of a sudden people like started coming outta the woodwork of like, holy shit. I was like, yeah, we’re not a Phish, we’re not a Phish tribute band.
We just little a one off. And then we did some studio stuff, um, with this studio where we shot video and, and did audio. And I put that out on our channel. I think we did four, three tunes, and that’s up on my YouTube channel too. And then that started taking off and people started seeing it. Now we’re booked on a bunch of festivals this summer.
Doug: Cool.
Mark: Um, and we’re doing a bunch of cool shit in Baltimore and, uh, people are finally starting to like, take notice, so.
Doug: Congrats man. That’s super cool.
Mark: Yeah,
Doug: definitely put in the time. Um, yeah, we’ll link up so people could check out those specifics. Is everything that music wise, that people could check out is on your YouTube channel or is there other places where we should direct them as well?
Mark: The band stuff is, uh, the recent stuff is on the YouTube channel. Um, there is, the last record I put out was 2019, uh, under Mark Hopkins in the Pretty War and the album’s called Eight. Uh, Joey Landers plays on it, plays on the first track. Um, um, and that’s a like an eight song ep. Um, yeah, it’s just, you know, and we we’re actually in the studio right now working on recording this, this record for this for the pretty war.
Um, so that’ll be out. Probably this summer it’s, it’s gonna be an ep, it’ll be four and I think we’re gonna do that. We’re gonna do like four and four. We’re just gonna keep putting new music out. ’cause the keyboard player and I are both very prolific writers and we write a lot. Um, we’re very Lenon McCartney.
Doug: Yeah.
Mark: He’s more of the lenon and I’m more of the McCartney. So I’m have way more of the pop sensibility stuff and he’s more of that angular kind of thing. But it’s like very cool the way that we. Work together. Um, I’m not saying we are Lenon McCarty, but it’s like definitely we’re very different the way that we write.
Interesting. Mm-hmm. It’s cool. I’m
Doug: stoked.
Writing Partnership Workflow
Doug: I’m curious about that, uh, that process. So do you guys, how does it come together? So you probably work on some stuff on your own and. Maybe you iterate on that a bit and then you bring it together. Just talk about that a little bit. Do you wait till you go in the studio?
Do you schedule stuff? Do you send files back and forth? What happens?
Mark: We get together every, every other Wednesday night and we bring ideas to each other and show each other what we’re working on, and then we will help tweak. Stuff together. Um, I think it’s a, it’s a nice, very mutual respect, you know, relationship.
Like, he’s one of my best friends, so like, like, and my wife is friends with his wife, like, we’re together, you know, a decent amount. Um, and so like we don’t get sick of each other. We, we respect each other highly. Like he, he’ll say stuff to me like, we’re the song that we’re, one of the songs we’re putting out of mine is called Breadcrumbs.
And, um, it’s short and sweet and it’s funky and it’s, it’s, it’s a cool vibe. And at the end. The chorus. You know, the way that I wrote it, uh, is like every other one of the choruses, but there’s a tag at the end that I do three times and he is like, why We should add another, a third onto the chorus too. And I was like, Hmm, I don’t know, man.
Like, that’s kind of like, it’s odd and odd. It’s like almost too, it feels like almost too disjointed. But then we did it and it felt good. So I was like, okay, that’s fine, let’s do it. So we just left it and um, and you know, there’s stuff of his, like he’ll write something in a weird time signature and I’m like, that came outta nowhere and it’s gonna lose the audience, so let’s keep it in four.
’cause if we, if we all of a sudden go into something that’s in 10, like we’re not tool. And, and you know it, the other parts of the song are very like dancey and groovy. Like, if you do that, it’s gonna throw everybody off and it’s gonna feel like a freight train. Um, so he was like, all right, let’s try it.
So we tried it and he was like, yeah, I see what you’re saying.
Doug: Yeah.
Mark: So it’s, it, it’s the openness of like, it’s always just try it once. If it doesn’t work, nine times outta 10, the person that brings up the, the suggestion is gonna realize it’s not working. So my bad. You know it. So that’s how our relationship kind of works.
Doug: That’s perfect.
Jam Band Versus Record
Doug: And then maybe one of the final questions here. How do you balance, you mentioned a jam band, so how do you balance the improvisation with, alright, we need to make a song that’s, I’m just making it up. It’s about four minutes long, or five, or maybe a little bit longer, but yeah. How do you balance that improvisation with having to cut a record?
Mark: Uh, well, so breadcrumbs on the record is probably gonna be sub three minutes. Um, live, it might be five minutes. Um, ’cause there’s a, a keyboard solo in the middle of that. That’ll probably, we’ll probably stretch it when we play live. But then there’s another song of mine called The Shakes that we’re recording that will be over five minutes long that has a jam built into the recording.
Um, but, you know, I’m talking like a 16 bar guitar solo. It’s nothing crazy, but live it, it’s gonna probably be very dynamic and there’ll be peaks and valleys and stuff. So it’s just like. I think I’ve done it long enough that I know when a song needs to be just recorded and it needs to be a song like breadcrumbs ’cause it’s very catchy and hooky and everything that I love about Paul McCartney.
Um, but then there’s like the shakes, which is, I actually wrote it about an experience of going to see Phish at Hershey Park in. 1997, um, and mushrooms were involved and it was a good time. So, you know, I think that there is a, uh, there’s a time I think when I’m like, okay, I’m, I’m spreading my jam band wings.
Like I’m gonna lean in, lean into it. And then there’s other times when I write songs on, even on piano, like if there’s like a Ben Fozy type thing that’s not gonna have a jam in it, man. It’s, it’s a song. The song’s gotta speak first. Um. Then if we can stretch it live, if there’s a place. But not, not every song stretches live.
I mean, there’s, you gotta read the audience too, like I’m like, people are, you know, okay. The last song was like 25 minutes. Like then, then we need to play like four songs in a row that are just like bangers and just get in and get out. You know what I mean?
Doug: Yeah, yeah.
Mark: So it’s just. It’s just maturity, I think over time.
Doug: Got it.
Where To Find Mark
Doug: Mark, this has been awesome. I think we could talk for hours, but we do have to wrap it up. So where should people find you? Just the YouTube channel is where I’ll send them, but anywhere else,
Mark: uh, Instagram, Mark Hopkins music, so it’s the handle for YouTube and Instagram are the same. Mark Hopkins music there hopefully will be a pretty war website in 2026, maybe.
So we can have some sort of visual presence, but as of right now, we’re still, you know, all things considered a young band. Mm-hmm. So we’re still working it out.
Doug: Right on. Cool man. Well thanks a lot. We’ll link up to everything so people could check the show notes and description out there. Appreciate it, mark.
Mark: Yeah, thanks for having me buddy.
Go To Guitars
Doug: Okay, mark, I’ve watched a lot of your videos. You have quite a few guitars. What’s like your, your go-to couple guitars that you bring to gigs, the ones that they’re your main AEs? I’ll be honest, man, compared to my contemporaries, I don’t have that many guitars, right. So I, when I turned 40, I bought a custom shop Strat, which was always my like white whale.
Mark: I always wanted a custom shop. Strat, I’ve been a Strat guy since. Like 99 or 2000. My first like real guitar was a black Les Paul Custom, or no, it wasn’t. It was a studio. What am I talking about? I couldn’t afford a custom. I was like, dang, this is sweet first. No, no, no. Okay. No, it was a studio. Um, but, uh, you know, really quickly I found out that that Les Paul was not for me because I heard a bunch of single coils and all the stuff that I loved.
And I was like, what is that sound? And my guitar teacher was like, that’s a Stratocaster. And I was like, what is that? He’s like, it’s this. I’m holding it dummy. And I was like, oh, there it is. On the headstock. Um, so yeah, so I, uh, been a Strat guy my whole life. I have a, I have two Strats, one of which I was playing earlier today.
It was my old Strat, which I bought. It’s a 1999 strap. And, uh, it’s like shoreline gold. It originally came with stock pickups. I then put Texas specials in them, played that and toured with that guitar for years in a jam band called Tribe of Ben. Um, and then hated how noisy they were. So I swapped them out for some rewind pickups.
My, my friend Jim, um, James, and then recently, actually I swapped ’em out again for, uh, stock tone pickups, which if you don’t know about stock tone pickups, Sherman is a genius. Um, it, it’s basically like picture all the great things about a tele bridge in a Strat. With the classic throaty, middle and neck strap pickup.
Doug: Beautiful. Yeah, it sounds great. So anyway, so I have two Strats. I have a Josh Williams Mockingbird. Um, and then I have, I bought, I bought a Les Paul, um, standard in August. That’s like a honey burst. I actually bought it from Wildwood Guitars. It inspired me wearing this shirt. I was like, oh, what am I gonna wear?
And I was like, oh, we’ll be able to talk about it a little bit. And I, I watched that video. ’cause Wildwood, I think maybe in our correspondence, I was like, I live like 30, 20, 30 minutes away from Wildwood. Like I got bought a LG two, an acoustic from that. Nice. But yeah. Yeah. It’s my local shop ish. So you’re lucky, my friend.
Mark: You were lucky. That’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. So you got that one, but I think I saw maybe. It’s gonna leave your home. It might. I don’t know, man. That’s the thing is I was, uh, I was talking to Nick Greer the other night, um, ’cause he was like, you’re selling that guitar. You just got it. And, uh, ’cause when I bought it, he was like, thank God you’re back in the Les Ball camp.
And I was like, man, I, I love it. It sounds great. It’s a sexy looking guitar. I sold a tele and some other stuff to get it, and I missed the telly, something fierce. And it’s because I’ve, I’ve just been a single coil fender type dude my whole life. Um, and the 3 35 does all the stuff that the Les Paul can do.
Doug: Yep, yep, yep. So interesting. And I, um, little bit the opposite. So I’m a Les Paul Guy and. I mean, it’s the same thing. Like, I remember watching slash when I first got MTV in like 1987 and I was like that. That’s it. That’s so cool. So as time goes on, I’m like, yeah, I just gravitate towards that. And then like you said, I have a few different, uh, Les Paul’s with different pickups and I’m kind of getting into that.
It’s very fun. But, uh. Do you have any P 90? Like P 90 Les Balls? I have one. It’s uh, are you familiar with Eastman? Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I have the Eastman, it’s the SB 55 V, which is just fucking killer. Yeah, it’s, it’s awesome. It has a Lala P 90. Yeah. Oh hell yeah. I see. That’s the thing too, is uh, I thought about, um, ’cause originally when I bought this Les Paul, I was looking at, uh, Les Paul specials.
Mark: And, um, I was in LA a couple years ago for Nam and I played one in a shop when I was out with my buddy and he took me around to all these guitar shops and I loved it. I was like, oh man, there’s something about that P 90 sound. But then I bought a Yamaha Rev Star. Hmm. Because I was like, you know what?
I’ve heard so many good things about this instrument. I’m gonna try it. It’s cheap enough. I bought one used on reverb. And those pickups sound amazing. Like for the money, that guitar is the sleeper guitar that nobody’s talking about. Um, so cool. And I, you know, I ended up, I did sell that ’cause I was trying to move it to get other gear, so I lost the P nineties.
Um, but I always thought, you know, if I, if I go back to something with p nineties, I’d probably get like a Les Paul special, or I would get a, a Frank Brothers with a, with some p nineties in it.
Vintage Harmony Restoration
Mark: So I went back into your archive and watched. A video about your grandfather’s guitar. We’ll link up to that, but like, can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, so that guitar is a 1939 Harmony, Vogue, and it was sitting in my parents’ house for, I don’t know, decades. And it was actually in my old room, my like childhood bedroom. Like my dad must have just put it in there. Um, but it was. Basically not falling apart. Like the, the pit guard was like a tortoise shell pit guard that was just like completely crumbling.
The tuning pegs were just like, they didn’t work. Um, there was no strings on it. It, it was just in disrepair. So I was like, you know what? I, I feel like there’s, and I’ve heard of people that refurbished these, so I looked more into it and I found this guy, Scott Baxendale. I was like reading up on him and what he does and he’s like, refurbed guitars for like Jeff Tweedy and Jason Isabel and all these people.
And then I was like, you know what? Before I take the leap, ’cause I don’t even know how much this is gonna cost, uh, let me have him on my podcast. So I called, I called him, got in touch with him. He came on my podcast, we talked about it. I showed him the guitar and he was like. You should, you should fix that up, dude.
That’s really cool. And he was like, I can’t tell from from here exactly what it is, and I couldn’t tell you the date and all that stuff. It’s like, get it in my hands. But he’s like, it’s old, it’s pre-war. Um, so I sent him the guitar. I paid for it, just regular price. Um, it wasn’t that bad. I think it was like 1300 bucks, 1200 bucks.
Uh, but it is my recording guitar. It sounds like a cannon. And what’s cool about it is all of the wood that is part of that instrument is all the pre-war Martin Wood. So everything that was like left over scraps, I guess, that they just like gave them to Harmony and silvertone or sold it off to those companies and all those catalog guitar companies built these, had this amazing wood and made these amazing instruments, and it is.
Bitch to play. I’m not gonna lie. It is a, it’s like a big fat baseball back nick. Like, yeah. Yeah. It’s really big. I took it to one gig, one like four hour acoustic solo gig that I had. And when I was done, I was like, never again am I doing this. So I sold, I sold my tailor as soon as I got that. I had a Taylor seven 14, uh, that I bought used in like 2000.
Four or something. I think I bought it around then from Guitar Center and it, that was like my gigging workhorse guitar that I had for a long time. And I got it for like 1600 bucks. It was a steal. Um, and it was Brazilian rosewood and, uh, cedar top. It was beautiful. It, it sounded great. But the harmony sounds better.
It’s a better sounding instrument. Yeah. Yeah. So I sold to Taylor thinking, oh, well this is my acoustic now, right? Yeah. Nah, dude, I can’t play that thing for four hours. Three hours actually. Um, so I bought a, a test rod, by the way, does it, is it, it does, it does not, I don’t think. Okay. I don’t think so. Yeah.
Um, but the, uh, solution for me was I bought a mateen, uh, acoustic. So, do you know about that company? I do. A, a little bit is Australian, right. And, um, Tommy Manuel plays. Yep. Keith Urban. A bunch of those cats. Yeah. It rules, it is the best sounding acoustic guitar plugged in I’ve ever heard in my life. Like, and I’ve played a crap ton of instruments and I’ve played a ton of gigs and, you know, the troubadour and the corner of the bar type dude.
And it’s, I’ve had every single gig. Someone comes up and is like. Oh my God, that guitar sounds amazing. And I’m like, yeah, I, I don’t know what the magic is, what pickups really even it is, but there’s two, there’s pizo and then there’s a mic in the sound hole, and it just sounds like you’re standing in front of it.
Doug: That’s so cool. It’s that good. Yeah, man. And uh, I, um, you can’t see it very well. I have, uh, it’s a 33 Kalamazoo, right. Oh, tight man. See a little bit and um, yeah, yeah. There’s something super cool about the pre-war. You can’t beat the 90 years of age or whatever. Right. And it, it needed some work, not as much as yours.
It was, I didn’t need a neck reset, no cracks. I did get a fret and the bridge was pretty banged up and, um, yeah. Everything’s expensive now. That’s pretty mm-hmm. Delicate work. So yeah, it was like, you know, 1100 bucks to get all that stuff done. But it plays as good as a brand new guitar, and I’m okay. It does have a pretty, it’s like a, a pretty thick v, no truss rod, but it weighs like, I don’t know, like two pounds, 13 ounces.
Like it’s so light, like yours must be. Feather light too. Oh, it’s hella light. Oh my God, dude. Yeah, and it’s cool too, because what they did to that guitar, I didn’t even say this, but like, so I did have it re fretted, new tuning pegs, new pick guard. They take the backs off those guitars and rebrace them like a Martin.
Mark: So yeah, all the glue and like, like he took that off and like, like v braced it and everything. And it is, you know, it, like I said, it projects like a cannon, like the first time I took it into a studio. Um, and they just put mics in front of me. The engineer was like, holy shit, dude. And I was like, I know man.
So good. So good. Yeah. But I don’t wanna take it to gigs anymore. It’s just a, it’s just got a lot of sentimental value and I just think it’s, it’s a bear to play and it’s just probably meant to be heard on a record. So. Yeah. That makes sense. And a quick shout out to, uh, Baxendale. I think he’s in the Santa Fe area and we were on vacation, I think it’s been like five years ago and at the time COVID was going on, but we went to, uh, stay Gold Guitars.
Doug: Have you heard of that place? Yes. Mm-hmm. So Sean showed me around, we didn’t have an appointment, but we went in and I saw, um, many Baxton Dales and other stuff like it was. Tons of cool shit and got to play a few. Amazing when they do the X Brace and rebrace these older, cheaper guitars. But I did see a, um, it was a national RESO rocket, uh, mahogany body and it was my birthday, so my wife let me walk out that one and it was, oh, hell yeah, dude.
Yeah. So that’s one with a sentimental value where I won’t be like, alright. I’m not gonna, yeah, I’m not gonna par that one. Be buried with that one. That’s right.
Two Rock And Modern Rigs
Doug: Alright, one more gear thing. I am through your reviews and watching a bunch of YouTube videos, um, I ended up getting an Amplified Nation Amp and I think I see one.
Is that in the background for you? Is that a Two Rock? It is a Two Rock. Okay. Yeah. Well. I don’t have any of the amplified stuff. Okay. Um, so I’m friends with Taylor. So Taylor has sent me stuff to demo and, ’cause I was, I was curious about it. I already kind of had a relationship with Eli, um, probably since I’ve been a two rock artist, I think maybe since 2017.
Mark: Um. But you know, it’s, it’s a competitor and Right. I’m, I’m friends with both the dudes, so I, I mean, like, they’re both amazing people. Like Eli is, this is how good of a human Eli Lester is. When my dad passed away in 2023, Eli called me, um, maybe like, well, like four or five days later and, uh, talk to me for an hour.
And I’m not John Mayer. Like, I’m like, what are you doing? And I was like, and, and he’s just that kind of a guy. He’s like, you are important to me. Like you’re out there playing our amps. And every single person, no matter how small, no matter how big it’s like, you know, are important to me. He’s just that kind of a human.
And that’s the kind of people I want to be involved with. So the two rock thing, I had a, um, I bought a studio signature in 2015. Did a demo, like with my own money and like, everything. And then Eli commented on it and I was like, what the fuck? And, uh, and then I, I’ve done, you know, I did multiple, like studio signature videos and I’m an okay player.
I don’t, I don’t wave my flag like that. I mean, I think I do an okay job, but like, he was like, he loved it. And um, we just kind of like. Struck up a friendship and then he was like, if you, you know, wanted any other of the amps in our line, like what, what would you want to check out? And I was like, probably a Bloomfield Drive.
So that was the next amp I had him built me. And um, this is the one, so it’s like I have that and it’s a two 12 cab and then he built me a uh, close back one 12 cab. And I’ll use that for like smaller gigs. ’cause that’s a loud ass amp dude. It’s. It’s 2040, so it’s switchable between 20 and 40 watts. But even in the 20 watt mode it cooks.
Dude, it’s loud. I bet. And it’s very hd. That’s the thing about, and you probably know this ’cause Taylor’s amps are like that too. But, um, the thing I find about these amps that a lot of people, it’s, it’s kind of scary thing for some people is it’s very. Hd. You can’t hide behind shit. Like there’s no, let’s just stack the game until like, you can’t hear my mistakes.
This has made, this amp has made me a better guitar player. Yeah, that makes sense.
Besides the two Rock, I will say, this is hysterical ’cause this is a complete antithesis, but like, I just bought a Stadium xl, a line six stadium, and I did it because I’ve been curious, like color me, curious. Um, and I wanted to, I just wanted to check it out honestly. And I got it at a good deal and I was frigging blown away.
I was like, oh shit. Like this sounds really good. So what I ended up doing is I bought an an FRFR cab from Fender and one 12. And it’s cool, it’s tweed. Like I wanted something with some vibe ’cause I’m like, I’m still want to hear it on stage. I don’t, I don’t wanna just run this through the in ears and through the pa I want to move some air.
So I’m still doing that. Even when I’m using the stadium live, I’m still using that cab. Um, so tho those are my two rigs. It’s like the two and the stadium. Um, but they’re cool man. They’re really cool.
Final Wrap Up
Mark: So That’s awesome. Yeah.