The MARKY FILES

A professional musician in RL for many years, Marky's live acoustic & electric sets are a spirited blend of Classic Rock & Pop, Ballads, Country, Blues and original material.

Marky (Doug Lind in RL) hails from Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland, and has been playing live music for over 25 years. He honed his craft in various bands on the Scottish pub & club scene before moving south to London for a few years. He then moved to Copenhagen, Denmark where, in partnership with an american friend and songwriter, he began writing his own material. Now back living in Scotland, he has emerged with renewed energy and, in addition to a busy RL schedule, is now also bringing his acoustic set to live venues in Second Life.

Q&A

1. Why are you a singer/songwriter?

I've always been a musician, since the age of 5, but I'd never been that into writing my own songs. Around 2003, some stuff happened that prompted me to express my thoughts in songs. I guess once I realised I could actually write something fairly decent, it spurred me to try writing more :-)

2.  What is your musical background? Do you have a musical family or did you just fall into songwriting all on your own?

My mother played piano when she was younger so we always had one in the house. I began tinkering with it when I was about 5 years old. My cousin taught me a tune she knew and it just snowballed from there. I've always been self-taught, although I can also read music to a degree. When I was 13, my friends and I started our first band. I was playing keyboards and had also started filling in with other bands. I started teaching myself guitar in my teens and, around 1992, was playing more guitar than keyboards.

3. What sorts of things have you done to improve your songwriting?

After I began writing songs, I started collaborating with my friend Nathan. We would have weekly sessions where we'd each bring at least one song to the table and then work on it. It was as much a social thing as a working thing but most of my current live original set came out of these sessions. We both tended to write in very different ways. Nathan always started with lyrics whereas I tend to start from a musical perspective.

4. Have you written any songs in the last 12 months? What are you working on now and where do you feel your music is headed?

I haven't written anything noteworthy in the past few years. Nathan and I kinda fell away from our collaborating around 2005, when our respective personal schedules started becoming busier but we've recently decided to try and start it up again, over Skype (he's in Denmark, I'm back in Scotland) so hopefully something positive will come out of that. I much prefer working collaboratively than on my own.

5. And finally, what advice would you give anyone looking to follow a similar path to yours?

I'd say just write what you feel, and don't worry if nothing comes out when you want it to. When it's ready, it'll happen :-)

MARKY LINKS

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The MARKY MP3 Samples

The first song Marky ever wrote! What a treat at the opening of Originals Cafe.