The Trips (l-r): Seamus Devenny, Mark Black and Brendan McGlynn.
BY SEÁN P. FEENY
WELL-known Donegal artist Mark Black has gone into a new musical direction with his new outfit The Trips and tomorrow night (Saturday) sees the launch of his new album and sound, Ghosts In The Fire at An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny.
But the Letterkenny native feels it wasn’t so much a change, but rather a natural evolution into the roots rock style.
“As we started recording the album I could feel that the new songs had a different energy to them that leant itself to having a more edgy rock sound rather than laid back acoustic feel or large production big band stylings,” he said.
Mark’s outfit features Letterkenny’s Brendan McGlynn on bass and Carndonagh man Seamus Devenny on drums and together they form a real rock power trio in the spirit of The Police, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Taste and The John Butler Trio.
Mark said: “I’ve always played with a three-piece band and I’ve always been very influenced by some of these great trios in rock history.
“I find it very exciting and challenging playing in a three- piece, it provides a lot of space for each musician and really keeps you on your toes.
“With great musicians like Seamus and Brendan they bring so much to the band musically and of course in terms of extra vocal harmonies.”
The singer is very pleased with his latest album. “I think the songs have better and tighter arrangements and also contain a lot more social commentary than in previous releases which was probably a result of the sign of the times we are living in over the past few years.
“Also we recorded these songs together and Seamus and Brendan brought their own parts to the music. This collaborative approach was great and very positive.
“In terms of instrumentation and production there are a lot more electric guitars on this one and not a lot of acoustic instruments. I really enjoyed that part of recording the album.”