{"id":625,"date":"2016-05-04T01:29:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T01:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=625"},"modified":"2016-05-04T01:40:28","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T01:40:28","slug":"from-the-vaults-frank-marino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=625","title":{"rendered":"From the Vaults: Frank Marino"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Frank Marino scoffs at the thought of being a \u2018guitar god\u2019. \u00a0\u201cI think it is ridiculous – You can either be a \u00a0guitar god or you can be a musician.\u201d \u00a0For someone who influenced a lot of today\u2019s guitar players like Marty Friedman, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Vai, and \u00a0Zakk Wylde, it is even more amazing to hear Marino say, \u201cI\u2019m told that a lot of guitarists have talked about my influence. . . I can\u2019t believe these guys even know who I am!\u201d \u00a0When I read the Guitar Player magazine account of Frank Marino\u2019s extraordinary journey from the psych ward to that of reluctant guitar hero, I had to find out more. \u00a0I had heard of Frank and his band Mahogany Rush, but I hadn\u2019t actually heard more than a song or two in the distant past. \u00a0A quick tour of the friendly neighborhood YouTube site caught me up on forty years worth of Marino\u2019s music and it was interesting to hear his take on his unusual musical career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A Montreal, Quebec, Canada native, Marino started out on his musical journey as a drummer but a dalliance with the psychedelic drug LSD literally blew his mind at age 13. \u00a0He ended up in the psychiatric ward of the Montreal Children\u2019s Hospital and even though the treatment failed to help him, the stay did save his life. \u00a0His lifeboat came in the form of a cheap Stella acoustic guitar that he latched onto in order to distract himself from the terrifying things that were going on inside his head. \u00a0Marino explained that, \u201cI progressed <\/span>incredibly<\/span><\/i> quickly (because) in my state of mind, I hung onto that guitar the way a person would grab a piece of shipwreck if he was drowning in the ocean. \u00a0It was a lifeboat for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How quickly did he progress? \u00a0Soon after being released from the hospital, he began gigging around Montreal with a three piece band he named Mahogany Rush. \u00a0He laughs about it today because the name came from him telling the doctor at the Children\u2019s Hospital that he was having \u2018mahogany rushes\u2019 when he tried to describe what the drug did to him. \u00a0His parents decided that the guitar playing was helping him so they found a used 1961 Gibson SG (for $75) which is still Marino\u2019s guitar of choice today. \u00a0He drew the attention of a small American record label but did not want to have any part of recording an album and becoming \u2018commercial\u2019. \u00a0In the end, they got him on board by promising to give him the equipment, studio time and complete control of his first album! \u00a0Marino says, \u201cI mean, they let a 16-year old kid produce his first album! \u00a0Who could say no to that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My favorite Marino quote pretty well sums up his long held disdain for the whole music business scene: \u00a0\u201cBusiness has no business in the music business!\u201d \u00a0He became disillusioned enough to stop playing guitar for a long period of time, preferring to spend his time raising his children and playing around with computers. \u00a0He eventually stumbled upon some fan sites that were keeping his music and legendary status alive even though he wasn\u2019t actually creating any new music. \u00a0This interest eventually lured him to the 1997 Ottawa Bluesfest where he met his band members on stage for the first time in four years and \u00a0inquired if they still knew any of the songs. \u00a0Since then, he has played when and what he wants, toured with Uli Jon Roth and recorded a new album <\/span>(Eye of the Storm).<\/span><\/i> \u00a0He is currently in the process of editing a DVD of a 2010 live show at Cleveland\u2019s Agora Theater and hopes to release it soon. \u00a0Even after four years of editing, he isn\u2019t in any rush. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t own a car or a home and has virtually nothing to show for all the recordings and shows he did in his previous musical life, but he just doesn\u2019t care. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just a musician, man, doing whatever I\u2019m doing,\u201d Marino says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He is respectful of other guitarists views, but finds it rather funny that they rave about his guitar tone and ability to forge guitar sounds. \u00a0The fact is, early on he had built himself four large speaker cabinets and happened upon an Acoustic 270 amp that was powerful enough to drive them. \u00a0Because the Acoustic 270 was a transistor amp (no tubes – the heart of many a guitar amp\u2019s tone), he carried around a 3 foot by 6 foot pedal board with 22 stomp boxes on it to shape his guitar sound. \u00a0When guitarists especially rave about the tone on his 1978 <\/span>Live<\/span><\/i> album, he tells them, \u201cWell, it was just a transistor amplifier and some pedals\u201d which they find hard to believe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The one thing he does care about is the ridiculous amount of press that has been generated about him being the \u201creincarnation of Jimi Hendrix\u201d based on the assumption that while he was in the psyche ward, he was visited by the spirit of Jimi and had a \u201cRobert Johnson meets the devil at the crossroads\u201d kind of experience. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cI am a Christian and I don\u2019t believe any of that reincarnation crap,\u201d says Marinio, \u201cand besides – Jimi died in 1970 and I was in the hospital in 1968.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0It is so unlike popular media to run with a story that sounds good without having any actual plausibility! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Frank Marino sums up his early career as follows: \u00a0\u201cThe guys who came of age in the sixties, I feel that our reasons for doing it were different. \u00a0We didn\u2019t want to get rich. \u00a0We didn\u2019t want to be famous. \u00a0We wanted to make music and jam with our friends and create and have a good time. \u00a0That\u2019s why I got into it.\u201d \u00a0\u2018Creative\u2019 is a good way to describe Marino\u2019s guitar playing because he fuses many different styles into his music. \u00a0When he was recording for bigger labels, they had a hard time marketing his albums because they were such a mashup of styles. \u00a0Staying true to his own self, this is exactly how Frank Marino manages his career to this day and it seems to work just fine for him. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece video: \u00a0Classic Mahagony Rush with Dylan’s All Along the Watch Tower<\/i> ala Hendrix!