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Meet Mark Cryle… The roots of Mark Cryle's songwriting grew in rich, deep soil when he was just a youngster, listening to the vinyl albums his older brothers and sisters brought home. Rhythm and blues, Motown, soul, early Delta blues music and later the Beatles and Rolling Stones – all grist to the mill of the family stereo and all eagerly absorbed by a boy who was open to their spell. “I remember The Band as the first group that really connected with me,” Mark reminisces; “There was something about their vocal harmonies and rootsy sounds – mandolins, accordions and songs that held cinematic images that evoked such a strong sense of the past. It was 1970 and theirs was the first album I ever bought with my own money.” Hooked on music but buying albums “on spec.”,
Mark discovered musicians happenchance who became great influences in the
musical career he hadn't even envisaged then. Fairport Convention, “When you listen to performers like these you realise that you're not just hearing them; they lead you back and introduce you to the older musical traditions, to the musicians who influenced them, people like Woody Guthrie, Bill Munro or Bert Lloyd.” In his late teens Mark played bass in a rock'n'roll band with high school mates, learning for the first time about the process of being “up there and doing it”- and the intense enjoyment it could bring. Weightier responsibilities in the late 1980s - marriage, starting a family, working full-time and studying at the University of Queensland (Mark has an Arts Degree with honours in history) saw his music put on the back burner - even to the point of selling his treasured bass and amp to buy carpet for his first baby's bedroom. That could have been the end of it - but the Muse doesn't let
go easily when she's onto a good talent. Living in the inner Mark's music came off the back burner in a rush; he was
introduced to the wealth of talent at the Sitting Duck, a then thriving
restaurant-café in Spot was the group that really kicked Mark's songwriting into top gear. “We initially performed songs by musicians who had inspired us,” Mark says “Then it struck me; if we're playing primarily for fun, we should write our own songs. I first had a crack at it in about 1992; I wrote the tune for Ros' words to “King of the Wild Frontier” then I wrote my own first solo “Down to the Fair”. It had a traditional sort of feel and one of the band said ‘that's not bad, it sounds like a real one' - that gave me the confidence to keep writing.” Mark's particular love is crafting the songs and tunes, which he enjoys even more than performing them. “I’m interested in writing for other voices; literally for the voices of other singers but also writing songs in the ‘voice' of the person in the song, like the grandson of the old whaler in ‘Queen of the Great Below',” he says. “One of the finest parts of the songwriting craft is to write something that sounds deeply personal but may be about a fictitious character and to write in a way that anyone listening can identify with that person and their feelings.” Mark's songs cover a gamut of human experiences, from hangings to family Christmas celebrations, to relationships of all kinds - any story that can engage the listener or evoke a sense of the past. “It's arguable that the world doesn't need any more songs, there are so many good ones out there already, and it's so easy to become preoccupied with your own importance and disappear up your own fundament in this industry,” Mark says. “I admire people who can make things, like cupboards or buildings but I'm useless as a home handyman so songwriting is, for me, a small way of contributing to the continuum of human experience, giving back something that hopefully will last.” ************************************************************* What they're saying about Mark's songwriting… "Mark Cryle is one of the best songwriters in "There's some seriously strong songwriting on this disc [Bedside Manners], testament to the beauty of the acoustic guitar and a poignant lyric ... Time Off "The songs are even better and hats off to main songwriter Mark Cryle whose melodic hooks could land a marlin" ... Rhythms Magazine "With songs as accomplished as these (Bedside Manners) it's well worth the wait" ... Rave Magazine "Cryle's writing is again insightful and questioning and
like any other worthwhile writer/poet he leaves you visualising yourself in
his songs" |
