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Mark Gillespie Demo RecordingThis web page has
been set up as an attempt to identify those musicians
who took part in this recording so that they can be
credited for their work in bringing some of the early
songs that Mark wrote to some sort of professional
finish.
In most cases Mark just played a few chords for the musicians to get the 'feel', and then identified they key in which they were played. It was up to the individual musicians to add their own input to the recording. If you are able to assist with the identification of the muso's in this recording please contact me via the Feedback Form and I will get in touch with you directly. The story Behind Mark Gillespie.
Mark Gillespie emerged in Melbourne’s ‘70s theatrical
Carlton scene, alongside Paul Kelly, Joe Camilleri, Eric
Gradman, Ross Wilson and Stephen Cummings. Much of Marks
music has been documented since he released his first LP
record, but this article covers a little bit of the
pre-history of Marks songwriting career and the recording
that got him started on his journey to bigger and better
things. I have included some links to other sites that
cover in detail some of the later activities and
recordings Mark has made since. Mark also surrounded himself with names such as Daddy Cool’s Ross Hannaford and Mark Meyer. Singer-songwriter and bass player Joe Creighton did backing vocals and helped with arrangements.
In the years before releasing his first album, Mark
needed a demonstration tape to promote himself and to try
and get a record deal if possible. It was Peter Tammer [a local filmmaker] who first
recognised Marks musical potential. I had done some
recordings for Peter which involved recording sound for
some of his films, including "Mallacoota
Stampede", which used the song "Strutton
the Mutton". Peter came to me one day and said there was a musician he
wanted to record, as He thought he had a lot of talent and
could go far. He undertook to pay for the recording of a
demo tape of selected songs that Mark had written. I
agreed to a mates rate for the initial recording and
donated my additional time to complete the demo tape after
hearing the songs. This recording may not have happened if not for Peter Tammer. Swinburne Union Nights - A bit of pre-history. Union nights were run by the Swinburne Student Union.
This was a monthly event usually held on a Friday. Rock bands were in the cafeteria area, and Films in the
Ethel Swinburne Center at the ground floor level. There
was also folk and blues on the top level. Mighty Kong [Big amplifiers] , Daddy Cool [best live
sound mix] and Spectrum were some of the bands that played
at these gigs during the early 1970's. By 1974 I was employed by Melbourne State College [formerly Melbourne Teachers College] as recording Engineer in the [then] new music Department. I was responsible for setting up the Electronic Music Studio, which already had a Synthi VCS 3 Synthesizer [as used on Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"]. These formed part of the EMS [Electronic Music Studio] which also included a 'Mini Moog' synth, and later a number of Roland System 100 series synths and sequencers. These were all 'analogue' synths. A Mini Moog synth was used on one of the recordings demo tracks [Strutton the Mutton].
The Recording The recording was completed in one day, going on to late
in the night [until about 1.00am as I remember!]. I saw
many musicians coming and going over the duration of the
recording, all friends of Marks who came along to help
him. There was another mixing session following a few days afterwards. That final mix was done with Mark and myself . Equipment consisted of a Sony 4 track on 1/4" tape
recorder for mastering and a Revox A700 2 track on 1/4"
tape which the master mix tape was recorded.This was
considered state of the art equipment at the time and the
resulting mater tape could have been used to produce 7"
singles or even LP records. The mixer was custom built [see below] to a professional specification and was used for both the recording and mixing process. I designed and built this unit over a number of months as there was no suitable equipment available at the time which the Melbourne State College music department could afford. It would be some years before commercial mixers would be available which could do this job at a reasonable price!
Mark went on his way once the final mix had been
completed, with a number of cassettes to give to people
which had expressed interest in his work. It was only many years later when I was digitising a
number of old tapes from those years that the original
master tape was rediscovered in a random pile. It was
still in playable condition and the quality of the
original recording was apparent. As the main release was
on cassette at the time, the quality was not nearly as
good as the original reel to reel master tape. I hope
anyone listening to this recording today can see how good
the original recording was and the similarity to Marks
subsequent work which was released on vynal LP disk. Only when looking back do you realise the impact on your life of the times you were living in. It all seemed so 'normal', this is what everybody was doing, it did not seem out of touch at all. The energy in the live music at the time reflected the times, and the variety of styles meant there was a musical niche that most people could find that suited them. The final track list for the demo tape was: * Late night recording! Getting tired by this stage but
the 'feel' is great. There were some other tracks recorded but Mark did not
consider them good enough for the demo.
Only Human, 1980 Sweet Nothing, 1982 Ring of Truth, 1983 Flame, 1982 Plus: Demo Cassette [Tracks linked above], [5 tracks]
1975 [ish?] Debutantes (two tracks), 1977 Black Tape (cassette), 1978 Sadly, Mark passed away in November 2021, but his music
remains with us. You can read more about his background
here: If you have any feedback or know of any musicians that took part in this recording, or any additional information that might be relevant, I would like to hear from you. Please use the email form on this web site to make initial contact and I will get back to you.
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