MySpace a place for friends

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At last - it's here! The 'Mark Bennett Trio's' own myspace page. As you can see, a bit of a work in progress, but at least it's up and running.....

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Please note - the current audio tracks are nothing more than 'live' rehearsal room roughs - in lieu of some quality recording time, I hasten to add. What you hear is what you get!! Watch this space.

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A bit of background.....

Any of you that know me probably do so through the Midlands acoustic and blues scenes.... I have been doing the acoustic thing for about 3 years now, first solo, and then very successfully with my acoustic duo 'My Mate Mark' (with fellow 'Mark', Mark Whitmore - aka Urisk). That, you may (or may not!) be pleased to know, is still going strong, with plenty of gigs on the list over the coming months....

However, over the last 12 -15 months my principal interests musically has been shifting more and more towards electric blues - or more accurately that hazy zone somewhere between blues, jazz, rock, funk..... (I'm not one for categories and pigeon holes, as good music is, well, just 'good music', so that's as near to a pigeon hole ya gonna get outa me!). If you like the likes of Robben Ford, Matt Schofield, Joe Bonomassa, Oli Brown, Walter Trout..... there's a pretty good chance you'll like this....!!

I started looking for the right musicians to start this project with over 12 months ago.... After numerous try outs with various drummers/bass players, things weren't quite 'gelling' the way I wanted. I hadn't got the right people.

Then Alan Nicholls came on the scene.....

I can't quite remember the first encounter, but it would of been at 'The Crossroads Blues Club' (our home turf!) I'd imagine! I think, that first time, he was round the pointy end of a camera lens, and me round the back..... I was shooting my 'Down At The Crossroads' series..... He was sitting in with..... I dunno, whoever!! I made a mental note.....

Next time was a 'Crossroads' jam session and I'd exchanged camera for guitar. I remember feeling that electric buzz and warm glow of satisfaction you get when everything hangs together 'just right' with a really 'tight' rhythm section. Several jams sessions later, and a few slots together with various configurations of 'The Chickenbone Blues Band', I knew I had my drummer sorted. Just the right bass player now.....

That proved somewhat trickier...!! I have played with a good few great bass players in that scratch band/jam context, but all the good ones where either too busy, or not quite right for what I had in mind.... This band had to 'rock', and it had to be able to 'get funky'. I needed someone with one foot in the jazz camp too.... Fast forward a few months to a 'Slide Boy Roy' gig, again at 'The Tower of Song' - I got talking to Jon Forfar, Roy's second guitarist.... We started getting together as a guitar duo. Myself on acoustic and vocals and Jon on his trusty 'Les Paul' worked best it turned out (like what I do solo.... only better!!!) 'Mojo 952' was (and is) the result.

It didn't take long, however, to realise that Jon could also play a bit of bass - be it, admittedly up to that point, purely for his own recordings. The moral here is 'find the musician first - what instrument he ends up playing is kind of incidental'. Before we got together for the first time I kind of just knew it was gonna work. Our first time out at 'The Crossroads' (after just 20 minutes of aborted rehearsal!) was not only Jon's first time in public on the bass, but was my first time 'fronting' an electric band of any sort... We seemed to go down a storm!

Fast forward another couple of months and here we are today..... A few gigs/rehearsals/gigs in the bag, a real telepathy/communication starting to develop and, most importantly, a viable outlet for my writing...!!!! Now I have 'the vehicle' I'm buckling down to writing that 'first album'. As the new original stuff is slowly coming 'on line' and working it's way through the system and appearing on our set lists, we are very happy to play out a cool variety of 'off the beaten track' covers. Original and distinctive takes on material that I love..... a kind of nod in the direction of the influences I suppose.

So as I said at the beginning, 'if you like Matt Schofield, Robben Ford, Oli Brown etc.........' get yourself along to one of our gigs.... Oh, and for those more general pub gigs, we're also a dab hand at rocking things up a bit too, with our takes on a range of 'popular rock covers' (...... when needs be!!). Have a listen, drop us a line, come and see us play.

Let us know what you think.... (MB)

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Mark can be contacted for bookings via myspace messaging or mark@markbennett.co.uk

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