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IN THIS ISSUE:
2005 Mardi Gras Review & More!
Page 1
Page 2
Page
3
Page
4
Mark Mullins Interview
Page
5
Meet Robert Vaughn, "Surprise" Engineer
Page
6
Fan Profile / An M.O.M Bites the Dust?
Page
7
What Lurks Below - News from Oz
Page
8
The 4th Annual
Ezra Open
Page
9
The Bootlog
Page
10
Fan Profile - An Ezralite Couple
Page
11
BTE is the Winning Bet at the Seminole Hard Rock
Casino
Page
12
Page
13
Another Ezralite Halloween
Page
14
Meet Stattica / GCB Lights Up With Cigarette
Page 15
News & Links
Page
16
Map of Ezra
Page 17
TTOY Hall of Fame
Page 18
Cowbell Hall of Fame
Page 19
BTE Impressions
Page 20
THE ARCHIVES
Volume 1
Mar.
2003
May 2003
July
2003
Sept.
2003
Nov.
2003
Jan.
2004
Volume 2
Mar.
2004
May 2004
July
2004
Sep.
2004
Nov.
2004
Jan.
2005
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MARK MULLINS: NEW ORLEANS' TROMBONE ENTREPRENEUR
by EnglishDave
Mark with Ezralite Tulaine Elaine After
the August 2003 DVD Shows
(Photo: Tulaine Elaine)
Who is Mark Mullins? That's a questions posed by many an Ezralite.
Well, the answer is that Mr. Mullins is a very busy man. He has so many
varied projects going – including his work with BTE – that he just might
qualify as a true trombone entrepreneur.
Ezralites know Mark from his activities with BTE. Most recently,
you've seen Mullins and trumpeter Eric Lucero performing as the Horns
D'Amour (trans. The Horns of Love) on the DVD Better Than Ezra:
Live at the House of Blues, New Orleans.
Mullins is a regular performer at New Orleans area Ezra shows. He's also
played at venues in surrounding metropolitan areas, as well as one very
noteworthy trip to Los Angeles (November 16, 2000). In addition to his live duties, Mark has
also appeared on every Ezra studio album since Friction, Baby.
Amazingly, all this BTE-related activity is just a
sideline to his regular gigs as leader of the progressive rock band
Mulebone and brass funk rock
band Bonerama, and as
resident trombonist for Harry
Connick, Jr. Mark has also logged studio work with a diverse
array of artists, including pop/rock artists Ani DiFranco, Sheryl Crow,
Rancid, Tori Amos, and New
Orleans artists like Galactic, George Porter, Jr., The Radiators, and
Papa Grows Funk.
Mark was recently kind enough to chat with the Serenade
about his work with BTE and some of his many other projects:
Thanks for chatting with the Serenade. Inquiring minds want to know,
do you remember how you first heard of Better Than Ezra?
I can’t remember exactly the first time but I do remember seeing
their "Good" video on MTV and knowing they were from Louisiana and
thought that was cool.
And how did you end up working with the band? Was it in the studio
or a live gig?
After becoming a fan of the band I got a call from Tony Dagradi
(Astral Project sax) for a recording session he was putting the horns
together for, he said it was this rock band Better Than Ezra (like I
might not know who they were) and it turned out to be the Friction
Baby session.
We did "At Ch. Degaulle, Etc." with all these New Orleans jazz
players augmenting Ezra, I think Tony and I were the only ones who knew
about the band.
Your work has appeared on the albums Friction Baby, How Does Your
Garden Grow, Artifakt and Closer. Will we also get to hear you on Before
the Robots?
I’ve done some bits and pieces of different things in the studio
with the guys and I’m not sure if anything I did will make the new CD, I
hope so, because I will go postal.
There's an obvious easy rapport between you and BTE on stage,
would you characterize your relationship as both professional and
personal in nature?
It’s definitely casual, I don’t think anyone enjoys punching a
clock. The guys make me feel at home when I’m around which is really
cool. Except Tom he makes me drink before the show so I guess that’s a
professional requirement.
Kevin Griffin seems to enjoying teasing you on stage, calling you a
“real musician” and the like. We hope you tease him back!?
I certainly don’t do it enough. I’m intimidated by his hair. And his
songwriting! He has an easy target in me when I’m up there in a freaking
red velvet curtain holding a piece of plumbing that I blow air through
to make fart noises. Of course he’s holding a what, -guitar? Yeah good
luck teasing that. One day though, my moment will come. And it will be
grand.
There's a rumor that the Horns D'Amour go “commando” under their
robes. Will you confirm, deny, or take the “5th”?
Yes, this has happened.
Seriously though, who came up with the idea for those great costumes?
The hair guy that sings real pretty.
You've provided horns to so many live BTE songs. How do you go about
arranging horns for a new song, is there a particular process you
follow?
I usually take off my red robe and stand in a full length mirror just
before the first listen. And then I write these awesome parts that make
the band complete. It's a different process for each tune, usually Kevin
and the guys have something in mind that we go for and I'll either
sketch something out right there or, come up with a part and harmonize
it with Eric or whoever is playing trumpet. Or if it's a song we haven't
recorded, like "Particle" and "Recognize" I'll just do what I love and
that is finding the right thing and crafting an arrangement that
compliments the song.
Often that means knowing when to lay out and when to play, it's
always a great challenge because BTE's songs always sound so complete to
me before we get involved. These guys take the songwriting craft so
seriously and are so freaking good at it, I mean sometimes there's just
nothing to do except to get naked under the robe.
Have there been any live or studio songs that at first blush were
not horn-appropriate and later ended up with horns? Have you ever had to
sell BTE on adding horns?
Kevin always tells me I'm not really there to sell them ideas, at
one point every Ezra song had horns but they've all been shot down one
by one. By next year we'll come out and play our pansy 5 notes in "Happy
Day" and that'll be it.
It's pretty clear when something works and when it doesn't. Songs
like, "At The Stars," "Recognize," have no horns originally but on the
shows there are roles we can cover, also "Particle" is one of my
favorite for that, I really love doing that tune live.
You've contributed to many BTE studio tracks. Is there any one song
you’ve worked on which you are most proud of?
I guess "Allison Foley" is one of my favorites, I had hardly anything
to do with contributing ideas in that one but it's not about that, I
just think the horns work real nice there. "Strange Funny Way" is cool
too.
Was your musical training formal or more informal? Classical or more
contemporary?
It was all of those things, I went to Loyola where I studied
classically with Richard Erb from the Louisiana Philharmonic and with
contemporary players like John Mahoney, Tony Dagradi and Steve
Masakowski. At the same time I was getting out into the clubs as much as
I could - playing with this psychedelic horn band Rumboogie -did a lot
of horn arrangements, we'd do Deep Purple with horns, Hendrix with
horns, all sorts of stuff, I learned a lot from the guys in that band
about music and how to contribute, about how a band functions,
relationships, expectations etc. was a whole different real world kind
of schooling, we'd have our own band drama, people fighting at band
meetings etc., it was great.
Mark and Eric Lucero on the BTE DVD
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Mark and Brian Graber at the Tips Mardi Gras Show
(Photo: "Kevin Marmillion," click to enlarge)
You also sing with Mulebone, right?
Yes, John Gros and I shared lead vocals until he left to pursue a
career as a circus clown.
Can Ezralites expect to hear a
Griffin-Mullins duet any time soon?
Probably not, but I will challenge him to a karaoke-style
Chippendales dance number down to the bow-tie, how about a Friday night
at Oz, on the bar.
The addition of the wah-wah pedal to the trombone really provides a
great effect. How did you come up with the idea to do this?
Thanks. John Gros and I were working on a MuleBone track trying like
hell to get the trombone to have a certain place in the mix. We wanted
it to occupy a wider space than the trombone normally would, it wasn't a
volume issue but more of a tambre thing. We ran the track back through a
guitar amp and it worked really well. After that I started experimenting
with how to do that live with a real guitar amp. The wah-wah came
later, the trombone in jazz is already commonly heard with the
effect of a plunger mute, the wah-wah is basically my electric plunger.
Do you play any other instruments besides the
trombone?
Very little guitar. Like, ok, um the answer is no.
Mark Mullins and Brian Graber Pose with the
Men of Ezra at HoB, Mardi Gras 2004
(Courtesy of Tom Drummond, click to enlarge)
Working and touring with Harry Connick, Jr. must be entirely
different than all your other projects. What are some of the most
memorable you’ve experienced through this association?
Well one night on the tour bus, -oh, right, -sorry, I signed
something saying I can't talk about that! There was this other time when
Harry and I were in Australia and, -no I can't mention that either.
Highlights have to include doing the Super Bowl National anthem,
playing live on the Grammy's, getting to record with him is always
great, lately we've been recording his records at the Capitol building
in Hollywood which is just awesome, the history in there is amazing, the
whole thing is really much different than anything else I get to do, I
love it.
Do you find it difficult to switch gears between your many
projects? Are there common threads between the different settings?
Sometimes it's hard to find a shirt to wear but switching gears is a
blast. Often the common thread is seeking out what the role is, knowing
when to step out and when not to.
Of all the artists you've worked with live and in the studio, who did
you least expect to play with?
Getting to work in the studio with Tori Amos was a shock just because I
never expected I would cross paths with her. She was cool.
It’s great to see Bonerama
getting some exposure outside of New Orleans. Can we expect to see the
band hitting the road more often in the future?
You betcha. This will be our busiest year touring, -there are a lot
of good things happening for Bonerama right now.
Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and Jimi Hendrix’s sound great. Were these
covers your idea? Did your bandmates express any concerns about these
choices?
Good question. Hendrix was my idea, no concerns there. "War Pigs"
was Matt Perrine's idea (sousaphone). He was in Europe watching the war
getting going and he felt compelled to bring the tune into the band. We
could open up a whole can on that one.
You’ve just done a live album recorded in New York City, right? And
the band won no less than 4 Offbeat Music Awards – Best band, best CD,
best trombone player (Mark Mullins) and best Sousaphone player (Matt
Perrine).
Yes, we like winning awards, it reconfirms our fragile concerns for
being accepted yet at the same time we realize they mean nothing.
How can Ezralites purchase your CDs?
By displaying their love and affection at the bonerama.net web site.
Remember it's always bonerama.NET (local fans can visit Tower, Virgin,
Louisiana Music Factory, and Barnes and Noble).
Mark, thanks for a great
interview. Hope to see you at the House of Blues in New Orleans
real soon. Be sure to check out what's going on with Mark at his
new website.
Bonerama - Live From New York.
Purchase it
Here
Track List
1. Barronne
2. It Don't Mean Nothin'
3. ChilCock
4. Shake Your Rugalator
5. Whipping Post
6. The Wizard
7. Less Is Moore
8. It's Electric
9. Crosstown Traffic
10. Bone Up
11. Blackout In New York City
12. Chemical Assistance
13. War Pigs
A quick check of the Serenade archives results in the following list of BTE tracks
and covers Mark has performed live with the band:
Live
The Killer Inside (Friction)
Normal Town (Friction)
WWOZ (Friction)
At the Stars (Garden)
Like It Like That (Garden)
Allison Foley (Garden)
Happy Day MaMa (Garden)
Waxing or Waning (Garden)
Use Me (Artifakt)
Strange Funny Way (Artifakt)
Rolling (Closer)
Recognize (Closer)
Tell Me Something (unreleased)
Other Live
Mardi Gras Mambo
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Tokens cover)
The Joker (Steve Miller cover)
They All Asked for You (Funky Meters cover)
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
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