In part 3 of the interview with Prince & The Revolution bassist BrownMark, we talk about his life outside of the Purple Kingdom. Mark shares his favourite memories of Prince, the life lessons he taught him and he also recalls their final conversation inside the Paisley Park studio complex. We discuss the legacy of Prince and The Revolution, their place in history and going back to a 9-5 job after Life in the Purple Kingdom. Essential listening for fans and music lovers alike.
Summary: chapters and themes.
PART 3
1min - Going back to a normal life and the 9-5...and why it was a good thing.
4mins30s - My favourite memories of Prince...'he was a whole different person when we played basketball...and he was such a fun person outside of the music'.
7mins - The lessons that Prince taught me, for life in general and for my career.
9mins45s - Contact with Prince in later years, and concerns.
13mins - Remembering the final conversation, over a meal at Paisley Park.
17mins - The Revolution reunions planned over the years and celebrating with fans in Minneapolis.
19mins30s - Looking to the future. BrownMark on YouTube.
22mins - A place in music history and continuing on the legacy.
26mins - Bye for now...and see you in Europe!
Mark was still a teenager when he joined Prince's band to play bass. A key member of Prince and the Revolution, an early gig saw him supporting The Rolling Stones before going on to be part of Prince's Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain and Parade tours. He left the Purple Kingdom in the mid 1980s for a solo career with Motown records, before later going back to what he described as a normal life. Mark is also known for his work with the group Mazarati, and still tours with The Revolution to this day. Last year he documented his formative years in the book Inside the Purple Kingdom.
Mark you talked about the difficult times in The Revolution - did you find it difficult going back to normal life in inverted commas? Was was that a good thing for you? Because I know you've come back to playing with The Revolution and that you've done some great performances since Prince passed away. I know that you continue to do that as well as other projects, but do you think that spell of so called normal life was actually a really good thing for you in the long term?
It was a very good thing for me. I needed it because I realised that I'm a musician and that is my normal life. Everything else I was doing was not normal. You know, working for the telephone company, I went to college and I learned computer and electrical science. And when I came out I started working for little companies from Minneapolis to Florida to California. And then I ended up with the phone company because the phone company was pioneering in this country with fibre optics and that was my specialty. So I ended up doing 9-5 work with the phone companies, starting with Verizon and it was steady income, made good money, I had a house, family, you know. It was the normal life, but I was always empty inside. When he passed away I took a leap of faith and I said I'm going to dive back in head first and go back to music full time. Ever since then I realised that this is where I'm supposed to be. This is the norm because I feel normal now...before I felt like this alien trying something new and it just wasn't working for me. You know, even though financially it was good for me, I didn't like it. Every waking moment of the day it was just like emptiness and depression. And so I always had a music studio, and then when The Revolution got back together - well we had never kind of parted - because we've always been in touch with each other through the years. When we finally decided to start touring again after his death, it was for a noble cause. It was not because, oh, you know, Prince died, let's go make some money. It was never that, you know, it was always, let's give back, let's do what we were trying to get him to do in the first place - which was put us back together. I'll go out here and give these people that energy that we created back in the 80s, that they so loved and they desperately wanted. And that was why we put it back together, to remember his name. And so that the legacy could live on. To bring him honour for the work that he did. And it worked because we were loved all over the world, and it was like okay, I'm home again, I'm back home and that's what we've been doing ever since. And even though we're not touring, I have my band, The Bad Boys of Paisley and I've been doing my own album work. So you know I'm back home, I'm back in the music industry and I'm doing what I love to do. And yeah, the money ain't like it was in the 80s, but you know what I don't care about that. That's not why I do it. I live for me. I live for the love of the craft, not for the money.
I just wanted to ask you a really basic straightforward question now. What was your favourite moment with Prince? What are your fondest memories?
I think my fondest memories of him were the time away from music, which were rare. When we went to the clubs together, riding in his car listening to new music, in the recording studio. When when he was in his element on stage he was a beast, sometimes a beast of burden! I mean he was hardcore and so I was a soldier. I was like, yes sir, you know, and I did my job, but when we got out of that environment, that's the real Prince that I knew. So it was a lot different, and he was almost bipolar. He was a whole different person when we would play basketball, ping pong...I mean I didn't play ping pong but he would always want to go play ping pong or go roller skating. I tried to get him on the lake to do some fishing, it wasn't happening. I tried to get him to go to Disney World, that wasn't happening either. So I mean there's certain things he just wouldn't do, but he was a such a fun person outside of the music. I remember we all had motorcycles and I remember Chick (Huntsberry) and Prince came by once. You know Prince pulls up with his little motorcycle and I was looking at him when they drove up to my house. I looked at it and I started laughing. He kind of got taken aback - like, what are you laughing at like this? I never thought I would ever see him on a motorcycle. I mean really the bike was huge in comparison to him. You know because Prince was about five foot three. I mean you know this motorcycle was huge, and he comes pulling up with big Chick who was on a big Harley and Prince had this little motorcycle. They pull up to my house, and I had a for a Yamaha 450. So those are the moments that I enjoyed about Prince, when we were in our own element and he would come over my house unannounced, just hang with me, just doing nothing. You know we were not talking about music or anything...it was more like - what you got in the refrigerator? More that kind of thing. So those are my best moments with him.
It's a lovely reflection. Thank you. You moved on from Prince in the mid 1980s to have a solo career, and I believe a publishing deal with Motown. What kind of life lessons did you take with you? The kinds of experiences with Prince that you were able to apply to the rest of your life and to the rest of your career?
Work ethic, work ethic. It's all summed up in one or two words, work ethic. He really taught me that you're going to get out what you put in. If you go in half-assed, in terms of what you're doing, that's all you're gonna get out of it. If you go in and you put your all into it, not worrying about the money, not worrying about who's going to like it, not worrying about, you know, it isn't as good as Michael Jackson or is it as good as the latest hit? No, he taught me, you go in and you do you, and you be the best that you can be at what you do. In the famous words of Prince, 'keep it simple, stupid'. Keep it simple. And I really learned that from him - to keep those grooves basic and keep them simple. I was a bass player, you know and I could thumb all over the place, but I started to learn that okay, even though that sounds good - licking sounds good - you know people would be like, do you see what he did? But it ain't gonna sell you records, it ain't put no money in my pocket. So I started learning how to really just change my outlook on playing the bass and writing music. Keeping my stuff simple and in the pocket - and that's where I'm at to this day. I keep it simple. So I learned a lot from him. I really did. I appreciate him. I miss him. I miss him a lot, because all throughout my life - even when I started coming back into the business - he was such an encouragement to talk to. He was a wealth of knowledge, because this is a guy that lived and breathed music day and night. I could always talk to him about philosophy and theory, and he always had great answers. So yeah, I miss the guy, and the world lost a genius. That's all I got to say.
And did you keep in touch with Prince? I mean you mentioned the fact that he passed away a few years ago. Had you had contact with him in the later years? Also did you suspect that he wasn't well, or he was weak, maybe struggling with something.
Yeah, he would always keep in contact with me. I was a little sour with him for many years, but he always kept in contact with me and he even flew me back to Minnesota to jam with the band several times. I would fly in and go on stage with his band at the time, and he even tried to put a couple bands together with me in it. He actually moved me out to Minnesota twice, only to leave me hanging, quit my job and everything. I get to Minnesota and he leaves me hanging, you know? So I mean, I knew something was wrong, something was wrong with his memory and his thinking. I knew something was wrong because I knew he wouldn't do that just to hurt me. The whole purpose of him trying to pull me back in was because I knew he was trying to reconcile some of the damage that he had caused between us two in earlier years, and he was trying to mend that. So he was trying to bring me back into the fold. But memory, I mean, I'm telling you, I remember once I showed up in Minnesota. I was there for three days sitting in a hotel room. Finally I went to the front desk and I said, is John Blackwell here because I knew that he was the drummer in the band. And he said, yeah John's here. I said, can you connect me to him? He said we can't do that. I said - leave him a message that BrownMark is here in the hotel and I'm in this room. John Blackwell called me immediately. He said, BrownMark what are you doing here? I said I'm supposed to be jamming and rehearsing with you guys. I've been here for three days - what's going on? He goes, come down to the lobby. I came down to the lobby, and he's like - you've been here for three days? I said I've been here for three days. He said, who flew you here? I said Prince flew me here. Oh wow okay, hold on. So he calls Prince on the bat-phone. Nobody has his number but John Blackwell calls Prince up. And he's like uh yeah Prince, I'm on my way. I'll be there blah blah blah. Did you know BrownMark was here? And then you could just hear the silence, and then John goes - yeah yeah he's here, he's right here next to me right now. He says oh wow, okay bring him with you. I'm like, what?! He forgot that he flew me in, and left me in a hotel for three days, he just forgot. So I knew then something was going on, I just didn't know what. And then later, you know, to find out about the fentanyl issue, that's what it was and you know, I just couldn't detect what it was early on.
And do you remember your final conversation with him? I guess it wasn't particularly memorable in that sense, because I guess you probably didn't realise it was the final conversation you were going to have with him?
I didn't think it was going to be the final conversation, but I do remember the last conversation. He was living at Paisley (Park) at the time because he, you know, he tore his houses down - what was that about? He tore his houses down and he lived in an apartment at Paisley. And I remember I was sitting there in the kitchen, and he said would you like some minestrone soup? So he had the chef make me some minestrone soup, and we're both sitting there at the table. I remember I looked at him and I said, 'I'm proud of you man. I mean you did some wonderful things with your life'. I said, 'look at this place, you built what you wanted to build'. And he says, 'no we built it. I couldn't have done this without you BrownMark'. And I mean that touched me emotionally. You know it really touched me because I was like, wow he's acknowledging that I helped him. You know I worked hard to help him, and he goes - 'this is always your place'. And you know me. I got to cracking jokes, so I was like - really, so where's the keys? I was like you say that but you ain't gonna give me the keys? But it was a joke, and then we went into this whole thing and I said: 'Why won't you put the band together? That's what the fans want'. I said, 'think about it Prince, we put The Revolution back together, we do one world tour, it's gonna be massive, massive'. He said: 'Why would I do that?' And I just looked at him, I was like, what do you mean, what are you talking about? I said, 'you do it for the fans'. And then he looked down, he grabbed his chin and he says, 'well, if we do it for the fans we would have to donate all the money to charity'. And I just looked back, and I was like, huh? I was like 'Prince, charity begins at home bro'. I said, 'I'm working a 9-5 job for a telephone company'. I was like - 'everything that I had was stripped away from me because of some monkey business'. I said, 'charity begins at home bro. You know what are you talking about? Give it to charity? Take care of your own, take care of the people that helped you get here and then start thinking about charity, you know. We're all out here struggling, trying to make a living and you got everything'. You know, and that was my last conversation with him and he goes 'okay, okay, I'm gonna think about that, I'm gonna think about that'. And I could tell he was real sincere with that, he was really contemplating it. What a good idea it would be, to put the band back together. I flew back to California and the next thing I know, you know he passed away.
That's really interesting to hear you talking about that. I actually saw you take part in a performance - I believe the venue was the Northrop Auditorium. Prince was doing a kind of celebration thing for his fans in Minneapolis. It was a curious thing. It was like a week of events, but on the very last day of the week a concert took place in a university building I think. Yourself and one of the other guys in the Revolution got invited up on to the stage to jam on a couple of tunes. I remember it was part of that.
Yeah - Bobby.
Yeah, Bobby (Z). Was that an attempt to try and light the spark for the possible Revolution reunion at the time?
Not at that particular time. At that particular time, uh see Morris Hayes - the keyboard player - he's a good friend of mine. I was producing his band years before and then I basically introduced him to the Prince camp. The next thing, you know, he's with Prince. So it was exciting for me and him to reunite at that occasion. I remember when Morris was showing me to the dressing room, he pointed to the door and it had everybody's name, and it also had BrownMark on there too. And he looked at that and he said, see that. I was like, damn, what's that all about? He said, man I know Prince wants to put together this group, he keeps telling me he wants to go back to The Revolution days, but not with The Revolution, with this band, with John Blackwell and Morris and everybody. He wants you on bass, that's why you're here. And I was like, okay, I see what's going on. So he was trying to form a band, a new group for himself that had the feel of The Revolution. And that's why he brought me back because I was the bottom end of that feel, you know the way I play the bass, but it never ever transpired because he just went in different directions. He was always getting pulled in different directions.
And just to finish up Mark, and just for the record as well, I saw you play with The Revolution. I think it was a couple of years ago in London at Shepherd's Bush Empire. It was a wonderful gig. It was very emotional because I think it was one of the first tours you'd done since Prince passed away. There was some great stories, fantastic camaraderie and some frankly incredible bass playing from yourself. So it was really great to see you cutting loose after all these years, really seeing you in full flow. So that was a wonderful thing just in itself. I'm just gonna finish up by saying thank you. You've been incredibly generous with your time. I've enjoyed every minute of it. What would you say are your hopes for the future now? What are the next steps? I mean we're in this time of Covid and hopefully we'll pull out of it into something like normal life. But what will you do in the future? Will you continue to play with The Revolution and your other bands? Do you hope to record some more? How do you kind of see the future?
I'll always play with The Revolution. That's family. So we'll always play. I don't know what Covid or the aftermath of Covid is gonna mean for us. I don't think it's going to be anything like it was pre-Covid but I'll always play with The Revolution. In the meantime I'm a YouTuber. Any fan that wants to find out what I'm doing, just go to YouTube and type in BrownMark in the search. You'll see what I'm doing. I'm doing a lot of different music, I'm doing a lot of jazz now. I have the ability to play many instruments. So this new adventure with jazz has been kind of fun for me. I'm playing piano, I'm playing trumpet, you know I'm doing things that I've never done before. I'm sharing a different side of myself with my fans. And that page is growing really well. You know what? I'm pretty happy about it. You know I've got some fireplace music, if you just like to chill and listen to some really nice easy jazz. I got some fireplace music. I got a video called This is Earth. It's about a 40 minute video. It's just beautiful. It's showing the planet Earth and then I orchestrated all this music behind it. And then what I plan on doing with that is, it has opened me up to a lot of offers to do some scoring and then some music licensing for film and television and things like that. So, you know, the world is wide open for me. I can go down any avenue I want to, so I'm just taking the time with Covid to really just figure out what I really want to do, you know, and taking my time about it.
I just wanted to ask you finally, what does it feel like to have a place in music history? I mean, the fact that you played on a lot of those incredibly famous albums and tours with Prince and The Revolution - I just wondered what that felt like? Also part B of the question is - what do you think the legacy of Prince and the Revolution will be in music and pop culture?
I mean it makes me feel really good that I was a part of such a profound history in music but it doesn't touch me the way it probably touches some of the others, because I spent most of my time being so suppressed. It's like, you know, get back. I don't know how to explain that, but a lot of people don't know about me. If I didn't push myself people wouldn't really know who I was. You know I had to do that. With the rest of the band, you know, Prince gave a lot of light to them and to the girls, Wendy and Lisa especially. Also Doctor Fink - I mean they got light, it shone on them. With me I was always in getting, you know, pushed back. And so that had an effect on me. I have over 22, 23 Gold albums, Gold and Platinum Albums - but I don't even hang them on the wall. They're in a closet because I don't feel like I was part of it. I helped make it happen, but I don't feel that I got my dues, you know. If that's selfish of me, oh well you know, I just got to speak the truth, and I just don't feel like I got my dues. So as far as that's concerned, that's how it makes me feel. But as far as where this is going with The Revolution, and with history and everything, the music. I'm hopeful that the legacy, the Prince legacy will continue to rest in the care of the people who are spearheading it. The Revolution and the NPG because we are really the last of it. The Revolution were the originators of the whole thing, you know? And so I'm really hoping that we get a little more respect, because we don't get the respect from the community that we should get. A lot of fans came in after Purple Rain so all they know is The New Power Generation. If you really look into the history of what really made Prince who he was - The Revolution had a major part to play in that. I think if people respect the legacy, then they'll respect what helped make the legacy, you know, we were included in that so don't don't exclude us. I think if people can start to really truthfully look at the history of Prince and respect the legacy, as they all say - respect the legacy - then I think that we have a bright future in carrying the torch of Prince through The Revolution, because we are the originators of that sound and we definitely know how to musically put it back together and share it with the fans. Long winded answer I know.
Well listen Mark you've certainly got my respect. Growing up as a young man in a small Scottish town, seeing you sci-fi, funk-rock aliens on my television screen as a young boy. It's quite a thing, you know, and it's also quite a thing to be talking to you now, having watched you and listened to you in my formative years. So thanks very much for your time. I've really enjoyed the conversation.
Yeah, me too, man. Thanks a lot. I enjoyed being here. It's nice meeting you. We'll see you when we get back to Europe!
Yeah, I hope so. I'll be there, definitely. Take care Mark.
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