We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Mckowen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mark, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I had been surrounded by music my entire life. My earliest music memories include listening to Grieg, Mozart, Sousa. Atop that, my family (being from Southern California) had some connections to some of the SOCAL pop artists and their influences…so I also grew up listening to the Mamas and the Poppas, Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, the Carpenters. A bit later, my brother became a huge fan of pipe organ, so we listened to a lot of Bach…and then (justifiably) prominent Broadway productions with pipe organ (e.g., “The Phantom of the Opera”). My mother was a gifted organist, pianist, and soprano vocalist, so music was played often.
The decision to begin playing an instrument was based more on the school music program. At the time, I wasn’t interested in wind band instruments. I believe the band director even wanted me to play Tuba because of my height. I ended up studying percussion. As a result, I began to love the instruments. In the school program, it was a requirement for percussionists to master the melodic percussion prior to moving towards the drums themselves. Wanting to play the drumkit (drumset), I pushed myself to master everything. This included a lot of time in private instruction. The program moved between concert wind band, orchestra, and jazz band settings as I entered high school.
As I completed the high school curriculum, I finally made a decision that I wanted to pursue a collegiate major in audio engineering…but at the time, the only program available in my area was a hybrid Music Composition, Recording, and Electrical Tech program at the State University, which required collegiate proficiency in my main instrument (percussion). I mastered the curriculum while also adding a second major in electrical physics.
As an undergrad, a technology change emerged, which allowed me to hear music that I’ve never heard before (basically, it was the precursor to Youtube). Up to this point, the most advanced drumming that I had heard had been Buddy Rich and Neil Peart (with occasional coveted albums from speed metal bands, as well as fusion masters). This began a very long rabbit hole towards the genres of prog rock, then prog metal, then power metal, and then finally symphonic metal. I fell in love with the orchestration aspect of music, which was reinforced by the curriculum classes in music composition, counterpoint fundamentals, and orchestration classes.
I also ‘gigged’ with a couple of bands, which led everything full circle. Upon graduation, I had my mind set to either innovate electrically in the industry…and/or compose music. I’ve done the latter since graduation and have worked professionally in the Quality field for other industries as my ‘day job’. This allows my ‘life’ to be funded so I’m not having to rely on gigs (typically cover band) to earn money.
Mark, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I currently write, record, and perform with Symphonic Power Metal band Divine Martyr. We are a band with a lot of influence from Symphonic Metal bands such as Nightwish and Xandria, but also prog/power metal bands such as Symphony X, Dream Theater, Kamelot…and even Rush. The main difference is that we’re also a faith-based band, with lyrics that are considered either positive or Christian, depending on listener. We’re not a praise band, though, as we typically will cover areas of the human condition, and trials that everyone has to go through with a message of encouragement. In addition, we’re not signed to any label and record/promote/distribute/book independently.
In terms of “what we’re most proud of”…this would honestly be when we release a final product. Either myself, Jason (our guitarist), Olivia (vocalist/cellist), or Woody (bassist) will come up with some melodic ideas and we’ll trade these around virtually (using a cloud-based sharing account). Once the form is set up, we’ll start recording all of the parts, and once we like the parts, we move to final vocal tracking and final orchestration (using MIDI-controlled sound libraries, keyboards, and some orchestral instrumentation). Once we hear the final mix, it really is like opening a present, and many times could be “our proudest moment”.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Our experience has shown a cultural aversion to ‘unknown’ artists (or emerging artists), which I can illustrate similarly to a city’s restaurant choices (are they nothing but chain restaurants, or are they a healthy mix of unique eateries, bistros, diners, etc. that are filled with people?). A joke from our area involves the “Taste of __ ” (insert city or county) where all of the entertainment consists of tribute or cover bands. This year, I finally stepped in and said it “Come to the Taste of __ and try our food vendors: McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut. Come taste what makes our county special.” The point was illustrated, albeit poorly received.
This can easily change. the local community often doesn’t realize the talent that exists within its own zip code (USA). The community often doesn’t realize the costs associated with bringing a musical, theatrical, etc. production to its area. In many cases, a club will blacklist a band if they don’t draw. This is because the club personnel have to take in enough money on ticket sales (or drink sales) to make payroll. If they aren’t covering payroll, then the band won’t be invited back. The best thing a community can do is to support its live art/music/theater events. This includes (first) attending shows/ concerts/productions, buying the merch (which today is one of the only areas where musicians are making profit), and donating to local arts programs.
Statistically, we’re a data-driven band in terms of decision making. Pre-Covid, our show attendance numbers were 10% of our city fanbase. Post-Covid, it was 3%. When inquiring if it was just us, I assure you, it wasn’t. 4 nights by the same promoter each took substantial losses. Whatever the reasoning (which many have admitted to “Netflix binges” as to why they didn’t attend the local show), society needs to realize that they will only have the music equivalent of chain restaurants if they don’t support the artists like they (should) support small up-and-coming restaurants.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I assumed that by being a Christian (faith-based) band, that we’d have immediate support from Christian churches. This couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Our biggest alienating parties have been churches and ‘Christians’…but in contrast a very dedicated few have stepped up to support us. When sharing Christian festivals that we were honored to play in (and with National/ Internationally-known headliners), I know of plenty of churches in the area who would refuse to share the flyer…. The festival would be ignored by local congregations (whom I’d check by ‘attending’ their online services while seeing the included announcements…CCM big-name bands are advertised for venues 60+ minute away, but the aforementioned festivals were nowhere to be found). Contrarily, we opened for festivals where the headliners were blatant Luciferian, Occult, or simply faithless bands, and though they weren’t thrilled with our stance, they were absolutely welcoming. This trend has been and is increasing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.divinemartyr.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divine.martyr.official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/divinemartyr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/divine-martyr
- Twitter: https://x.com/divine_martyr
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialDivineMartyr
- Other: Spotify:
Deezer:
https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/12125278
Image Credits
Rebecca Hyde