The New “Sprits In Ambience” Release: MOMENTOS
Interview written by author Andrei Ridgeway

I interviewed Musician/Producer Mark Peacock at his home in the San
Fernando Valley. He greeted me at the door dressed in Johnny Cash
black, his blue-green eyes shining with mischief and depth. After
preparing me a jolting Italian espresso, we moved to the outskirts of
his music studio and instantly fell into a winding conversation.
Mark is not just a musician. He is a Renaissance man, able to fluidly
converse on many subjects at once, with the ease of someone that has
studied and contemplated the many mysteries of life with considerable
intensity.
Aside from creating stirring albums, Mark also trains top caliber
Equestrian show horses, and owns a Harley Davidson shop in Van Nuys CA.
A life dedicated to freedom is Mark’s credo. He likes to be able to hit
the road when he wants, get on his bike and meet the desert highway
with his close group of outlaw friends. Aside from the many guitars
that hang on his walls, there is an eclectic supply of art adorning his
home.
I was visiting Mark to talk about his latest “Spirits In Ambience”
project, “Momentos” an album composed of luscious and exotic grooves
set to mythological themes and heart-wrenching experiences the artist
has lived through.
As we spoke, the album played in the background, filling the room with
a mood of enchantment and mystery.
Mark began by telling me what inspired the album, and how he came
upon the creation of each track. “The meaning of the word momentos is
‘things remembered.’ Over the last few years I’ve experienced amazing depths of
love and at the same time the sorrows of death, so in that context I
wanted to write an album with the themes of love and death, and how
these experiences are stored in our memory.”
He went on to explain how the songs grew out of the themes he had
chosen, and how writing this album forced him to explore emotional
depths in himself he had never before experienced. I asked him what he
did when he came upon some of these levels in himself where the
intensity of feeling was overwhelming, whether he pulled back and
waited, or just plowed ahead into unknown terrain.
Mark leaned forward on the sofa with smiling eyes. “I always pour my
love and sorrow into my music.”
Many of the songs on the album have mythological titles, and out of
curiosity I asked Mark why this was. “Myths are the stories of the
human condition,” he replied, “our myths have been passed down through many
generations of individuals and cultures. These stories ring as true for
us today as they did thousands of years ago.” He went on to explain
that he likes to set his songs to myths because of how vivid the
stories are, and how they evoke mental imagery in the listener.
While listening to the album I knew exactly what he meant. During a
particular song about the heroine Alkestis crossing the River Styx, I
couldn’t help but the see in my mind’s eye the ghoulish features of
Charon the boatman and the brave and beautiful face of Alkestis as she
is being steered into the underworld of Hades.

Mark’s music creates an unavoidable inner landscape. You cannot help but be transported into the world he creates. You are pulled. You are seduced. You are led gently, forcefully, and always by the feelings in your heart.
Mark is not the only musician to work on “Mementos” He is backed by,
J”Anna Jacoby, (known for her work with Rod Stewart’s band) and
guitarist Michael Tovar, (known for his work with Bobby Kimball and
Chaka Khan and many others),
Both J’Anna and Tovar played on the first “Spirits In Ambience” CD
released in 2001 and now on the 2005 Spirits release “Momentos” adding
their virtuoso touch over top of Mark’s musical arrangements and exotic
grooves.
Mark speaks of his continual collaboration with these two individuals
and how deeply meaningful and grateful he is to them both in helping
bring his musical visions and projects alive.
Ambient music came to Mark later in his career. He began by playing
in various punk bands years ago as a bass player. He wore a purple top hat and
jammed energetically on stage with some of the more eclectic musicians in the
LA music scene. Later on, he joined a group called, Digital Response,
and as they toured Southern California, his taste for Electronica and
Ambient music was soon born, and so Mark began to refine his ear for
the type of music he is now dedicated to.
As the album played on, I asked Mark how all the diverse passions of
his life are connected, what brings everything together. His response was
immediate. “I do everything by feel. Whether it’s training horses,
writing a song or riding my motorcycle, it is always a feeling and passion
that carries me through the process.
I am a Leo with a moon in Pisces. This might be the reason for how I
operate.”
We both laughed.
Mark is definitely eclectic, and his music bears testimony to this.
At the end of the album there is a track called, “The Thirst Of Maharet”
It is the story of Maharet Queen of the Damned going on a hunt for blood. Only
with a fellow like Mark can you have an album with one song about true
love soon followed by another about a female vampire on a quest for
nourishment.
Mark told me that his beliefs are based on many traditions and ways
of living ones life. He has a serious respect for earth-oriented
philosophies, such as paganism and the occult, and also has feelings for the wisdom and
philosophies of the Eastern and American Indians. To add to his
renaissance persona, Mark told me he studies tarot and astrology from
time to time, and also has a great passion for all forms of art, politics and world history.
The final song on the album, “Into the Blue Yonder” finished, and so did the interview. In sitting with Mark, I felt like I had visited many worlds, brought on not only by his lavish music but also by the stimulating conversation.

It was at this moment that I wished I had a Harley of my own, and could venture off with him into the desert to eat some peyote and meet the Goddess of the Dunes.
I ended asking Mark what he thinks of playing and producing this amazing and moving music and he ended our talk with a quote of his own.
“A Mind is Like a Dam,” he said with a grin. “If open, the River of your
Heart will Flow”
I shook his hand and left his San Fernando Valley home. The sun was
high in the sky, and it was good to know such artists as Mark Peacock
are not extinct.
I have proof now, they still exist.