Today's guest is the wonderfully talented, insightful, and absolutely hilarious, Mark Kleiner. Mark was known through the late nineties and 2000s, primarily on the West Coast, for his tenure in the bands Sister Lovers and Jungle, who he stunned, along with the entire Vancouver music scene, by heading back to Saskatoon to study theology, before returning to record the exceptional Mark Kleiner Power Trio album, which is essential listening for anyone interested in expertly-written pop/rock music. We talked about how he took lessons from Sam, the Piano Man, Lomheim (who got his start in music playing 8 hour shifts in saloons!), learning 4 or 5 songs a week from handwritten manuscripts. Mark told us that he really learned how to feel and project the shape of a song during that time. We also learned about his friendship with Canadian raconteur and musician, Nardwuar and how Mark once told him that "Hair metal is the true punk rock!" We also chatted about the similarities between performing music on stage and being a minister, which is what Mark is primarily occupied with these days. He told us about an interesting study that compared the body language of stadium rock performers and preachers and how they're very, very similar. Apart from being an accomplished musician and songwriter, Anglican minister, and father, Mark is also the host of a Monkees podcast which deep dives into his love of the band and all the most obscure and undiscovered parts of their career. Check out Mark's first (?) release, with Sister Lovers, which was a tribute to Paula Pierce of The Pandoras; Paula Stop Pretending: https://youtu.be/XTp-N4X8vwU Check out the Mark Kleiner Power Trio on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkKleinerPowerTrio/ iTunes: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/love-to-night/282987801 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0H0din8iQMcn2PSwDBCoOv If you're a Monkees fan, you're definitely going to want to check out Mark's podcast, Nesmith, Tork, Goffin, and King. Go find all the places you can play it here: https://nesmithtorkgoffinandking.podbean.com/ During the episode, we talked about a lot of different bands and artists. Mark says the best concert he ever saw was, of course, The Monkees, in 1989 and there's a very specific reason why it was so good. Check them out live from 1989 with probably their most famous song: https://youtu.be/BYR6yez_ppk Mark also cheated when we asked him the first quick fire question and rather than pick The Beatles or The Stones went with Wings! https://youtu.be/BEBP7LgBROI He credits Billy Cowsill with the best piece of advice he ever received and you can check out the Cowsills in this performance: https://youtu.be/Pw1aFsdzoXI And if you want to know why Slick Toxic disappeared from the face of the planet in 1994, it involves a bass player and an EMI limousine! Check out this quintessential 80s hair band here: https://youtu.be/woGSwLr5mO4
