Mark Zaden - Press

Mark Zaden takes a rest from rambling to play some local gigs. But he has bigger plans.

City Link
Dream Weaver
November 10, 1999
By Lauren Hoyt

Mark Zaden may not have been born a rambling man, but the latter half of his 33 years could certainly earn him that description.

Be it Fort Lauderdale or Vail, Colo., or New York or Alabama, songwriter-musician Zaden rambles along, a self-described "Journeyman Nature," if you will.

He says it was a dream that inspired that description. Waking up in the middle of the night, an abrupt segue from the realm of the surreal to the authenticity of the nighttime silence, he reached for his tape recorder to capture the melody, the first verse and the chorus to his latest dream induced song, then went back to sleep, not realizing he had just begun to write his favorite song yet.

Later, in a conscious effort, Zaden finished "Journeyman Nature," a song about a troubadour traveling around in a fictional land, most likely inspired by the rambling life he lives in the waking hours.

Currently, Zaden isn't traveling much since he's playing in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale. He has weekly gigs at the Treasure Trove, Beach Place and Himmarshee Bar & Grille, all Fort Lauderdale venues.

Zaden plays originals and covers from the musicians who influenced him like CSN, James Taylor and Van Morrison to pretty much anything else, assuming he knows it.

"Whatever people ask me for. If I know it, I play it" Zane says.

Originals include "Journeyman Nature," to appear on his second CD, those from his already released Six Is Fine, and other songs he has yet to record.

The humid South Florida air, already thick from absorbing the smells of alcohol, cigarette smoke and nighttime lures and lusts, sponges the sounds of Zaden, as well. His Matthew Sweet-esque cooing blends with his Duncan Sheik-like Iyrics and sound. Songs are molded around themes concerning life experiences, "certain truths ... what's right and wrong in life, the balance between knowing the difference." This simple pop he serves to the inundated crowds blends into the scene well.

Zaden himself fits in well. As he sits outside a local downtown Fort Lauderdale restaurant, "Hey, Mark, how's it going" comes his way every few minutes. He says that his immediate interests are working on building a fan base and developing markets. If he just encouraged all his "Hey, Mark's to buy a CD, he'd be a successful man.

But instead of trying that avenue to success, he travels elsewhere to develop his markets, like New York, Vail and the Caribbean.

He started out as a biology major at the University of Alabama headed down the pre-dentistry path. A change of heart and a destiny to pursue music brought him back to South Florida, where he finished his education at FAU with a bachelor's in English and found himself at a crossroads.

Playing clubs down here, he eventually landed a gig in the Bahamas. "That spurred me into the whole traveling and playing thing," he says.

Next it was Vail. Zaden traveled with his sister to Colorado and soon found the trip to be more than a diversion. "I got a gig when I was out there and they encouraged me to go back home and get my stuff and come back out," Zaden recalls.

So he did. He spent four years in Vail, including four winters and two summers. The other two summers he spent in New York and Hilton Head, S.C. And in spring and fall, he traveled to the exotic St. Croix and the Virgin Islands, thereby rounding out his circuit.

But it was New York that had the greatest impact on him.

"The whole influence up there was tremendous. Just hearing my peers and friends of mine who were struggling to do the same thing. I'd go to see them. They'd come to see me. It was a community of singer-songwriters and artists that were all out trying to do the same thing," he says.

And that's where he met Zaden supporter and guitarist Nunzio Signore.

"I had met him through mutual friends. We just kind of developed a friendship over a period of time. I invited him down to a gig. He came down and he really dug what we were doing and he said, 'I want to record you guys,' because he has a studio," he recollects.

The result of that friendship brought about the release of the nine-track Six Is Fine.

While the band he played with during that album is now defunct, Zaden ended up forming a new band with Signore, drummer Dave Johnson and bassist Steve Logan to play showcases and to begin work on another CD. But that has turned into a long-distance relationship of sorts. With his bandmates based in New York, Zaden returned to South Florida in order to find more funds to complete the new album.

Back in South Florida for only a few weeks now, Zaden admits, I would like to keep Lauderdale as my base." He then goes on to share all the trips he's planning in the near future. New York. Atlanta Colorado. Zaden's got to ramble.

Traveling around town, Zaden clutches a black planner, perhaps keeping him updated with the different location he foresees himself at each week or month. Today's agenda includes an afternoon rehearsal with some new guys for a band, making his goal to play local showcases a bit more tangible.

"I don't want to be playing bar gigs for my whole career. It's a means for me to make a living right now," he says.

But sitting in the Florida sun, eyes wide open, completely conscious of the day around him, Zaden is sharing a new dream. It's a dream for his future.

"I see myself selling records internationally, playing with a band and touring internationally," he rambles, awake but always dreaming.

To contact Zaden, email markzaden@msn.com
Visit him at www.markzaden.com

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