Prototype Issue
With a little help from Jack Johnson, Money Mark finds his voice.
By Ryan Ford
(page 1 of 1)Money Mark, 33, is constantly tinkering with his craft. That’s not surprising since he labored as an actual carpenter in the Beastie Boys’ onetime Silver Lake headquarters, before the seminal hip-hop group recognized his massive keyboard stylings.
Their fertile collaboration would result in such critically acclaimed albums as Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Born Mark Ramos-Nishita to a Japanese Hawaiian father and a Latino mother, the LA resident has since become a well-respected talent in the alt hip-hop music scene, having worked with everyone from Beck to Prince Paul. His latest solo release, Brand New By Tomorrow, may be his most personal, heartfelt creation yet.
So why the gap in time since you’ve put out an album? I fought kinda hard to get off of my [old] label. I was doing it on my own. I was able to make a record, fund it and go on a tour and make a little bit of money. I was gonna do it myself again but Jack Johnson offered to put it out on this label. So it’s more or less an experiment again.
You’ve worked with notables from the Beastie Boys to the Dust Brothers. Now you’ve got a working relationship with Jack Johnson. What have you done together? He helped me write the first single, called “Pick Up the Pieces.” He helped in the fact that he said, “Do what you want to do.” That’s already saying he trusts me on this. And he’s keeping to his word.
Your last album was all instrumentals. Brand New By Tomorrow is a vocal outing. Why the change? Until the day I die, I will be experimenting with something. I will never say I absolutely know how to do something. I wouldn’t even say that I’ve mastered anything in music at all. With this, I was just experimenting in songwriting, sitting under a tree with a guitar and strumming.
You also handled the bulk of the musicianship, right? Yeah. Then I replace some of my parts with better musicians. In fact, the original versions were songs that I put out on three separate EPs (Love Stains: A Demo, Demo or Demolition, Father Demo Square). Then I picked the group of songs that worked together best and reworked those songs. That made up this record.
Your music exists outside of the mainstream. But does pop music have an impact on you at all? I listen to it. I learn from songs. If I hear a song, I may not like it subjectively. But objectively, there may be something there. Like the way it sounds or how it connects to the chorus. I’m also intrigued by the fact that certain songs can become very popular and why it connects to people. I’m always learning.
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