LONG ISLAND EMO, “SO TYPICAL” & THE INDUSTRY OF COOL: A Q&A WITH MARK DYLAN
Photos by Marc Giuffre
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Marisa Whitaker: I saw that you play with a lot of other bands outside of your solo stuff, including Wilmah and Diognardi.
Mark Dylan: At least as a solo artist, I feel like through playing with so many other bands, for number one, I've learned how to write songs differently. When I'm learning a song, I'm learning the song form, and I'm learning how they produce the song. You get in the mind of these bands and artists, and it just organically goes into your taste. Even just with picking up a guitar and what you're gonna play next and what type of song you're gonna play. Also with the fan thing too, you know, everyone's got a friend group.
MW: I know what you mean. When I moved here, I became friends really quickly with one pocket of friends and bands, and as time went on, I realized there’s so many other pockets of friends making music.
MD: I'll meet a new band, and then I'll follow them on Instagram. That's like the modern portfolio or business card: “Yo, ‘What's your IG?’” You can see what shows they’re playing, what content, what’s your vibe, your style. And seeing mutual friends, like, “Oh my god, you know so many of the same people.” The scene is so intertwined with friend groups, and sometimes when playing a show, there’s two friend groups combined. That really is the cool thing about the New York music scene. There's so many friends.
MW: You're from Long Island, right?
MD: I grew up in Kings Park, Long Island. Long Island is such a special place because of growing up at that time with the emo punk scene. Bands like Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Bayside, Glass Jaw. Those are all bands that as a teenager, they were in their prime. My mom was driving me to those shows. To experience that at that age, I'm so blessed to be able to have that upbringing, and see those bands at their time on Long Island. That was a huge factor. I do have buddies that still make music on Long Island. I was so lucky. I’ve been in bands since I was 15. When kids were on the basketball team or playing football games on the weekend, I was promoting my show on MySpace. Though I think New York is where the scene is now.
MW: When did you move here?
MD: After college, like 2017, 2018.
MW: And there wasn’t much going on at the time, right? Compared to now.
MD: I was just talking about that with someone today. I think that post COVID, people just wanted to be in a crowded room and in a rock band because we were stripped of that experience. So I think that was a big impact. People just wanting connection to people.
MW: I love your debut album, The Album 2022. It gave me some post-COVID undertones. Why did you name the album that?
MD: It was the anti-trend at that time. During COVID, TikTok boomed, and everyone, every single content, was all just about release singles, release singles, release singles. I'm at the point as a musician that you have to have a crazy intrinsic motivation as a creator the older you get. You have to really be in love with the process. I really wanted to do an album because it was against what people were saying, and it was what I grew up with, albums diving into a full-length experience. I truly believe that even if you're not a huge artist right now, with technology and the introduction of AI and all that, I think that what we're doing in New York right now might even boom even bigger in 20 years — of course including the music. People will think it's so cool that this was a human-made, true scene. Because who knows what the future is with AI and as a tool for creation. This music might be the last generation of songwriters with solely the human experience. That was kind of the whole “anti” — I just wanted to make an album.
MW: You start the album with a recording of yourself talking: “Some kids had superheroes, and I truly had rockstars who really fueled any creativity.” I so appreciate your appreciation for music. Did those rockstars’ creativity and art save you?
MD: Those are my superheroes. I loved growing up and how rock ‘n’ roll had some mythology to it. Like the first four Led Zeppelin albums. Those were like God-tier; how they sounded, how they were produced. I thought it was another world listening to those albums. And Green Day’s American Idiot, like a concept album at that time? Like, “Oh, there’s a concept to this album?” All those I thought were so cool, and they were my superheroes and role models. I made a band in fifth grade that was just a pretend band. We made a website, but we never actually played a show or anything. It was just like, “You're a drummer because you're getting a drum set for Christmas,” and they never got the drum set. It was just dreaming about how cool it would be to be in a rock band. Like I said earlier, that intrinsic motivation, even still today, you still have to be in love with it. I still have to be inspired by new artists too because there’s that other feeling that it’s gonna dull out. You have to follow what is fun as a creator.
MW: According to Spotify, you’ve been releasing music since 2018. Your stuff’s all over the place and I love it, and I say that in the best way possible. From indie to pop and rock to alternative. With your most recent releases this year, how have you been approaching songwriting and music making?
MD: That's a really good question because everyone's gonna say it's different. “Oh, I start with the lyrics” or “Oh, I do a chord progression, and then that's how it starts.” Going back to the sidewalk thing, everything could inspire you. I could hear a joke song — and I've done this before — and I find out the key, I find out the tempo, I make the drums of it, and then I write a song, ripping it off. It is a muscle, and I feel like the older I get, the more I have to do it. For every 10 songs I write, one might be something that is fully recorded and put out. You always have to flex the muscle of exploring a heavy side, or exploring a pop side, and just following the fun. Now, I am working on a cohesive EP of rock, rock. A lot of songs I’m playing tonight aren't released, but you're gonna get a rock vibe. I’m really trying to captivate this time in New York City and of the rock scene, and how I think Mark Dylan at this time as a cohesive EP project represents that. Maybe in 15 years, I'll be inspired by country music, and that's a cool thing to follow. I'm not gonna be, in 15 years, still trying to shove a square in a circle. Right now, I'm a rock musician, but whatever inspires me. In those early times, I was inspired by pop music, and I was playing with all these pop singers who are so talented. I got to see their mind, their songs, their production. I felt so inspired, and I wrote pop music. … Also, your notepad is so impressive. I want to get that on recording right now. I'm impressed. There's sheets of notes, absolutely pages of notes about my music. It's so insane and cool.
MW: You’ve brought it up a few times, and I love the idea of doing something now and looking forward to reflecting on it later on.
MD: I want to be 80 years old, hopefully beyond that, and I want to look back at my whole catalog and say, “I pushed my creative self.” I'm so blessed to be given an upbringing and a life that I can be a creative. If you look at the grand picture of time and the world, it’s like .001% that you could actually be an artist. If I grew up in the 1600s, I'd probably be a farmer, farming potatoes somewhere for like 80 years. What are the chances that I grew up going to punk shows and have the ability to create? You always have to show up, and that's working the muscle, and always finding inspiration. Otherwise, you're jamming that shape into the shape that doesn't work. You've been trying to do your New York City rock ‘n’ roll for 40 years, but maybe you should have gone pop and then country. You're given this opportunity, you want to explore it as much as you can.
MW: Do you remember the moment when music changed your life?
MD: I mean, there's a lot of moments that hit me like that. I have to credit my dad for bringing me to concerts at a young age and exposing me to music. My first concert was Aerosmith. The funniest story is it was gonna be The Who at Madison Square Garden, but my mom thought I was too young to go to the city, so then my dad bought Aerosmith concert tickets at Jones Beach, which is local, and Kid Rock was the opener. I’m just this little kid, and my dad's there, and Kid Rock comes on stage, and there's stripper poles and strippers all over the stage, and my dad looks at me, and he goes, “Don't tell Mom.”
MW: I want to talk about your newest single, “So Typical.” I love the frenzy and the angst. “You’re not worth a second of my time.” Who pissed you off?
MD: That song, the hook, just started: “Just so typical, so typical / You’re not worth a second of my time.” I didn't know what I was writing a song about, but it sounds good. Then you can dive into personal experiences, maybe a relationship that you had. I believe in the law of attraction. If you're a good person, good people come to you. And the concept about cutting negative people out of your life. For this chorus, I wanted to write a New York City sing-along, Ramones-style, “Just so typical, so typical.” That's what I wanted, and then I would workshop. There's a term called top lining, where you go into a session and you kind of find the melody. So the first demos are going “... la la la … yeah, twisting your tongue.” And I went, “Okay, that sounded like ‘twisting your tongue.’” You're finding the true form of the song. That's really how that song came about. Now, not every song is that process. “So Typical” is going on the EP. That's part of the rock energy.
MW: You said you moved here a couple of years before COVID hit. How would you compare those years to now, in terms of the city, its music, and the people making it?
MD: One observation is how Marc Giuffre, for example, takes photos, and is documenting the nightlife through pictures, and like how Disaster magazine is publishing interviews and whatnot. I felt like there was less of that back then. There were still well-attended shows totally, but there wasn't that spotlight on the external layer of networking and documenting it as much, and trying to create an aesthetic of the time. I think social media changed the intention and how it’s represented, because, again, there were great shows before COVID. But during post-COVID, people are calling it, “Meet Me in the Bathroom Part Two,” and I think it's being documented more really well, by people like you, by people like Marc.
MW: Are you doing all this to be the biggest musician in the world? I can tell you have so much love for music, whether looking at your Instagram or talking to you right now.
MD: Come whatever may. That's not the goal. The goal is to be, like we said, at my death bed, proud of myself as an artist and a person. If you're just doing it for the art and the love and passion of art, you will always be happy. You're gonna keep creating. If you're skewed in your reality and like, “Oh, I didn't get the record deal” or “I'm not playing big enough shows at this time” or “I thought I'd be playing big shows when I was this age,” you gotta look inwards and go back to the kid that found the Green Day album or The Beatles. You want to feel like a kid as a creator, always.
MW: What is the most New York thing about your music?
MD: Performing style. Growing up on those emo bands, I feel like I know how to move and present songs really well. You can ask other people, but that's why I think I'm a popular hired gun with other bands, because they appreciate my energy and performance. I think growing up and watching bands flipping guitars and going crazy, and listening to their rock music, they were all examples.
MW: What's the most New York thing about you?
MD: The most New York thing about me? My driving. Blasting that horn. I’m ruthless. I'm telling you, every driver sucks in New York. And I’m a very fast walker.
MW: What do you have left in 2024?
MD: I have one last Mark Dylan show on December 11 at this new venue. It looks sick, Marc has been there, he checked it out, it’s called The Rabbit Hole, it’s in Bushwick. They had their first couple shows two weeks ago. That’s with Bec Lauder, Bad Head, and Mark Dylan.
MW: Going into 2025, what are the plans? What are the goals?
MD: EP. Might be an album at that point. Be inspired. I have this crazy goal that at some point, I want to be able to write a song and be able to release it in two weeks and not deal with the whole wait-this-long-because-of-this rule. Once again, I value the coolness of an artist. Just how you feel so connected to artists following their IG and seeing their stories, at some point, I want that to be my music. Where I'm able to record all on my own, get it sounding how I like it, and to be able to put it out in a week or two, because you really just need a week. That's the minimum amount of time you need to submit it to be on streaming services. You should really do, like, two weeks, but how cool would that be? If you see on someone's story that they're making a song, like, “Should I drop this ASAP?” or “Do you like this? Yes or no?” And then people like it, and you see what hits. I just want to keep doing it all.
MW: Keep doing the Mark Dylan.
MD: Yeah, follow the fun.
MW: You keep saying the cool thing. And I've been thinking about this a lot. I’m sure you’ve seen Almost Famous.
MD: What’s Almost Famous?
MW: What’s Almost Famous?! That’s your homework. Go home and watch it. Long story short, it’s an autobiographical film about a music journalist, and of the time when he was around 16 years old and his early days writing for music magazines. He got his start at Creem magazine, where he met his mentor, the notorious music journalist Lester Bangs. In the movie, Bangs would call the music industry “The Industry of Cool.” He meant it in the way that the industry can glorify rockstars at the expense of other artists and the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll, but I’ve always interpreted it differently. As somebody who is not musically inclined whatsoever, I love music and this is always what I’ve wanted to do and what I love to do. I'm not insecure about it, but I can hardly play the guitar, let alone any instrument. With that, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to be a part of music, the music world, and the industry just simply for the reason that I think it’s cool. I’ve always been fascinated with cool. As stupid as this sounds, I would early on notice the way girls in high school would roll their shorts down once instead of not at all. It took me a while to realize that I was focusing on the little things that make someone or something cool. And I love that you also have an appreciation for cool.
MD: The intention and the energy of everything. This concept of prana. I took Tai Chi lessons for a little bit. In one lesson, my teacher talked about the approach of opening a door knob. The concept of, like, “How am I gonna open it? Am I opening it softly? Am I opening it forcefully?” And everything has prana and energy in the way that, “Is it one fold or two on the shorts? Is there a necklace with the outfit?” Everything has intention. “How are you gonna open up the door? Are you gonna bust into the room? Are you gonna open it up calmly?” Your prana is in everything. I believe that with coolness too. That's why I think a lot of artists work with me because there's always going to be guitarists that could play better in ways, but no one can recreate your personality.
MW: That’s cool. [We laugh.]
MD: Cool!
MW: Are you excited for tonight? I'm excited for you. I can't wait to see you perform.
MD: I’m so pumped. This was awesome. I’m so happy that you're here.