Bio

Mark Johnson

Musician/Songwriter

Mark Johnson hales from Sydney Australia where he was writing songs and playing guitar in his first band by the age of 12. By 16 he was playing the local pub circuit in his band, Blind Ambition that was a covers/originals band to which Mark was a main contributor of original material.

Towards the end of that band, Mark was approached to participate in a Beach Boys show as their lead guitarist and eventually musical director. The show would tour up and down the east coast of Australia regularly for the next 5 years. Song writing was put on the backburner during this time and Mark settled in to honing his chops as a club muso.

At the end of that run there was string of covers bands including a Police Show called Zenyatta, a blues boogie outfit called Bandanna which had a very large bikie following, and then finally back into an originals/covers band called Tiger Bay. This was a predominantly reggae outfit that also ventured into progressive rock. By this time Mark had been playing covers for so long that he never really managed to get back to writing before Tiger Bay went belly up and became Nattai.

At this time Mark was about ready to call it quits out of frustration when he received an offer that was a little hard to ignore. AC/DC’s original lead singer Dave Evans wanted to get back out on the road and Mark was offered the guitar position which he jumped on enthusiastically. Unfortunately promoters and agents in Sydney were dubious about any public interest in Dave Evans. Regrettably for them and Mark, Dave took off for the States where he promptly recorded a new album and is in constant demand.

In 1997 Mark found himself back in club muso mode when asked to join a show band called The Family Von Trapp. A campy cabaret/retro/show band that Mark enjoyed for a few years. He then returned to Sydney after 6 month break in Tasmania and was astonished at what he saw. The local music scene was almost unrecognisable by this time and many of Marks peers and acquaintances had either retired or joined duos. A local agent persuaded Mark to try things out as a solo artist. This barely lasted 18 months as he just couldn’t get used to the idea of playing gigs where he was competing with football and cricket while playing tucked away under TV screens. What it did do though was give him a massive, “hands-on” lesson in producing high quality backing tracks using pro tools.

Mark still plays live occasionally, whether that be standing in to help out friends’ bands or a brief stint with Phil Emmanuel, However his main focus these days is the studio. After playing other peoples music for most of his career, Mark now has the time and the facilities to produce his own songs.

He is currently working on his debut CD, Welcome to Earth which is shaping up to be completed by the end of 2009.