1) First and foremost, who are
you, what do you do? That is, what band are you in or are you
a solo artist, what have you guys
been up to leading up to the festival, anything exciting we
should all know about? Your
chance for shameless self promotion…go!
(photo by Olivia Christina Photography)
MK: I am Mark Kilianski and I grew up in New Jersey where I
played a lot of rock and jazz music. Living close to New York City, it was a
good place to learn about jazz and I picked up the guitar when I was 13 and
started off playing rock, got into jazz, and then when I got to Berklee I found
the roots music scene with all the bluegrass, and oldtime and celtic players
and stuff. I had a taste of that before but never really got super into it and
so once I was surrounded with players of it I just fell in love with it. Now that’s
the basis of my sound as an artist. I am a songwriter and I now consider myself
a “singer” – after many years of trying and failing (laughs). So I write songs
in that vein, learn traditional songs and play songs in the traditional
bluegrass and folk idioms. I just want to spread good music and good messages
throughout the world
2) Name a record that shaped you
as a musician early on. What music initially made you want to sing, or pick up an
instrument and make music?
MK: What made me want to play guitar was actually stuff I don’t like
at all now. I was really into Korn and Limp Bizkit and Godsmack…all that stuff because
I was 13 and I was really angry. I guess I really identified with that music
and it kind of spoke to me. So I wanted to play guitar because I wanted to
express that and express myself and share the good feeling playing gave me with
other people. From there my tastes changed, obviously and my guitar teacher got
me into good music. You know, classic rock like Zeppelin, Allman Brothers,
Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath “Paranoid” was the first album that I like played, I put
on the album and I just played along to the whole thing. Through the whole
album and so that was my introduction to what I was primarily in to for the
beginning of my musical life. The blues rock, classic rock, heavy metal kind of
thing.
3) What are you listening to now
that you think folks should be aware of? Anything local that just
stands out and people should know about?
Let’s see, local stuff….there’s this guy that I played a few
gigs with and I recorded a guitar track on his album and his name is Eric Law.
He is a cello player and he plays some bass too and he is just a great
songwriter. He is kind of in the same vein as me, as he takes great inspiration
from old time music and traditional music. You know, American roots music and
he just writes the saddest, most lonesome songs…and he is a killer cello player
too! I would say he is probably the one person that people should check out.
4) Music festivals, in general,
are fairly well known for surprise sit ins, improvisational jams
and collaborations. If you could
see any two of this year’s acts collaborate on stage at this year’s
NEA Festival, who would you like
to see?
(photo by Olivia Christina Photography)
MK: Hmmm, I am going to have to think about that. Well we have
got all the regulars like Brian Carroll, John Colvert, Patrick Coman, The
Whiskey Boys, Chasing Blue, Eva Walsh, Mark Whitaker. Ummm Dietrich Strause,
who I haven’t really heard. I have heard about him a lot and I know him from
around town but haven’t heard much of his music. It would be kind of cool to
hear Eva Walsh and John Colvert because their singing styles are so different,
if they sang a duet it would be like in Beauty and the Beast (laughs and re-thinks the phrasing of that). And that’s not a
bad thing, I think that would be really cool. Just a really cool collaboration.
5) New England Americana and the
Fest firmly plant their roots and morals in “community”.
The event is a culmination of a
community of musicians and artists that is going on all year.
What does that community mean to
you?
MK: For one it’s a chance to foster creativity by sharing our
music with each other. With people who we know as friends and have a lot of
love for one another and we respect each other through enjoying each others
music. When all these people you respect like your music and the feeling is
mutual, its just really good for everybody. Also, business wise and promotion
wise it’s a really good thing too. We are all helping each other and promoting
each other. None of us alone could really do this much, the festival is a
combination of everybody and by that happening…it’s the New England Americana Festival.
It started out as a not very big thing that sounded pretty big, and now it’s
grown into an actual really big thing. And that is good for all of us.
(photo by Lucas Pool)
6) Why is creating music
important to you? Why do you pick up your instrument and write
songs? Why do you play that dive
bar on a Thursday night? What keeps you going?
It’s the best way I have to express myself. Its really the
best way that I have to connect with other people. When I started playing, I
was 13, you know, you are super awkward and in puberty. I went to middle school
and I realized that all of my friends were assholes. I was probably an asshole
too, because everyone is an asshole in middle school. But music helped me make
goood friends and the relationships that you create through music are great.
Like the people that I see around town at shows and collaborate with. They are
people that you may not see every day of your life. You could go weeks or
months without seeing them, but when you see them again and you just hug each
other. It’s just great, it’s a beautiful thing.
Mark's website is
http://markkilianski.com/
Mark's website is
http://markkilianski.com/
He is playing two sets at the festival (and I am sure he may pop up in a few other performances as well!). On Friday night he is with his bluegrass outfit Mark Kilianski and the Moonshine Ramblers at 10:10 PM on the Tasty Burger Bar stage and then he will be playing with Brian Carroll as a guitar/mandolin duo yet to be named at Club Passim at 8 PM on Saturday.
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