Music-lover and musician, event organiser, innovator and general talking head.
Mark founded his record label, ‘First Song Records’, in 2010 and has worked with artists such as Ross Breen, Kammerpop and The Mighty Stef in a variety of roles since then. In 2014, he teamed up with The Mighty Stef to form ‘Burning Sands Records’ and signed a distribution deal with Rough Trade. The label’s first release – The Mighty Stef’s ‘Year of the Horse’ – entered the Irish charts at number 8 and the band is currently touring the UK with The Strypes.
Event management is another of Mark’s interests. In 2013, he co-organised Dubstarts – a jobs fair for startups. Over 4,000 people and 100 startups passed through Dubstarts’ doors over the course of two events and Mark maintains that “Dublin is one of the world’s most exciting startup cities”.
Mark also runs ‘Vinyl & Wine’ with Anthony Kelly, a classic vinyl listening event that also promotes new Irish releases. Vinyl & Wine has been running since November 2014 and Mark and Anthony have also been appearing as Vinyl & Wine at festivals and running a radio show on www.radiomade.ie. Mark says, “It has been truly inspiring to see that there’s still a huge interest in high quality sound and ‘the album’ as an art form in the era of ubiquitous technology.”
From time to time, Mark can also be heard reviewing albums and talking Dublin on RTE radio and on Newstalk FM. He is delighted to be part of YouBloom 2015!
