Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville - Mark Bryan: From College Friendship to Global Fame

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

Ever wondered how a left-handed guitar enthusiast transforms into a right-handed rock star? Join us as Mark Bryan, the founding member and guitarist of Hootie and the Blowfish, shares his captivating journey. Mark opens up about how early lessons and a love for ACDC's "TNT" ignited his passion for music, and how he drew inspiration from legends like Pete Townsend and Bruce Springsteen. Listen as Mark reveals his unique approach to songwriting and the creative process behind the instruments that bring his music to life. Curious about the quirky origins of Hootie and the Blowfish's name? Discover the amusing backstory rooted in college friendships and how these early bonds at the University of South Carolina set the stage for the band's astonishing rise to fame. We explore their transition from intimate club performances to stadium arenas, and the innovative ideas, like placing a bar on stage, that helped them stay true to their roots. Mark also shares insights on how the band has managed to stay grounded and authentic despite their overwhelming success. The episode wouldn't be complete without a look at the band's musical evolution and memorable collaborations. Hear about the unforgettable experience of working with David Crosby on "Hold My Hand" and Cyril Neville on a tribute to Rosa Parks. Mark provides technical insights into how incorporating elements like percussion and background vocals have shaped their sound. Finally, join us as we discuss the highs and lows of touring, celebrating the diverse and enriching experiences that come with life on the road. Don't miss out on this compelling conversation filled with rich stories and invaluable lessons from Mark Bryan's illustrious career. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars or behind-the-scenes staff, have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories, which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives, providing information on how they evolved into their chosen career.

We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who help them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Mark Bryan, a founding member, songwriter and guitarist

of Hootie and the Blowfish, joins me today to recount his journey in the music music industry. He has captivating stories and it's such a delight to have him on board. Thanks for coming on. Oh, thanks for having me. Thanks for taking the time. Oh, it's my pleasure. So I understand you have a little bit of a unique story about how you learned how to play guitar. I guess the story goes like this. I was, I'm a lefty. I grew up writing left-handed and picked up the guitar or like a lefty and I was 12 years old

and I went to a guitar lesson, a group guitar lesson at the community center in my neighborhood when I was 12. I think my mom was like, do you think you'd like that? And I was like, sure. And so they had all these little nylon string guitars there and I picked it up left handed.

And the guy who was there was like, oh man, I don't know how to teach you like that. You need to flip it over. And so I did. I flipped it over and I learned how to play a C chord that day, right-handed. and that was it and I didn't do anything and then I would have been elementary school and I got junior high and there was this class called guitar and I picked it up right-handed again because that's

the only thing I knew from before and the guy started from the very beginning you know just like the e-fg notes and all that kind of stuff and there was but there was a kid in the class who was already really good we were like 14 he taught me how to do the two-finger rock chord, you know, the fifth. It's like a fifth. Yeah, sure. Two-fingered rock jam, but most, you know, it's like punky and metal and jing and ding-d-gang, dig-d-d-d-k-a-d-k-a-d- and so he, I learned how to play TNT, that day, the day he taught me how to play the hardcore thing, and I could play TNT by ACDC, and that's it. I think a lot of kids, when they're learning an instrument, I've noticed their interest goes up when they learn a song they know. Yeah, definitely. It makes them more interest.

do lessons and everything. But when you learn a song that you like and you, oh my God, I can do that, you know, and then it perks everybody up. So that's how it was for me. I started learning songs that I knew and it became a challenge. And then that same kid in the class who was really good started teaching me how to do some lead stuff to, including at the time, you know, Eddie Van Halen had just come out. And so he knew how to do the taps and everything.

Yeah, yeah. Learn that early on, you know, even though that's not the road, I went down. I kind of learned how to do all that early on and understood that world. And I do a little bit every now and then I'll do some pull off stuff. It's fun. I love Eddie Van Halen, which guitar player. Oh, yeah, I loved him. Great player.

So when did the music bug bite you? And you said, you know, I want to give this a shot. I think the perfect answer to that and segue is that is when I realized I could start writing songs on the creative side. Sure. Eddie already figured out how to do all this stuff. You know, it's like, yeah, right. How do I express myself through this instrument?

And it wasn't from shredding. It was more like what Pete Townsend was able to do where it's like you take great guitar playing, but turned it into masterpiece songs. Not to say that Eddie wasn't a great songwriter. He was. I think he was actually one of the great riffmeisters of all time. Yeah, absolutely. Therefore, a great songwriter.

But Pete Townsend obviously took songwriting to a level that all, you know, rock guitar players would dream of. Yeah, he was great. I started aspiring more to that, and then Springsteen was a big influence as well, where it's just all about passion and love for music and expressing yourself and telling your story and telling other people's stories through music,

and that's always fascinated me more than anything, I think, the ability to express myself, and therefore it's led me to write on piano and write with the ukulele and other instruments and, you know, sort of expand and stuff like that. I always find it interesting to hear the different story, is the songwriter. What part of the song comes first for you? Is it the music side or is it the lyric side? I've noticed that there is not one approach. There's not one single approach that I've

ever taken. It's more that they come to you. And one way is through sitting around and playing your instrument. In fact, I used to hear Eddie Van Halen talk about an interview as he would get a six pack and he'd get one of those old tape recorders and just hit record and sit around and noodle for an hour. Then he'd go back and listen and pull his favorite. riffs from that and you know i've never ever had done that done it like that but there is something to where you sit around and you noodle for a while and you kind of go into a zone where you're something starts to you know come through you it becomes creative and uh i've pulled a lot of song ideas and riffs and grooves out of that um place where i'm just jamming for a while and i

fall into something that is really appealing to me and and i want to expand on and so that's one way and And sometimes it's on the keyboard or whatever, like I said, just with your instrument and hand. And then another way a song seem to come to me is like if I'm in the shower or driving down the road and like I'll turn the radio off. And if I'm in the shower or just set or whatever. And you zone out a little bit. Right. Melodies will come to me.

Yeah. And then sometimes it's lyrics that will come to me. And so I'm able to kind of expand on those. Again, if it's something I really like. It was cool with lyrics. is every lyrical wine has a rhythm to it if you make attention to it. Yeah, right. Every sentence, you know, and has a rhythm to it.

You could turn it into a lyric if you so desire, which is how rapping form, you know. Like you can be as artistic as you want with the language just depending on your desire. And so I stay very open mind as a writer to that and to expressing myself through words. I just find it like one of my favorite things to do. It's like doing a puzzle or something. It's just amazing. Yeah, that's the beauty of writing songs. There is no right or wrong way to do it.

It's just the way you feel it. So it's my understanding that after you got out of high school, you went into college for broadcast journalism. Was that a plan B just in case your first love didn't come through, which was your music career? Yeah. Yeah, I guess it was. My father had always taught me,

you're going to be better off if you're doing something that you love, doing something you're interested in doing, instead of just doing a job to do make money, you know. And so I found some interest in like sports casting and music DJ, you know, radio DJ and the ability to use my voice. And I was comfortable in front of a mic from high school one. And my dad did some sports casting when I was growing up. So I got to watch him do it and listen to him on the radio. Nice.

I was comfortable with all of that and started to pursue that a little bit in high school. We had some media classes that you could do that where we did like the morning announcements and stuff like that. Yeah. PA for the football and basketball games, my senior year. When I stopped playing, I actually just started speaking at the games. And I was kind of headed down that path. And then University of South Carolina had a really good broadcast journalism school, which is what kind of led me there.

When I got there as a freshman, Darius lived down the hall for me, same hall and the dorm. He was also a broadcast journalism major. We had two of the same classes. Okay. So ate right away and then we started playing together within first semester. Nice. So you both met, basically, because of your journalism classes. That and just coincidentally living down the hall.

Yeah. I mean, you know, we had it. Everybody on the hall had to take showers together. So we got to know each other pretty well right away. Yeah. So after that, I think you and Darius started a duo. If I remember correctly, it was named the Wolf brothers. So it was a guy on our hall nicknamed Wolf.

Okay. He introduced us the first time we played. like he named us after himself. Like we didn't know his company. He's like, ladies and gentlemen, Mark and Darius, the Wolf Brothers. That's interesting. We were the Wolf Brothers for about five shows until we started doing the band. You know, Dean and I actually played in a band together in high school.

So he was on bass. And then we got, we had a different drummer before Sony for a little while and then Sony joined the band senior year. Well, that's great. So after you became a band, how did the name Hooty and the Blowfish? come to happen. Darius was in a vocal group called Carolina Alive at University of South Carolina. And two guys that sung in the group with him, he had given them nicknames, the Blowfish had

puffy cheeks. Okay. And Hootie had glasses that made his eyes look like this, you know. And he whatever so was a hooty and the blowfish. And they walked into a party together one time. And Gary said that name. And he came back to me and he's like, that's what we should name our band. And I didn't know if anything would ever come from our band. We were just to college man. Yeah. Like, yeah, sure, that sounds great. You know, either of us thinking, like, if something does come from our band that everyone's going to think, you're hooty, you know. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. I think that far ahead, you know, we didn't care. That is just so hilarious. Yeah. But anyway, he's not hooty. And, you know, as everybody that has paid a little

bit of attention knows. And so it's kind of fun, you know, but if people want to call him, he's, he has the best response. He's like, I don't care if you want to call me that, it's fine, just as long as you call me. Yeah, that's so good. What a great way to name a band. I mean, you stop and think about it. There are so many different ways you can come up with cool names. Like Marshall Tucker, I heard that they found their name because they went into this venue. There was this old piano that had been tuned. The name of the piano tuner, Marshall Tucker. Don't doubt that at all. Yeah. It is great. And ours, it was, you know, it's very organic. If you, you know, if we had known our band was If you had said to us right at the beginning,

are your band's going to be huge, we probably would have chosen a different name. Yeah, I'm sure. We just didn't care. Yeah, I get that. So once you got your first single, you got it recorded, and then you're out there

and everything just starts blowing up on you. I'm interested to know because I've been around people here in Nashville that just didn't expect what they got when it started blowing up. They have all these people tugging at them from different directions so they don't know where they are.

where they're going to be, what they're going to do. It's just overwhelming. How did that affect you with your first hit? Staying in South Carolina was pretty key, keeping our homes there where we already were grounded. Sure. You know, working from that, we had a central office there. We would have meetings every night when we needed to, you know, sometimes we met every week or anything.

But, you know, we all were able to meet and make business decisions together. We shared our publishing, which was a smart thing to do. early on. Yeah. Yeah. Before our record deal and everything, we were touring from there and there was a perfect sort of webbed tour from like a radius, you know, so to speak. Right.

You know, we had our own business going even before we were signed. Before we were touring nationally, you know, we had our own business going with our own CDs just touring regionally. Right. We were kind of able to establish that on our own before jumping to the next level. And I think I helped a lot. Yeah, right. Absolutely.

There are so many people out there. that have had overnight success. Well, it's not overnight success, but a lot of people call it that. It's a perception, really, because a lot of people will call it an overnight success. I mean, a lot of people here in Nashville that have worked in the business a long time still have not been elevated to that kind of success where everybody's tugging at them. They have to do eight or ten radio interviews in a day and just keep it moving that way. So I think you made a wise decisions there. Yeah. All it was just gradual enough for us to make the jump, including doing the media and stuff like that. I'll say the biggest jump for us was going from the club-sized stages to

arena-sized stages. Yeah, I mean, that's a big jump. We were just this club band. We didn't have any like light show or costume. I mean, you know, we were just ourselves. Anyway, it was music was the deal. So the best thing we could come up with was to put an actual bar on our stage. That was a great idea. BIPs and contest winners and celebrities sit at the bar on the stage during that was the closest thing we could. Yeah, but that was really cool. How did we make what we did bigger? And we came out of bars, so we just brought the bar to the stage.

It was kind of fun. A lot of people still talk about it, like that got to hang at tour, you know. And that was the biggest jump for us, I think, was like we were going from these, you know, 30 foot stages to these 90 foot just to stage. you know. So how did your perception change? I mean, going from a bar scene to a concert level with 20, 25,000 people in front of you, that's a huge change. It is. And I mean, we, I think we were conscious about keeping the gear as close as we still could to each other without like spreading out too far to where we could still hear each other and talk to each other. Like if I needed to

walk over to Darius or Sony at the drunk kit to discuss the next song, you know, proximity going and everything. You know, we were very conscious of like, and then there were no in-ears back then. Yeah. Wedges, you know, when we first happened. So it was kind of important to us at first. And then we got comfortable with it and spread it out more. But, you know, that's all you can do.

I mean, you know, we were. Oh, and adding Peter Holzop playing keyboards. Oh, yeah. And like, and just accompaniment instruments, whatever they might have been on the record. like land or a second guitar, keyboard. It just, that really helps. Yeah, and then you're duplicating exactly what you've recorded. And it's just, and filling out the sound more,

having that person playing fills things out. And then we also added our drum tech, Gary Green, as a percussionist, that's part of the sound a little bit. You know, just tambourines here and there go a long way, shakers, a kunga on the right song. You know, you don't overdo it. Right. But he doesn't.

And then most importantly, he has a really nice background singing voice and he can double son these high parts or go higher if need me. Yeah, yeah. So there's little subtle things like that that we added over the years to fill out our sound. Yeah, that's great. So you just brought up an interesting point. There wasn't any in ears back then. So I played with both wedges, of course, in those days and in the years. There's pluses and minuses to both.

Some people like one. Some people like the others. Which ones do you like the best? When I first made the switch, what I really missed was the live sound as part of like being able to hear the audience and being able to talk to my bandmates and everything because you feel a little closed end, you know. Right, sure. But there was no mistaking that the sound was of the end ears is better than wedges because indecide on the volume, which saves your hearing for the rest of your life. I love that. A. Yeah.

B, what I've done is create an entire mix in my ears of the band. Like just like I would if I was listening to like, who do you the Boatfish live record? Like I try to make other than I have to have my vocal a little louder. So, you know, just so I can hear what I'm singing. Right. But I don't need to have my guitar extra loud because I can hear the amps. They're behind me still.

So it's this really nice mix in my ears. It's wonderful. And then they have now these, a model for in ears that is somewhat ambient. Ambience helps you hear the audience and hear people talking around you a little bit. You know, it's not completely muffled now. Like, also the right frequencies in, if that makes any sense. Oh, absolutely. I've used both.

And because working here in Nashville on the production side of it, you get to see all the new techniques. So yeah, I agree, 100%. Okay. So here's a part that I love to have is you have been doing this for a long time. You've had hit records. You've been all over the world doing concerts. Out of all those years, what is something?

something that just stands out to you that you'll never forget. It can be anything. Just what stands out if somebody asks you right now, something that you'll always remember. Oh, God, there's so many good ones, dude. Yeah, that's why I asked this question. The first one that was that what you said, it was David Crosby singing with us on Hold My Hand.

Nice. That was kind of one of the, I mean, you know, probably one of the first really big celebrity interactions that we had, you know, on that level. And that would have been one of them. And he just was so cool. And he did it as a, he was friends with our producer, Don Gaman and a friend of ours from our label and

everything. And so he did it for them because he didn't know us. But then he right away, he came to like us and was glad he did it. And it just was such a great experience. And he gave us about 10 minutes of just talking to us about the music industry and what to expect and how to, you know, not take it too seriously.

And just all the things you'd hope he would say. And I remember him saying the greatest line. He's like, he's like, just you can't trust it. You can't trust him. I sorry to God. Oh, yeah. And then he played us his new song on a 12-string guitar that was tuned to like the wackiest tuning I've ever heard in my life. He took him like 15 minutes to tune.

And he was telling his stories the whole time. And then he played his new song and it was beautiful. What a voice. And angelic voice. And then he sung on hold my hand. You know, I mean, what a day. Yeah, that's just so awesome. I remember when I first moved here to Nashville,

and all of a sudden I started getting calls from people that I had grown up listening to, and they said, hey, we've got to do work together. We got to collaborate. We have to do some things. Did you have that happen where people that you had listened to and just loved hearing, all of a sudden was calling you and say, hey, we've got to work together? Yeah, well, one of my faves was, I got to, Cyril Neville wrote the song about Rosa Parks that is on the Yellow Moon, Neville Brothers record.

Yeah, right. Sister Rosa, it's called. And some friends in mind that run the O Street Foundation in D.C. Where Rosa Parks stayed for a while back in the 90s. We're doing a tribute to her when the Library of Congress was doing a whole, you know, thing about it. They had a whole room about her. Yeah. The O Street folks were doing this musical tribute.

you and they asked me and cyril they asked me to be involved and i asked cyril neville if he wanted to redo sister rosa and he did and he asked me to come play on it uh i went down to new orleans and played with he and his band on the remake of sister rosa and that and they made a video of it and everything it's on youtube if you want to check it out yeah that's cool yeah it's cool as hell And then he came up to the O Street and did a show with Darius and I, which was also really cool. And we did, obviously, a few other classics. Yeah, that was very cool. So I see where you did something with Summer Camp for Kids with Hootie and the Blowfish?

Oh, no, no. That's just the name of the tour. That's hilarious. I love it. Okay. It does read that way. Yeah. Back in 95 when Edwin McCain was on tour with us.

Okay. when he was getting signed for the first time. Right. He was like, man, being on tour with hoody is like summer camp with trucks. We just named the tour that thing. All right. Or it's called summer camp with trucks. And Edwin's on the tour with Collector Sold.

Okay. For some reason, I thought that was a charity event for kids. It could easily read that way. And I don't blame you for misreading that. I mean, it really makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And now that you said the explanation, it does.

But, you know, perception is reality. So someone's going to be reading that. They're going to say, oh, what a great thing they're doing helping the kids out. We do that as well. And we have our foundation. And there are QR codes on the screen each night of the concerts where you can get to our foundation. And then Edwin has his charitable foundations. And I'm sure collective soul does too.

So we're all still heavily involved in all of that and have been for years. and you're in good put in position like we had that we have, have to give, and we always have. Yeah, that's a great thing to always give back. So I understand you've been doing some solo work as well. Yeah, so over the years as a songwriter, I just keep cranking them out. And if we're not doing a hooty project at that time,

then I'll release a solo record. This will be my fifth one, and by far best because I'm just getting better with age. Yeah, that's great. I have more to say, to sing about and I'm better at the craft and better playing the instruments and I don't know I'm really excited about the album's called popped I'm down in October but you can can start listening to singles now on buy an apple and everywhere and YouTube and I have three videos out already for the

album so four actually four videos for the album that are already out there so you know we're moving along and then the whole thing's out in October yeah nice and you're right songwriting is definitely a craft and music and songwriting with the way that you do it hopefully it's the craft that gets better as time goes on yeah man i definitely have felt that over the years and it's this constant um constant search of how i can uh relay a message that makes people feel something and or and hopefully and it affects people the way my favorite music affects me and i hope as a writer whether it's whether whether we're writing books or songs or whatever. And I hope that my experience and how I've dealt with things in my life

gives people hope and gives people something that they didn't have before or something you hope that you can convey that through your songs. And that's the best you can never hope for. Absolutely. So I'm constantly in search of that, constantly inspired by others who make me feel that. Yeah. And if your music can touch one person, it changes their attitude, changes the way they look at things, gets hope for life.

It's a win. That's right. Now, how do people find you? Well, Mark Brian Music is kind of my website and my Insta and Facebook and everything. You know, that's the easiest way. And I'm a R-K-B-R-Y-A-N music. And, you know, the new music is there. So go to YouTube.

Like I said, there's already four videos out that are of the newer stuff. So yeah, yeah. And then obviously through Hooty as well, you know, we're that we're on tour all summer long. So our website is very active right now, all the Hooty platforms. Yeah, good. On social media. Like we played Sendway, so there's a whole piece about that.

One of my favorite parks to be in. Yeah, it's just fun. We're having a blast right now. Yeah, and I think that's great because the music business, unfortunately, it is a business. but we got into music to have fun, and that's what it's all about. So it's great that you're enjoying it and having some fun with it.

Without a doubt, man. I mean, it's great that I got to make my new record and everything, but if I wasn't on tour of the summer, I don't know if I'd feel as fulfilled as I do right now. And so it's the full circle of creating and then going and playing it for people and having them sing it back to you and that whole full circle. Yeah, that is just so true.

And there is nothing better than getting on stage and everybody's just having a great night. The band is tight, the rhythm section is tight, everything is just flowing, no problems. It's just not a better feeling than that. You said it, man. And I'll tell you that that feeling that you're talking about right there, that's happening with Rudy and the Blowfish this summer as well.

Ever has in, we're almost together for like 35 years now or something. Wow. We're as good as we've ever been. It's crazy. I don't know if I would have been able to say that when we were in our 20s. Like, when you're 57, you'll be as good as you're right. But, man, it's really, really tight. And it's really great that everybody's still playing on this level

and enthusiastic about it on this level and about sounding this good. So I love being in a tight band. It's great. Oh, yeah. It's a great feeling. It's nothing better. I've been in some great ones and I've been in some loose ones.

Yep. And everything in between. Mm-hmm. Well, this is great. I really appreciate you taking the time to be on. Yeah, man, thanks so much for having me again. Yeah, that's a great conversation, man. I mean, we're in a good place getting to play that be on tour right now.

I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about it. Yeah, absolutely. Great conversation. Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoy the show. This has been a Tony Mantor production. For more information, contact media at plateau music.com.