1) Please introduce yourself to the readers and how you first got into this field of work and who were some of your influences growing up?
Greetings! My name is Mark C. Westberg. I have written poetry for quite some time in my life thus far, and have always enjoyed performing in musicals or just any opportunity to be involved in music and singing. I’ve taken many voice lessons and had a plethora of theatrical experiences which have encouraged me to learn and improve alongside others. When it came down to my own desire to merge both my writing talent(s) and singing, and at around 12 to 13 years of age, that is when I acquired my first guitar and began just playing and learning a wide array of playing and songwriting techniques from other musicians as much as I could while growing up. I started coming up with more original tunes by the time I turned 16. I’m still learning things about myself as an artist and how I can look at writing new music to this day, as well as learning about myself as a live performer and how various life experiences and interests (artistically-speaking or not) help to shape and further construct my individual artist’s journey. As far as human influences, I would definitely, first and foremost, have to thank my family and my very good friends and band mates for their love, support, and very essential and important contributions of which they have made in my life, as well as all of those of whom I had worked and attended Santa Fe University of Art & Design with. I also have looked to those such as Keith Richards, David Bowie, John Lee Hooker, Dan Auerbach (Black Keys), Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive), Pete Townshend, Jim Morrison, Jim Croce, Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, Mark Arm (Mudhoney), and a wide array of others as well.
2) What has been your favourite project to work on so far?
I thoroughly enjoyed working on my newest music single, “Galaxy Disco”, and look forward to doing more live gigs once again in the near future.
3) How did you get the gig?
No new gigs lined up at the current moment, but I hope to get this figured out soon, as well as put a new group together.
4) What sports do you enjoy watching?
I do find basketball incredibly enjoyable to watch, and I’ve always found bowling to be pretty awesome. I also play a mean pinball and occasionally have my luck with Pool.
5) What has been one of the biggest highlights/achievements of your career?
Having the freedom to just work within my artistic field(s) at all. If that is not an achievement and/or highlight in itself, then I honestly and genuinely don’t know what is.
6) If you had a chance to work alongside anybody who would that be?
I have often fantasized about working with the Black Keys in some way, but I am also very much open-minded creatively-speaking and would be up for working with anybody who could challenge me productively, constructively, and creatively.
7) What projects do you have coming up?
In the past couple of months or so, I have been working with Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance on Santa Fe Pride come June 2022 (which is sure to be very fun and amazing), and am also currently working diligently with the other group that I work with, CHART Santa Fe, on helping to facilitate and gather dialogue from various members of our community regarding essential topics of concern, different issues, etc. The work has all been highly rewarding and I love the people of whom I serve alongside with. Additionally, I am working on a couple of new theatre productions, which will be my first live theatre productions I have acted in since before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and am working on performing music live again as well. Because of all of this collectively, I have decided to push the release date period of a new album/EP/etc a little farther into the future at this present moment so I am able to focus more clearly and not become too overwhelmed.
8) What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read or seen this week?
I’ve been delving into my father’s old mystery/horror books lately, which are a lot of fun to get lost in. I have also been revisiting some favorite animated shows of mine, which are Fugget About It and Over the Garden Wall (I highly recommend them both). I also enjoy the new show, Resident Alien.
9) What are your favorite venues to perform in?
Venues that are not boring, have good acoustics and lighting, and won’t kill me with electrical fires. I am also very much interested in performing inside some cool ruin bars in the future.
10) How did you come up with the idea for your Music video?
No new music video at this time, though I do plan to create another one at some juncture.
You can view the music video for Black Jupiter & The Raven’s (my Seattle band’s) song, “Sky Full of Vultures”, here:
11) Do you have any advice for young music makers like yourself?
One of the most important meanings of life is to create. So be patient with finding/discovering your sound, don’t worry too much about failure, experiment and collaborate as much as possible, actively listen to other perspectives and become inspired, remember that there is always something to learn, and stay true to your truth and personal authenticity, because it always has something to say. And of course, remember to have fun doing what you love; create with love.
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