Mark Speer | |
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 Speer performing with Khruangbin in All Points East festival, 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | November 9, 1979 [1] [2] Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instrument(s) |
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| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Khruangbin |
Mark Speer (born November 9, 1979) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the guitarist and one of the founding members of the musical trio Khruangbin.
Mark Speer was born November 9, 1979, in Houston, Texas. The first music video he remembers seeing on MTV is Grandmaster Flash’s "The Message", the production of which he found intriguing. One of the first concerts he attended as a child was that of Parliament-Funkadelic. [3]
Speer initially wanted to play drums but could not afford them, so he started playing bass guitar. Later, he borrowed a four-track cassette recorder from a friend of his dad, and was making tracks with Casio drums by playing them with his fingers. He wanted to put chords on them, so he borrowed a guitar from a friend and started learning jazz fusion chords. [2]
Speer met future bandmate DJ Johnson in 2004 while playing in Rudy Rasmus' St. John's Methodist Church gospel band in Houston, Texas. The church employed Speer as the guitarist and Johnson as the organist. He later met Laura Lee through mutual friends, where they initially connected over a shared love of Afghan music and Middle Eastern architecture. [4] In 2010, Speer and Lee went on tour with Yppah and Bonobo. [5] During this time, they recruited DJ on drums and formed Khruangbin.
Speer has recorded five studio albums with Khruangbin: The Universe Smiles Upon You (2015), Con Todo el Mundo (2018), Mordechai (2020), Ali (with Vieux Farka Touré; 2022), and A La Sala (2024). His family owns a barn in Burton, Texas, where Khruangbin records all their music [6] .
Speer uses a Fender Stratocaster. He replaced its neck and bridge pickups with DiMarzio Cruisers to avoid 60 cycle hum in studio settings. He uses D'Addario Chromes flatwound strings, buying .012-.052 sets and an additional single .010, throwing away the .052, and tuning to standard EADGBE. Due to the consistency of tone throughout the lifespan of flatwounds, he only changes his strings approximately once per tour. Similarly, Speer only has one guitar pick, which is worn to a round tip. [7]
In the studio, Speer uses a Fender Deluxe Reverb '65 Reissue guitar amplifier; live, he uses a '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb. He connects his guitar into a Dunlop Cry Baby pedal that he never turns off. From there, the connection goes to a Boss PH-3, Boss DS-1, MXR Dyna Comp, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, and Strymon El Capistan with an expression pedal. Sometimes, he uses his amp's vibrato effect. [2]
Much of Speer's guitar style comes from seeking to emulate the harmonic and timbral characteristics of other instruments, such as the krar, bağlama, rubab, shamisen, mbira, and djembe. [8]
Speer prefers the band's compositions to center primarily around bass and drums, instead of guitar. He provides occasional vocals for the band, although he dislikes singing in general. [8]
Speer has mentioned Roy Ayers, Prince, Roots Radics, Mark Knopfler, Steely Dan, Lata Mangeshkar, Sezen Aksu, DJ Sun, and Ernie Isley as his biggest influences. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] He described Kassav's album Lagué mwen as an album that changed his life. [3] A self-professed "world music nerd" and a devoted crate digger, Speer is interested in music from all over the world, preferring music that is not in the English language, [6] [14] and tones that are not very prevalent in Western music. [8] In Khruangbin, Speer tries to replace the lead singer's role with his guitar, so he listens to a lot more singers than he does to guitar players. [2]
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
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Electro-Harmonix is a New York City-based company that makes electronic audio processors and sells rebranded vacuum tubes. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. It is best known for a series of guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s. EHX also made a line of guitars in the 1970s.
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The Fender Twin and Twin Reverb are guitar amplifiers made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The Twin was introduced in 1952, two years before Fender began selling Stratocaster electric guitars. The amps are known for their characteristically clean tone.
The Fender Super Reverb is a guitar amplifier made by Fender. It was originally introduced in 1963 and was discontinued in 1982. The Super Reverb was a Fender Super amplifier with built-in reverb and "vibrato". The original Super Reverb amplifiers were all-tube designs and featured spring reverb. There were two different designs, distinguishable by the color of the "face" or front control panel. Super Reverbs from 1963 through 1967 had "blackface" panels. From 1968 until its discontinuation in 1982, the Super Reverb had "silverface" cosmetics and circuitry. Early models in 1968, while cosmetically "silverface", did contain "blackface" circuitry. Fender introduced a reissue '65 Super Reverb in 2001 featuring a printed circuit board design rather than the hand-wired circuitry of the original '65 Super Reverb.
Andre J. E. Sam-Sin, known professionally as DJ SUN, is a Dutch-born American record producer and DJ. He is one of the most prolific musicians in Houston, having secured his position as the top-ranked DJ and as the owner/operator of the popular live music venue The Flat.
Khruangbin is an American musical trio from Houston, Texas. The band comprises Laura Lee Ochoa, Mark Speer, and DJ Johnson. The band is known for blending global music influences, such as classic soul, dub, rock and psychedelia.
The Universe Smiles Upon You is the debut studio album by American musical trio Khruangbin. It was released November 6, 2015 under Night Time Stories label.
Laura Lee Ochoa, also known as Leezy, is an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and one of the founding members of the musical trio Khruangbin.
Ali is a collaborative studio album by Malian singer and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and Texan trio Khruangbin. It consists of covers of songs by Vieux's father, Ali Farka Touré. It was released on September 23, 2022, on Dead Oceans.
Donald "DJ" Johnson, Jr. is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer best known as the drummer for Khruangbin, a trio from Houston, Texas.
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