Chuck Shute Podcast

Mark Knight (Mark Knight & The Unsung Heroes, ex Bang Tango)

April 03, 2023 Mark Knight Season 4 Episode 327
Chuck Shute Podcast
Mark Knight (Mark Knight & The Unsung Heroes, ex Bang Tango)
Show Notes Transcript

Mark Knight is a musician, known for his years as the guitarist in Bang Tango, as well as for his solo career with Mark Knight & The Unsung Heroes. He has a new album coming out June 6 titled “Lonesome Songs.”  We discuss the new album, plans for live shows, his work on the movie Airheads, getting a call from Slash to try out for Guns ‘N Roses and more!

00:00 - Intro
00:42 - New Album "Lonesome Songs"
04:50 - Sound City
05:44 - New Album Sound & Songs
08:20 - Shutdown & Music Revenue
10:20 - Listener Takeaway From New Album
11:00 - Plans for Live Shows
15:35 - Oni Logan & Bands Vs Solo
19:02 - Players on New Album
20:20 - Working with Producer Adam Hamilton
22:13 - Fools Like You & Social Media Opinions
25:45 - Playing Old Stuff Vs. New Stuff
28:05 - Chris Van Dahl & Bang Tango Redux
29:40 - Work on Airheads Movie with Brendan Fraser
33:13 - Invitation From Slash to Try Out for GnR
37:05 - Mick Mars Replaced By John 5
38:55 - Love After Death
41:37 - Hindsight with Music Career
45:21 - Advice for Younger Musicians
47:25 - Goal with Music Now
48:25 - ASPCA
50:38 - Outro

Mark Knight website:
https://www.markknightandtheunsungheroes.com/

ASPCA website:
https://www.aspca.org/

Chuck Shute website:
https://chuckshute.com/

Support the show

Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!

Chuck Shute:

All right, Mark Knight is back. He was on the show about two years ago and we covered a lot of ground there. So check out that one if you haven't already, it's episode 112. And today he's here to discuss his new solo record lonesome songs that will be a continuation of his solo career of Mark Knight and the unsung heroes. We're also going to discuss his work on the movie Airheads, getting a call from slash to try out for Guns and Roses. The last bang Tango album, Love after death and so much more. Stay tuned Yeah, so new album, what is called lonesome songs. Is that right?

mark knight:

That's right. Yeah. So

Chuck Shute:

it's it's produced by Adam Hamilton. I love him.

mark knight:

He CO produced it with me pretty much. Yeah, yeah. Adam, and then Wanelo. The, from the English beat the bass player from the English beat. He CO produced a couple of songs as well. But yeah, Adam and me, pretty much did the bulk of the production and the arrangements. And yeah, he did. He mixed it. I did a lot of it here at my house and my home studio and then gave them to the tracks to him. And we also used him to Kettler on drums. And we recorded that in his studio. But the guitars and the vocals were all done at my house. Right here. My studio.

Chuck Shute:

Oh, nice. That's easy to be able to do much better than back in the day when you're having to drive into the studio and have a producer like I think we talked about that last time. One of the albums I think wasn't the first one or second one. Where are you doing? Like 12 hour days or whatever. It was just crazy.

mark knight:

Now it was days of a dreamer that last one before this one. Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

All right. And then like the first or second bank tango? Would it really pushed you in the studio? Like for like, really long days? All of them were like, Yeah, cuz you that's different when you have a record label on you. And like, there's a lot of money involved. So it's very stressful.

mark knight:

That was like, also before like, you know, Pro Tools and modern technology with editing and finding the right parts. You had to like use tape and splice it all together and make those records so it just took a longer time. Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

It's amazing, though. Like most of the records I listened to now. They sound amazing. They sound great production. And oh asked like, oh, who produced this? And it's always like, Oh, we produce it ourselves. Or like, I just, I just heard the new extreme album. And I was asking, had Gary on and I was asking him about that. And I said, who produced this? And he's Oh, Nuno produced it. I'm like, wow, because I mean, it sounds top notch. It sounds amazing. It's just like, that's what you can do now with Pro Tools.

mark knight:

Yeah, you know, you really can. And if you if you know, I'm turning the knobs and you have good air, and you learn the technology. You could do you know, good mics, good guitars, good amps, good musicians. You can do it at your you could do it at home pretty much. You know, it's I think that the more you go into, like a like kind of world class for recording studios with big producers. They want to use all the bells and whistles and all their outboard gear and all these crazy things, I think you lose the intimacy of like real, like, real, authentic sounds, you know? And like, the less you know, almost the better at times.

Chuck Shute:

Right? Yeah, I just think like some of those albums, I think it was just I saw an article about Kip winger saying he wanted to remix his first couple albums. Like, I think there's a lot of bands that looking back with the technology, I feel like technology is better, like what you have on your iMac is probably better than what they had in the studio in the 80s. Like, just because it's changed so much. Well, the analog

mark knight:

in the old outboard gear was great, because it was all tubes, like it was warm, and you know, like the knee priests and all those things. And the old consoles really gave a great, huge sound as well as the microphones to back then. So technologies kind of squash a lot of that with so much compression. And so, you know, modern simulation of sounds not as opposed to using older gear, which a lot of like, you know, purist recording artists that still go with that, you know, the older stuff. So, you know, there's, there's both sides of that. If you know how to use this stuff, and you have a good year, like I said, you can make a lot of these plugins off Pro Tools sound like, you know, we're, you know, knee preamps, you know, or, or, you know, and you know, lexicon delays or whatever, whatever it may be. So, you know, it's just a matter of like being just, you know, have a good air. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

I know. That's a good point like about the old stuff, and kind of bringing that back like Did you see that Dave Grohl documentary, The Sound City where he finds that old studio and he fixes it back up and he record stuff and there is something be said about that getting the certain sounds with the older equipment. Yeah, I

mark knight:

recorded it that studio sound city. That's a classic Neve board. And then he moved it to his studio and I actually recorded on it again at his studio, which is super cool. I did a did a song in there, I think what's the studio called 606 or something but that Neve console and broader. After he did that documentary, he bought that Neve console brought it to his studio. And the second time in my career I recorded on it again. So but that things that things magic, you know, it's like I said, it's it's the old tubes and the old components that make those those consoles sound great. And then the preamps.

Chuck Shute:

Absolutely. So the new album. I haven't heard it, but so tell me about it. Like, I'm assuming this is just a continuation of your solo career in terms of musical style and whatnot.

mark knight:

Yeah, exactly. It's exactly what it is. It's a little different. It's a little bit going back to the more like soft like more. So it's not as overproduced. I don't want to say overproduced, but it's a little bit more authentic and a little bit more rootsy a little bit more acoustic driven, a little bit more storytelling. Not so atmospheric, kind of like days of a dream or had some songs that were kind of you know, I branched out and did some different stuff on that one. But it Yeah, it goes back to kind of more more more of my sound. Okay.

Chuck Shute:

Can you give us some song titles or themes?

mark knight:

Let me think there's a, the first song is called Big, I have a song called San Fernando Valley, which is basically about my upbringing of growing up in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County. What else is on there? There's so many cool long songs to title track. That's, that's a true life story of beat on the road in the south and Deunan chosen row in the last day and the state I was in. There's a lot of great stories. What else? You know, I kind of I kind of dug into a couple of like, like, historical stories of my life and stuff. And people I've seen, like, I kind of went back to that it's not, it's not all about, like, current emotions of how I'm feeling today, you know, so I kind of dip back into the storytelling mode a little bit more on this one,

Chuck Shute:

like, happy times sad times everything or

mark knight:

it's pretty much all over the place. You know, there's, you know, trials and tribulations, there's good times, there's, there's raising kids, there's their problems, there's the pandemic stuff that went down. How, you know, you know, we were all kind of shut down, I have a song called shut down actually, which is, you know, about about, you know, basically about a bartender in the South that, you know, no more bands are rolling into town. And I told her story, that story of, of her being a bartender that I knew back in the day and, and how, like, you know, they lost her job because the, you know, nobody could to her and you know, stuff like that. Yeah. How

Chuck Shute:

did that affect you? Because I know you do other stuff other than music. So you were okay, during that whole shutdown stuff?

mark knight:

Well, I pretty much just wrote another record. I did a lot of writing for days of a dreamer, I think back and recorded it during that time, too. But then, after that, the pandemic continued on for another year or so. So I ended up just writing writing a bunch of songs and just took on another project of put another record together.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I cuz I thought I heard you say something like, See, I always thought I know you do the woodworking stuff. I thought that was like, your main thing. And the music was just like a side thing. But I thought you said something like, half your income is from music, which is kind of like surprising.

mark knight:

Oh, yeah, I you know, I do a lot of live gigs. And then I sell a lot of merch, and I sell a lot of CDs, you know, it, it balances out. I mean, at times, you know, plus I get royalties from my old band and money comes in from music and a lot of different avenues. You know, I do some, some solos for people guitar work. So it kind of balances out 5050 Sometimes it's more music sometimes it's more you know, my carpentry in my my painting and, you know, that end of of the income

Chuck Shute:

with the solos that's like guest spots on people's

mark knight:

Yeah. Okay, you know, people, people hit me up and say you want to do a solo on one of my songs and they send me the tracks and, you know, give them a little prize and I I lay down, send it back and they drop it in and I you know, I do a couple of those here and there. Not a lot but you know, I've done some producing over the years and may get some money at that, producing young bands. And then how else, you know live gigs? And then, you know, selling my, my music online, basically. And, you know, yeah, that's pretty much it. So it adds up just like a little thing here and there and it adds up over time. Cool.

Chuck Shute:

Well, what so what do you want the listeners to take away from this new album? It's kind of like an abstract question, but

mark knight:

I want them just to be moved emotionally and, and, you know, turn some good feelings in, in themselves, and maybe some relatable subjects that they can identify with, with what I'm singing about and talking about. And, you know, letting the music be the magic is always you know, yeah, magic, right. You know, you just love people feel good from it, or feel anything, just feel. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

absolutely not. Will you be doing I know, I stick I saw where there's one show in May. Is there going to be more shows? Would you do like maybe a mini tour or something like that to support the album?

mark knight:

Yeah, we're working on that. Right now. I'm trying to, we're going out to Milwaukee and playing in May. We just did a couple of shows recently in town. And I'm just kind of like, kind of get a workup like kind of a solid lineup. For the new material. I might bring in another guitar player. Actually, we've been doing a three piece. Yeah, I've always had two guitar players. But the last year or so we lost one of the guitar players. So I decided, see if I could handle it by myself. And it worked out pretty well. And I got it pretty much under control. And we brought Damien Valentime in on bass recently, great bass player. So we've got it covered. But for the new record, there's a lot of two guitar parts. And I played all the guitars, but there's two sides to each each, you know, song as far as guitar. So I want to work on you know, bringing in another guy and putting a band together to represent the new record. Now we'll probably be like in June and July and you know, going into summer, and hopefully head out. Yeah, just so many tours is let's go shows east coast. Wherever it takes us.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I think you did. Because you recently did that show with a little Caesar and junkyard. How did that go?

mark knight:

That was awesome. Amazing. Great night. It was a Sunday night, you know, and they they had just done four dates in the West Coast. And fortunate for me, I got I got to be part of that. And just a great night band. Those bands are great and a lot of fun. And it went really well. Good good crowds. And, you know, kind of launched us off to kick out and play some more shows.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. Could that be a small package tour that maybe just like at least like a West Coast states or something? Because, I mean, I'm here in Phoenix. I'm only like five hours from you. I mean, you could do Phoenix Vegas, San Francisco, and you can do a bunch of California Cities. And

mark knight:

absolutely, yeah, that's what we're talking about. I mean, I know some people in Phoenix as well like other bands that have been been been contacting me trying to get me booked out there and some decent venues. And yeah, you're right. I know people in Vegas, I could do like, you know that whole little like Vegas, Phoenix, you know, west coast into the West Coast. And we can work we're, you know, we're on our own. I don't have a booking agent, I just do it myself, basically, you know, and get and get breaks. But I have locked, had made some recent connections with some promoters that want to I want to book us we might be doing some casinos and maybe some bigger venues because those last two shows I did the Gilby Clarke one and Little Caesar, one with junkyard and both those two went pretty well. So I got some good hookups with that. So hopefully, some better bookings will be coming. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

I mean, if anything, you could always do that. Because I know you've done to just the solo acoustic like because John Turabian Mike tramp both do that. I mean, they're similar. They're doing similar kind of stuff. Do you like that'd be a cool package like the three of you to do some dates?

mark knight:

Absolutely. That'd be great. Mark Diggins from odd rock pit in Australia, he, he, he, he gets a, I think he gets both those artists over there in Australia, and he's been pushing for that forever for me. He's, he's a solid fan of mine, and he loves my music. And he's like, we just got to get you on with John karate. I mean, it's like, perfect. We get you guys come over here. Do you look at you know, acoustics sit down? I mean, that'd be a great idea. You know, and I've kind of I think I've reached out to John Krabi a couple times but didn't get much response but yeah, it's great idea.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, that'd be a cool one or so just some sort. I feel like the packages when there's multiple bands, whether it's junkyard or whoever, you know, it's easier to fill up a venue when there's multiple bands because then you're all promoting it all. You know, you get some of your fans, some of their fans and then you know, hopefully more tickets

mark knight:

You're right absolutely because both those last shows I did one with Gilby and and the one with a junkyard and them both are great that it you know, because all the bands were pushing it and you know, you play your fans, they pay to play it a couple of your fans and it worked out so I was fortunate on those because, you know, last last year so I was just playing dive bars in the valley here. Like, you know, we have a little fan base here but I think stepping into some gigs with some you know, more well known bands helped me a lot and the unsung hero so yeah, yeah.

Chuck Shute:

Would you ever consider starting a new band with some of those some people from other bands like it like a supergroup? Basically, have you ever considered doing something like that? Just for fun? I don't know, maybe a whole tour or an album or just like a few one off shows or something?

mark knight:

I've thought of that, you know, here once a while think about that. I work with Tony Logan. Heaps hang on a lynch mob, right? Yeah, so only only is like a singer pal of mine that he actually sing on a song called Hey, Mama, don't kill the cat. We did like a duet singing in we've always, like bounced the idea around about putting in like kind of a somewhat all storage ban. You know, like you said, so I've thought about it. But you know, it's like, I finished a record. I'm like, you know, that's now's the time to do that. Let me let me let me rally some people up, get get only get, you know, I thought of other singers as well. But, and then, you know, it just it just seems like getting people together. And coordinating that is like, you know, seems difficult, you know, I mean, I'm sure it can happen. But I've just never, you know, I've kind of I end up losing interest in it and deciding just to, like, continue doing my solo singer songwriter trip, you know,

Chuck Shute:

ya know, that's probably a lot of fun when you're, you could just do whatever you want. Right?

mark knight:

It's kind of, well, that helps.

Chuck Shute:

I felt like the older you get, like, it's probably a lot easier to be in a band with five other guys when you're in your 20s. And then the older you get you like you just taught you have less patience for kind of like bullshit and trying to negotiate and compromise and all that stuff.

mark knight:

But when you've been out on your own doing your own solo stuff, as long as I have, yeah, like, you know, you can pretty much handle a singer song I saying I play guitar, and I write the song. So it's pretty much you know, if somebody's not like filling those voids in a band situation. And you've, you're dealing with those obstacles, where, you know, you could just do it yourself, almost, not with as much success but, you know, you, you know, I feel like pretty much handle that now. And sometimes, like, do I want to put myself through this for some, you know, somebody's personality that maybe rubs other guys or me or whatever, you know, singers crap, or not showing up or being inconsistent. And I'm just like, Fuck it, man. I always do myself, you know, I kind of like, I kind of roll back into that, because every time I get that, like, you know, like you said, like that kind of like, you know, that dreamy idea of putting a supergroup together with you know, some singer like, like oni ONi is great. I mean, I'm not nothing against anybody in particular. But every time I get to that state, it just seems like so much work. And you get the payoff. You're not sure if you're gonna get it because you rely on other people.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, that's true. I would not be I'd be intrigued to hear that what you two could come up with if you ever do decide to go forward with that, though.

mark knight:

Great. You know, we talk on and off. He's always like, we got to get this thing together. But we never it never really happens. You know, I finally got him to come down the studio and sing on the song. Hey, Mama with me. And it was great. You know, it worked out perfect. You know, one song was easy. He came in, you know, he's saying half the verses. I sang half the verses. And you know, the song came out great. And, you know, that's, that's as far as that went. But you know, but you know, we're still in contact. You never know.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. Is there any special guests on this upcoming album?

mark knight:

Actually, no, no, no, it's, it's, it's this one's pretty pure. I just grabbed I gathered my best musician. You know, the best musicians I know and friends, and just, you know, have them play on it. And there's not even any background special background singers or any I sing all the backgrounds. For the most part, Adam Hamilton sang a little bit on and then, uh, you know, Wanelo then played 90% of the bass. He's just incredible bass player. I didn't need to go anywhere else. I you know, I asked a couple of friends. If they would, they would chime in but they were busy or didn't happen. And then I brought TIG you know, and and he he played on seven tracks. And then Adam filled in, on drums on to and actually played bass on a couple and he did the strings You know, and as well as Wanelo the and he did some string stuff, too. I had it covered. And yeah, I did all the guitars. I mean, I didn't need to bring another guitar player in. I mean, yeah, I might have considered maybe bringing a guy into play some slide, but I ended up playing the slide and it just worked out. So I just kept it in house pretty much.

Chuck Shute:

Nice. I can't wait to hear it. Yeah, working with Adam. Like, is he just Is he one of the nicest guys that you've met in the business? I feel like people love him. I've never heard a bad thing about him.

mark knight:

Yeah, the guy is just awesome. He's just super professional. You know, there's no bullshit with him. He, he basically tells you, you know, honest opinions. And he just, he just works hard. And so his focus, and he just goes for the best he can get out here. And you know, as funny because at the end of the day, I sent him a text said, Adam, what? So what do you think? What do you think's your what's your favorite song? And he goes, there's no favorite song. He goes, I love all of them. And I'm like, really? I can't argue with that. That's a great report. No, he was just absolutely awesome. You know, we come over to my house when I had problems with my Pro Tools wherever he lives, like, you know, like, three miles away. So he'd swing by and just, like, fix my glitches and he'd be out you know, and then you know, we you know, it was just he's super professional and such a nice guy and no bullshit. It's great, dude.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, he's he's been busy like he's doing like the new la guns and then he's got a I think the actress and Margaret and some other big names that he's working on

mark knight:

Missing Persons he did Dale, I think he just to death, ozio solo record, or maybe it's missing persons. He Yeah, he's just got himself really plugged in. But he's a great musician, too. So he gets, you know, it's a package deal with him. You get the production, you get the recording. And then you get like, if you need a drummer, he he plays drums you need if you need a keyboard player, he played some keys. He played some he organized, he orchestrated some string sections on a couple of songs. And I'm like, Hey, I'm just giving a whack and he sent it back and it's done. So you gotta get the you get a lot with Adam. He's so and so talent across the board, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Absolutely. Yeah. was funny. I was listening to some of your, your other solo stuff. And I was the last album Days of a dreamer. And I was like, is weird. Maybe I didn't notice this last time I listened to the song fools. Like you. I was really listening to the lyrics on that one. I was like, Oh, wait, who? Who is this about? I was like, Man, I never really listened to lyrics on this one. It's like, it gets there's a lot of opinions on social media. Like you've posted some stuff about, you know, tribute bands, or bands clean or the past and stuff. Is this about someone in particular, or just in general?

mark knight:

Ah, yeah, that kind of goes back to somebody particular. But I'm not gonna mention who that is. But there was a theme for that song. Definitely. And I had had enough of some, some a certain personality. And I kind of, like, threw it in no song, but you know it. And then I like, you know, I kind of like, use it in a general term for a lot of people just, you know, as far as me talking about tribute bands. I'm not opposed to tribute bands. Don't get me wrong, you know, since you brought that up. I'm just interested in I was recently interested in on like, you know, do they pay the artists back then, you know, especially ones that are real successful? And what was the other thing? Living in the past? Yeah, you posted stuff like that, like, well, past thing was like, basically, you know, that was taken out of context by somebody, I have no interpretation at all. And somebody dug into that too deep and made their own story out of that, that had nothing to do at all with them, or anything to do with their band, or their music or anything. And somebody kind of took a spin on that. And then kind of had a field day with it and kind of just went you know, and ended up throwing me out there, right? Yeah, I didn't even respond to any of that, because it was just ridiculous. i It wasn't even about that, you know, I was just, I think I was just talking about you know, the post was mainly about having struggles with, you know, kind of getting any attention from the industry. So in my solo career, I think that's what it was like, it was, you know, a couple of years ago or a year and a half back but, you know, just got it got like somebody grabbed it just like when was his thought thought you know, put put it put it about them. It wasn't about them at all. And I didn't even I didn't even rebuttal to it. It was ridiculous. It's like, this has nothing to do with you. We you know, we what's his tantrum you're going on about about, you know, me, you know, talking about people cashing in on there. To me, I'm just going forward all the time. So, you know, however you want to take it.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, no, it just, definitely I can see that with with podcasting and social media and things like you say one thing and people can take your words and think you mean something else when you really Jones but yeah, you're right, like a twist, I

mark knight:

woke up to this, this, this huge thing. And I'm like, that's nothing to do with this. And, you know, I just didn't even know what to say it was just ridiculous. Like, you know, I wasn't knocking on any bands and cashing in on their past or any that, you know, I understand that, you know, we're all doing what we got to do to make ends meet and you know, sure, of course, you know, we sell our old old music and stuff. I was, I think I was referring to the fact that I'm living in the present and writing new music and continually creating, and going forward with new music. And that's where were my point was that was missed. And that's kind of how that yeah,

Chuck Shute:

why would see. That's what I always think like, I mean, I'm not a musician, but if I was, I feel like I would not want to just be playing the same songs. And I think it was, I think I just saw an article, I think it was Kirk Hammett there was saying he was sick of playing master puppets or the soul or something like that, something about that. So it was like, and he's in the biggest metal, you think like, oh, people would kill for this job. And he's like, Oh, I'm so sick of playing the song. Like, he's like complaining, but I get it. Because it's, if you're not a person who likes to do the repetitive things, like, I can never be a teacher, I used to work in the schools and I saw teachers, they teach the same thing six times a day. I mean, I would go nuts. So that's just me though, I so I'm kind of ice kind of side with you, I'd rather be creating new things,

mark knight:

hey, you know, it's just boring. To me. It's like, Sure. I mean, you know, if that was, you know, if I was making a killing off playing one particular song and my past band, whatever, sure, I would do it for the money and for the job, but I would just be stagnant on playing stuff from the past, it's like, it's, I understand that your job, there's nothing, you know, it'd be worth it to have to make a good amount of money doing it and like, you know, at the level that I'm patiently doing my own original stuff at, what's the point for me, it just doesn't work. You know, um, I'd rather you know, paint furniture. I rather do that than make make original music and, and be stimulated and do it for the art. And that's, you know, you don't want to be all like preachy preachy, but I do do it for for the art more than anything, and the joy of creating music and being artistic. And that's, that's what I do, if that's my passion, it's not, of course, the money is great when you get it, but it's like, that's always secondary, for me, at least, you know, otherwise, I'd be going out on you know, putting a bank Tango Mark Knight's bang tango and going out, and, you know, you know, grinding out the stage playing, you know, someone like you with another group of guys or whatever, I just, it's just, there's no way. This is not my thing. But yeah, we'll do it, I get it. I'm not knocking it, you know, it's fine. Whatever, whatever works. You know, maybe you like playing your stuff from 30 years, your whole life, you know, I mean, I, you know, I have nothing but respect for what we did and the bands, but I just don't want to do that at this time. Yeah, there was

Chuck Shute:

a point. Wasn't there a point where you guys did do a different version of Bang tango, because I just said, Chris Vaughn doll on and he was saying that he tracked songs with you guys, as a singer, bang tango, and he said, it sounded pretty good. But I was like, I wanted to ask you about that. You remember that? Like,

mark knight:

never track songs with us? We talked to Chris me, me and Kyle, Kyle. Because we did this thing called bang Tango Redux. Yeah. All original guys. But we had this singer that wasn't we, he just didn't work out. So we're going to continue on. We oh, maybe he did. Maybe he did take a couple. So he did. Actually. I'll take that back. Okay. Chris is a great guy. You know, great, cool. I

Unknown:

like him. Yeah, he's

mark knight:

a great dude. We went out to Vegas. We had a meeting with him. And we were, you know, considering maybe him being the singer for the redex. Right. And he, I think he took one, one of the songs and he took it into his home studio. And then he said, Yeah, that's what he did. That's right. And he played it for us. And it was cool. But, you know, whatever. It just didn't work out. And, and, but yeah, that was a short lived thing. We did like two gigs. And it was like, Yeah, all right. This is not working. You know, I think I think that personally, I feel, you know, Joe was stay is like being tango with that band. Like, we tried to the one guy we were going to consider Chris but you know, then it was just like, yeah, just kind of petered out.

Chuck Shute:

Sure. Yeah. So you posted this thing. recently about I was gonna ask you about the Airheads movie you You played your Brendan Frazier's like guitar stunt double or what I don't know what the term is, but you worked on that movie with him. Tell me about that story. That sounds amazing.

mark knight:

So I got I got a call from our management and they're like, you want to? You want to they're doing this movie called Airheads and they need some guitar work. There's a solo in the in the movie, would you be willing to go into the studio and just do a, like, solo guitar thing by myself just like, like a eruption vibe, you know? So I went to the studio, and then they're like, great, the producer loved it. The director loved it. So he's like, they want you to double Brent, random Fraser and B, and we're going to film your actual fingers, because there's no way he can, he can do that. So I'm like, so I went down, I spent a whole 12 hour day with the whole cast. And they feel you know, they, they made me, they put the fake tattoos on me. They like the clothes, I doubled him, basically. And then every guitar scene, they would have me come in and just, they'd fill my fingers, not, you know, part of my body, obviously. And so anyways, that's, that's what went down. It was a lot of fun. And, you know, turns out the big whole solo thing never ended up on the editing floor, but it didn't make it but some of the scenes of me of him playing, I think made the movie where I was actually, you know, that was my, my hands doing it, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Oh, that's cool. So then do you get is that a thing where they just pay for the day? Or is that one where you got like, you get like a royalty for that every time they

mark knight:

just got like, you know, it was like, I think I got two payments, one for the studio work of doing the guitar. So and the other one for the day. I was basically acting doubling his, his role playing.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, that's still really cool that yes, that was

mark knight:

a lot of fun. They were they were great. It was it was it was a long day. And at the time, the movie was so hilarious, because dang Tango was doing some stuff. And we were like, dealing with promoters and going to Vegas. Some was going on at the time. And the movie was so aligned with like, my real life, and I'm sitting there watching this movie go. I'm actually living this lie. I'm like, faking acting it.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, so it's Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi. They were there too.

mark knight:

Oh, yeah, there was three of them. Yeah, we like got hung out in the trailer with them. They were funny. And they were just, you know, they were just cool. And, and he was great. They were all great. You know, he's a little bigger than me. So it's a funny story. You know, they they give me like his like, jeans. I put them on they're a little big on me. He I'm Tom a tall guy, you know, and, and he and I put them on. They're just like, they're like, these are too big for him. And Brendan Fraser goes, Why am I am I fat? Like, how come they can't fit on you? I might be a little bigger than me. You're not fat. Here's the bigger guy. Like oh, man.

Chuck Shute:

That's ironic because then he later plays the whale.

mark knight:

Yes, he's what that younger. It's younger, younger acting career. But yeah, he's just bigger. He wasn't he wasn't he was never a big, you know, fat guy or anything. But I was a little bit at that time. I was like, you know, really wait, like, you know, noodle guy, you know, super skinny. The Panthers a little big on me. And he's like, Oh, man. Like, it's no big deal, man.

Chuck Shute:

That's funny. And then you also I want to ask you about this too, because you post this kind of like this was like a jaw dropper for me. Tell me the story about how you almost became the second guitarist and Guns and Roses. This is crazy. I'd never heard this before.

mark knight:

Yeah, I don't really talk a lot about it. There was a there's a period of time where they had just finished doing the the cover of

Chuck Shute:

what was Sympathy for the Devil.

mark knight:

Yeah, exactly. They just covered that. And I got it I basically I got a call from slash and he said, you know, they had brought one of axles guys in some guitar player, I don't even remember his name. And I don't think slash was really getting along with this guy. And an absolute brought him in this. This is just what I got. I kept the fax could be off. But and, and slashes kind of said, you know, you want to learn the stuff and we'll see where we can go with it. And I'm like, sure, you know, so I basically learned to have the records. The first two records, I think, you know, the double record and the original appetite. And I spent two weeks woodshedding it and basically learning both their parts an excellent answer. I mean, is he's in and slashes parts, but mainly, you know, is he stuff obviously, and I felt pretty good about it. I was like, Yeah, gotta do this one for sure. I'm not going to turn this down. And then um, you know, I never heard back from them. And then next thing I find out, you know, I think him and Duff are out of the band and that's when it all kind of split up. So I never even got my chance to like jam with him. But

Chuck Shute:

it wasn't to do shows live it was more just working in the studio or something.

mark knight:

Oh, I think it was probably to be like a guitar player for the band. You know, I think slash was looking for, you know, another guy at the time. And you know, Axl had his guy and they were butting heads at that time. So there was no like, you know, there was no it was just kind of this vague thing where I got the call to kind of learn the stuff and come in and maybe try out as a second guitar player. And, and I was like, super excited about it. I learned it all. And, you know, it's been a couple of weeks getting it all down and then and then like, I never heard back and then I found out you know, he the split up of, of the band. I don't know, I don't know if they fired each other or what happened, but I think duff and, and slash, we're out of the band all sudden, and Axl was starting on his new, you know, version of the band. So yeah, but it was, uh, I don't really talk much about it, because it was just like, kind of like a quick little blip. I didn't, you know, it's not like I played with him, but I do. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

but just the fact that you were even considered Did you? Were you friends with slash or how did you have your number?

mark knight:

Yeah, I mean, I just know him throughout the years. We have, you know, he he got up with being tangled a couple times, one time in the limelight years ago. And, you know, we always bump into each other out out there and about and I think that's, that's kind of how that came about. You know, and then he, I think he knew the people does this close company called crow hearts that used to make our clothes and they made clothes. And I was real tight with all those guys and slashes to get his clothes made by them. I think, you know, maybe he somebody mentioned something about it, but yeah, well,

Chuck Shute:

he the fact that he I mean, he must know a lot of guitar players. The fact that he considered you is like that's pretty nice compliment.

mark knight:

Yeah, I don't know. You know, it's definitely Absolutely. I mean, jeez, you could get anybody on the planet, right? Yeah, that's amazing. That time or now even Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. I was excited. Yeah, I mean, I like was like, Wow, no way. Am I big shots. But GNR was pretty cool. You know? Like I said, I worked pretty hard to learn and stuff and you know, didn't happen. Yeah, that's

Chuck Shute:

still cool. Just to be in consideration for that though. I think that's amazing. You'd be pleasant something else so recently about how you felt like Mick Mars was the soul of Motley Crue. So what are your thoughts with them going forward with John five?

mark knight:

You know, I mean, that goes John finds a you know, great player. I mean, I think that I mean, I grew up watching motley crew play their first shows in LA and Mick was always like, just so raw and down and dirty. And he was we just loved him as kids growing up watching the the initial motley crew, and he just had that, that grit and that sound. And I always thought that he he was like, that kind of backbone of their, their, you know, nasty street blues rock, you know, that they are you know, and, and, you know, unfortunately, you know, didn't you know, he's, he's ill, or whatever the reasons are, he's not playing with them. You know, there's a bunch of things going on around, but um, I don't know, I mean, I probably would have picked a different guy for them, personally. I mean, no knock on John five. I mean, that guy's a brilliant player, but for me, I would have you know, I can see like Tracy guns pulling in and doing that job. You know, he's got that more of that. It's just a sound you know, a motley you know, a virtuoso kind of guitarists like John five can pretty much play anything to me is a little a little polish for Motley. Hey, that's just my opinion. Not like, he's not an amazing guitarist, but I just think a guy like, you know, a little bit more street a little bit more edgy. Like I said, like, like, Tracy would have been great. Or, you know,

Chuck Shute:

yeah. And he's from that era to like, so what would have been?

mark knight:

Like, he's got that whole la sound. And that whole scene? Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, that would have been cool, too. I was gonna ask you about this to the love after death album. I think we talked about this before, obviously, it never came out. And you felt like that was one of your best albums. Is there any possibility that will ever come out? Because I can, you can listen to it on YouTube. But it's like, you guys aren't getting royalties from that. And it's obviously not going to be as many people hearing it. I mean, is there any way like what stands in the way that you know, was released in Europe, right? Yeah, but not here. Like it's on Spotify and all that stuff?

mark knight:

I don't I have no idea you know, that's such a can of worms with that. The business of being tangos is you know, I don't even want to get near that I didn't want to touch it. I mean, you know, if anybody was smart, we would find a label to put it out and you know, probably I'll make a little money on it. But just to go into business with those guys in any way, shape, or form at this time is just, I rather just let it sleeping dogs lie with that. But you know, cheese, we could just bootleg it out of our garage and probably make some money off of that because nobody really He grabbed it. And it's a shame. You know, I mean, I'm surprised that, you know, one of these labels don't come to us and say we're just gonna put it out. Well, we'll cut you guys in but yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's never happened.

Chuck Shute:

It's weird, because I just the money but just so that people could hear it. I mean, it's like so I felt like I was kind of maybe a little bit ahead of its time and in some ways, like new generation is such a good song and the song crazy was like, it's kind of bluesy. But it's got the Allison chains thing. I'm like, people should hear this stuff is good. I don't know, it's too

mark knight:

bad. No, it's a good question. But at this point, I don't have the energy for it, you know? Sure. But I would think that, you know, somebody, somebody would get a hold of it and just come to us and be like, hey, we want to put this out. You know, it's like, why not? Like what I mean this it was like one masterpiece we all think it's our best wrecker. I think every guy in the band does. You know, we just got burned by it and it's just it's a sad story because we were so excited we put years and two years and making it you know, six studios all over the all over the country and lots of money a lot a lot of anticipation and tours lined up and you know, we got dropped and boom, they just they dropped the band and they throw us late the record we couldn't get it picked up except for you know, music for nations across the overseas and in Japan picked it up and you know, that was like the end of the band. But, you know, it sucks, you know, I we all hung out for about three years trying to like make that thing pan out. And maybe get the deal here in the States and it just didn't happen and

Chuck Shute:

lame. Do you have any other like regrets or hindsight with your music career? Like if you could go back in time would you have done anything differently?

mark knight:

Um, I think with the success bank tango, if we would have worked the single someone like you a little longer, we probably would have launched into that next level of, you know, whatever, gold platinum, you know, and kind of took us into that like level of like, faster ProScan elegance and those bands that were kind of coming out of that because we had it I mean, you know, lightning struck with that song and it just I think the management pulled the label pulled the trigger on it too early, and probably a second a song that we instead of releasing a song called breaking up the hardest stone we if we were to release something a little different often of psycho cafe we probably wouldn't even had more success you just sit in the car and you can't really tell like when you're doing it but I think those two things with that that bad Anyways, um, probably I would have changed there was just all kinds of weird things that went down with the decisions made for bank tango, you know, that we probably could have had more success here we were going to put a video out for midnight struck off to dance, dancing on calls. And we went into talk to label and they're like, we're not going to do that we're gonna put out another live record for you guys. It we had this like ballot at the time, you know, all the ballots were happening. Midnight's struck was like a, you know, fan fave. And we go in to talk to him like a video on a single for that. And I go, No, no, we're gonna we're gonna go with another live record. And we're like, okay, you know, so there's like, this weird decisions, I think. And those are out of my hands or the band's hands. I mean, we fought a lot of stuff. But, you know, those were things that probably, I wish could have been different. Yeah, even myself, but you know, probably would have felt different.

Chuck Shute:

It seems like it's to some of it is just luck and timing. Because what if those first two albums were more like indie, and then the love after death was like your breakthrough. And that's what everybody knew you for now. You're like a 90s banned or whatever. Now you're like a red hot chili peppers or Faith No More, you know, like that kind of genre. And then you could have had a whole different career.

mark knight:

Absolutely gone that way. And we had from, you know, 1994 95 to like, 2005 off the success of love after death, just like you said, the whole career could have been different. Yeah. Is so pinnacle. Like it just, you gotta like, you gotta line these things up. And that's, that's management. That's your label. That's your, you know, your booking agent getting you the right tours, and it's, you know, having relationships with other bands so you can piggyback with them and get good on tour. We didn't, you know, it just we missed a lot of opportunities. And we had it I mean, we've had we had it we were selling out clubs across the country like sold out. Clubs. A great number one, not number one, but like, you know, number five requested video on MTV with someone like you and everything was right there. It was in our hands. But somehow we dropped the ball or our team did yeah. Uh, so those things were just always frustrating. But you know, I'm not complaining, I have plenty of success, you know, geez, thank God, I got to do what I did and still, you know, still still making money and of selling music on my own and, and a solid fan base just from what I've done, you know, to start that. So? Absolutely.

Chuck Shute:

Would you have any advice for the younger generations? Like starting in the music business? Like what would you tell them? Like, I know your daughter does music too, like, what do you tell her?

mark knight:

Well, she's got a whole program like it's this whole different world now. She's into, like, indie rock, which is totally it's, it's not pop not commercial. It's kind of just this this world of music that and society that is completely different for what, from what she's doing. I don't know, I really, that's a good question. I don't even know what to what to say write great songs. I mean, yeah, who knows, it's so difficult to like to brand yourself, and just get a following and just get known a little bit for your name, or your, your band or your song. It's just, it's just so saturated with, you know, people just throwing out singles every day, and, you know, the Spotify, everything's just like, I don't know, how do you weed through it, how you get that success. And in the big labels, I don't even know what's going on with that these days. I mean, you know, these young young bands it you know, I've got some, some of my friends, kids are successful. Musicians in big bands, like selling out, like, you know, 100,000 see the, you know, festivals in Europe. And, you know, they still have struggles like making ends meet like some some things, it's like, really weird. And everything's free, all the streaming is free. You know, like, you know, I don't even know like, like, my daughter's school me down about it. Like Scarlets got her own little career going with it. And it's like, she tells me what I'm doing wrong. And I'm like, Well, I don't know, I gotta just, I gotta, like, bring in something. You know, I can count on like, a single on Spotify making me money. I can't, it's not gonna give me anything. But I can sign a CD and sell for 25 bucks, and people will buy it. You know, so I can make my money back off of my investment on recording, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, no, that's interesting, like, so like, because I just had a Edgar Winter on Well, a few months ago, or whatever. And he was saying, because he has a new out, he had a new album out. And I was asked him, like, what is your, like, what do you want from this album, like, you want to sell a bunch of copies, like, well, at this point, I don't really care about selling. He just wanted to make music that his peers, you know, we're proud of and like he said he had that, like, all his friends and suffer like, yeah, good album, is that kind of the same for you, like, you want to put out an album that you're proud of? That your friends can say, Yeah, this is good stuff like,

mark knight:

well, you know, you know, fortunate for me, I got a little a little, like, a little, really little, like cold following, that are fans of my songs. And what I do. So I'm always now it's at the point where I want to make them happy, I want to, you know, I don't want to like, turn them off. I mean, I put out like six or seven solo records. And I've built up a little fan base with these people, you know, through social media and stuff. So I just want to make, you know, I want to, like fill the void for the their musical, what they expect out of me and what what I've done for them in the past, and they're anticipating this new record. And so, you know, it's not just about my friends going, Yeah, man, that stuff rocks, dude, cool. It's like, I want to I want to make that little group of, you know, followers happy and they it continues to grow, you know, every record, I get more and more and, and they pass it on to other people. And, and, you know, I'm lucky that way, you know, it's not huge, but it's enough to like, I'm not just like throwing out music for myself only and for my friends. You know, I'm doing it for, you know, a eclectic group of people that have started following me and backing me. So

Chuck Shute:

that's awesome. I love it. Well, they're gonna hopefully they like this new album. I haven't heard it. But like you said, it's a continuation. They should be happy with it. And we'll just wait till it comes out in June. What do we have any official date?

mark knight:

I think we got a date. June 6. I think we're putting it out. June 6.

Chuck Shute:

Perfect. Well, I'll look forward to that. And always end each episode. Promote a charity. I think last time you heard you promoted the animal charity, the A SPCA? Yes. Yeah. I forget what that stands for. It's but yeah, that's where people can donate money to help rescue animals. So I'll put that website in the show notes as well. With your website. Perfect. All right. Anything else?

mark knight:

I think we're good Chuck. That's all. Thanks for having me.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I can't wait to hear the new stuff. I'm I'm digging the old soul stuff. I'm getting more into it now too. And, again, I hope we get to see a live that would be so fun. Even if it's Vegas. Maybe I'll make a drive out

mark knight:

there. You know, good chance I'll be in Phoenix. cuz I know a couple guys out there that keep trying to get get us out there. So who are the guys

Chuck Shute:

that you know, in Phoenix? I might know.

mark knight:

What's his name Josh Decker. You know, Josh. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm

Chuck Shute:

friends with him on Facebook. Yeah, he's

mark knight:

got his band out there. And he's just like, he's an old fan of bank tango and my stuff. And he's always like, I'm gonna get you out here, man. I gotta get you out here. He's a great dude. And he keeps asking me to come out. And he's talking to promoters and trying to get something out there where I can go out and play.

Chuck Shute:

Perfect. Well, I hope I'll come down. I'll buy a ticket on the front row.

mark knight:

Excellent. All right.

Chuck Shute:

Thanks, Mark. Thanks for having me, man. See you later. Great stuff from Mark Knight, new album from Mark Knight and the unsung heroes lonesome songs. It's out June 6. So check that out. You can follow mark on Facebook and Instagram. And remember liking, sharing, commenting, all that stuff helps the algorithm so that more people will find out about the things that he's promoting. And you can help our show out in the same way. And of course, make sure you subscribe wherever you listen, so it'll be up to date for future episodes. We have some great guests coming up. If you're a fan of this episode, I think you're going to enjoy these ones. So thank you for listening. Have a great rest of your day and shoot for the moon.