ZapTown

[Article by Karen Shaver.]

[September 16, 2009] First time at the Melody Inn for me and I have to say I felt right at home.   As soon as we walked in, the absence of people was apparent. Where was everyone? I mean it’s only Wednesday night, people? There he sat with his accomplice and percussionist, waiting for the room to magically appear with a massive crowd that he surely deserved to play in front of.   Some may claim Mark Mallman to be a 70’s- esque performer; I didn’t see him as so.  To me, Mark Mallman is a RIGHT NOW player. As he approached the stage he was dressed in high tops, a black sleeveless t-shirt, and an over coat. One could tell he could care less that there were a handful of people in the room, his stage performance could have entertained a sold out arena.

Playing tunes off of his latest CD Invincible Criminal (Badman Records), his music has an excellent future with the pop/ alternative music genre.

The opening song: “Do You Feel Like,” showed me just how passionate Mallman is about his keyboards as he put one foot in top of the keys and kicked out a killer tune at the same time.  This is a hard task, speaking from somebody who is on her 5th piano lesson.  The song “Invincible Criminal” is a catchy tune with an upbeat tempo with a somewhat chaotic piano solo at the end. I imagined this song being used in the remake of the movie Valley Girl. Mark’s voice seems familiar as if I have heard it before, maybe that’s because his music has already been used for commercial use in academy award nominated movies like Wall E and various television shows.  The third song, “Death Wish,” had an extremely jazzy feel, although it was not a jazz tune at all. Playing piano since he was three years old is perhaps where he gains his confidence while playing and straddling the keyboard at the same time. Yes I said “straddling”, an action maneuvered quite often during the set (How does he do that?).

The real hits of the night would have surely brought the house down — if there was anybody in the house to bring down — were “White Leather Days,” and “If Only We Only Kept Getting Younger.” Look out for this on the next episode of The Hills.

There was one cover song of the night which was Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” from Flashdance. Mark’s version was way better with a sense of tension added giving it more of a punk feel than Michael’s version.  If I wasn’t so shy and there were more peeps on the floor I would have cut a rug on the 100 year-old tile floor that rested beneath the band.

All in all, Mark is a true performer. Writing this latest record in the basement of a haunted church where he resides, each song was masked with divinity. Mark is a phenomenal performer and entertainer. It’s obvious that last night the talent was far greater than the size of the venue.

Links:
You can hear for your self on Invincible Criminal available through www.badmanrecordingco.com.