For some reason, puberty struck a musical chord in Mark, and he began playing the guitar when he was the incredibly awkward age of 13, squeaky voice and all. He joined an alternative rock band during the Spring of his Junior year in high school, and dyed his hair all sorts of strange colors. After playing and touring with them for the next few years, he decided he wanted to take Opera lessons because he likes a challenge. Once he was able to channel the true spirit of Pavarotti, Mark decided he was comfortable enough as a singer to begin writing his own songs for the first time in the Winter of 2007.

Without formal guitar training, he found it very difficult to write entire songs out of thin air, but he knew he had something important to say, so he persevered until he wrote his very first song. One song turned into 2 songs, which turned into 3 and 4. This song writing continued on in the solace of Mark’s bedroom for the next 7 years unbeknownst to anyone else that he was a songwriter, even to himself. It became an obsession of great poignance to Mark, allowing him to find clarity and existential meaning in those horrifyingly nebulous conundrums of life.