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Hi Mark, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Hey there thanks for having me. Today for once I am great, just got done with a big show in Montana where we got to fly fish a bunch. So for one day in the year I get to tell you I am relaxing today!!
Can you talk to us more about your latest single, “Summer Slowdown”?
Yeah, thanks for asking. It’s my biggest song I’ve ever been involved with. When I say biggest I just mean the writers on this track are my heroes… Steele and Wendell and Neil these guys are the best to ever do it. And all my great session player buddies in town who I am so honored to hang with, like Adam Shoenfeld for example, they all played on it. It’s just one of those ‘big’ songs I’m not sure how else to describe it! It’s SO cool.
Did any event in particular inspire you to record this song?
Just that I love songs like this. The feel, the story, all of it. It sounds huge from the minute it starts and I live for playing live… it’s the only reason I do this! The moment it starts you can imagine turning your guitars to volume 11 and walking to the front of the stage and seeing 30 thousand people rocking out. I also am obsessed with the sentiment of short(ish) dreamy love stories like this… you meet someone on a summer college trip or something and eventually they usually have to go home and you’re left with begging summer to not end, begging to do it over again, or wondering if you can be optimistic that you’ll meet someone else next time etc. etc.
Any plans to release any sort of video for the track?
Working on it. It’s unbelievable how much time and thought and planning goes into releasing music. So much stuff nobody sees behind the scenes. Its the right time to get this out and we’re going to go out and play some big shows with Billy Currington and Eli Young Band (and some others) and it’s time for the world to hear it. Video next for sure!
How was the recording and writing process?
It’s the part of making music that no artist will tell you isn’t the BEST part of it. You have these ideas of what the song sounds like and what It could sound like, and then you get in the studio and everyone has even more ideas. All of a sudden you’ve got a record coming out of the speakers and it gives you chills- you start to really see the potential. I remember sitting in Adam Shoenfeld studio, I had his vintage Gibson Firebird on and he was playing one of his favorite Gretch guitars- 1, 2, 3, 4 … and we started playing those big power chords at the start and I just looked at him with a blank stare… I was like dude this is MASSSIVE. We just laughed our whole way through recording it.
What role does Nashville play in your music?
Nashville is my favorite place on planet earth. There is nowhere that challenges and inspires me more every second than this town. It isn’t just country either, its ALL music and everyday I’m constantly being introduced to a new sound, a new artist, a new guitar tone it just never ends. And once you write songs here, the bar is set so high at how good something has to be to be “great” it’s almost unfair haha!! Nothing I love more than playing crowds all over the USA in different cultures, different weather etc. and then coming home and re grouping on the next creative moment in my career.
Does the new single mean we can expect a new album – how’s that coming along?
You can certainly expect a collection of songs this big that I have worked on with my buddy Jeffrey Steele… you want to talk about the most talent I’ve ever seen on my life and things that are unfair… spend a night watching him sing and work in the studio. God’s gift to creativity was Jeff Steele. He is MIND blowing. The short answer is yes it will be an ‘album’ whatever that means these days 🙂
Any tentative release date or title in mind?
Fall 2022 is the plan. “Summer Slowdown” is the start.
What other aspects of romance and love will you be diving into?
Every song is about love one way or another. One of the songs is about the idea of building something from the ground up with someone, whether that means build a dream studio in your basement, or build a castle in Jackson Hole Wyoming where you sit and watch buffalo and elk wander by while you’re in the hot tub… That’s my dream by the way haha!! One of the other songs is a little sad but uplifting, the other is a straight sing a lock rock tune out of Laurel Canyon. I’m all over the map that’s why I am an artist I guess… just know you have something to look forward to!!!
What else is happening next in Mark Mackay’s world?
Back on the road in a couple weeks. We just got done with this epic show in Montana we played a killer show with my favorite buddies CJ Solar and Jared James Nichols right on the Madison River, and then we went fly fishing in Yellowstone. Tough life… we hit the west coast next which is where I am from originally so I can’t wait to get back there. And finishing up a couple of the new tracks this week. Oh and it’s my birthday in August and we’re going to play a show down in 30A on the beach in Florida. That’s all I got for you!
