Attending the Swedish music gymnasium “Mega Musik” in Helsingborg was the final step which led him to dedicating himself to really becoming a full blown songwriter. After living a few years in Malta, writing songs and playing at open mic nights at Casey’s Bar regularly, and also after becoming a partnered Twitch music streamer, he decided to pursue his music-writing dreams in 2013, and thus moved back to Sweden, just after releasing the very first single ‘January Won’t Be Long’ featuring his friend Jo Elise.
Marcus Alexander now lives in Gothenburg and just released the debut album, Journey, which he was working for over 1 year. It finally came together with the help of Rexius Records, along with his friend Nikos Taramanidis (aka. The Guitar Baron) and Linus Blad od Mega Music, an incredibly talented musician, as well as Marcus’s former classmate.
We caught up with Markus for an interview:
Hi there, how are you and what are you up to today?
It’s a good day! I’m good. I played an album release gig yesterday for my debut album Journey, as I’m currently in Malta where a lot of my friends live, and where I used to live!
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound?
It’s as simple as acoustic singer-songwriter, I suppose some songs can be considered more bluesy and others more folky, but definitely both those words!
What are the 5 albums and artists that have influenced you the most?
I’ve never been big on listening to whole albums, but the 5 artists that have influenced me the most are the following:
Coldplay
John Mayer
Gregory Alan Isakov
Bob Dylan
Kings of Convenience
What other artists do you really like at the moment and why?
I really like BadBadNotGood right now, as well as Charlotte Day Wilson, who made an appearance on their album IV, for their incredibly organic sound and talent in music!
What are some of the key pieces of gear you use to write your tracks in the studio? Or do you prefer to use software and plug ins?
I don’t write in the studio actually, and I always just write with an instrument, guitar, piano or ukulele!
Has your arsenal of equipment changed much since you first started?
Yes, indeed it has! Every time I’ve been in a studio I’ve been trying to identify my favorite microphones or pieces of equipment like plug-ins, sound proofing tools, headphone amplifiers etc. Then I see how they fit into my home studio situation and apply them accordingly.
Let’s listen to ‘Something Empty’ and see how the equipment sounds like
Do you enjoy playing to an audience or working in the studio?
I enjoy both! I prefer playing live on intimate venues with minimum equipment. However, I really love organic music and what it does.
If we gave you the budget to put a line-up together for a mini fest, who would you book and where would you play?
I am not really into conserts and festival stuff to be honest, I have no clue about anything related to it really, and I haven’t thought about it before so I don’t really have an answer I’m afraid!
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
I would be a pro PC gamer for sure, or a professional rock climber!
Do you have any information regarding upcoming releases, projects, DJ mixes or collaborations in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
I’m going to record and release my song “Grateful” that I’ve performed at Sofar and Gothenburg Open Stage which is already on YouTube, but just as a low quality video with poor sound, I will be recording it in my home studio and release it as a real single! 🙂
Sounds great! Good luck with your new single. We would like to thank you for providing us with these personal insights and we wish you all the best for all upcoming releases.
For more information, visit Markus Alexander on:
Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter
