King of The Bass

IF at first you don’t succeed… try something else!

That’s certainly the message from the man regarded as one of the best musicians of his generation.

Thirty years ago Mark King was a passionate drummer.

But after getting together with friends to form a band, he found himself without a kit. His mate, meanwhile did have one.

So, unable to use his sticks, Mark did the next best thing – he picked up a bass guitar and bashed out drum beats on the strings.

A few months later, as frontman of funk-pop band Level 42, he was declared by an enthusiastic music press the best bass player in the world.

“Yeah, that wasn’t a bad moniker to have,” he says wistfully.

“I was touched people liked what I was doing that much – and have continued to like it. But I have always found it easy to do.

“I guess we appeared at the right time and place.

“Punk was on its way out and jazz-funk coming in. Back then I was working in a record shop on London’s Charing Cross Road, and we’d always talked about being in a band. I guess our ship came in – without us realising.

“At the time we were just playing to keep out of the rain and to hang out with our mates.

“I wanted to be a drummer, but my mate (former band member) Phil Gould already had a drum kit, and possession is nine-tenths of the law – so I picked up the bass. The next year I got an award from Blues and Soul magazine.”

Mark’s ‘slap-bass’ style provided the groove for such hits as Lessons in Love, The Sun Goes Down and Running in the Family.

“Slap is the foundation of funk,” he says. “For me it was like playing the bongos, but with my hands the other way round. I play linear lines on the bass and keep chugging along. As a singer it’s a great way to accompany yourself.”

His retro-stylings have stood the test of time, and still sound fresh and, well, funky!

“All my influences come from the other side of the pond,” he explains.

“And they are seriously old-school. I’ve always loved American jazz and fusion rather than rock; people like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, James Brown and Earth, Wind and Fire. It’s an unlikely combination with pop, but it’s something we have had success with.”

“I still keep abreast of new music, but things are so much more one-dimensional than they used to be when the charts embraced everything. New band Everything Everything is obviously good, and the best of the current crop.”

Now celebrating the band’s 30th anniversary, he says he was never been happier – or busier. “I’ve got a lot on,” he laughs. “We’ve been gigging in the States, have been out to Japan again, and toured in Europe. We’ve also been doing lots of festivals here – and are playing Bestival next week. And while I don’t feel it, I am getting old!”

The gig at Bestival, on the Isle of Wight, is a particular badge of honour for Mark – who is a native of the isle.

“I’m island born and bred, so it’s going to be great to play Bestival; I’m really looking forward to it.”

The festival season merges seamlessly into a full UK tour, which next month hits Oxford, with a show at the New Theatre.

“It’s a full-on year,” he says proudly. “And it will be great to be back in Oxford. We tour bi-annually, which is a good way of keeping the hardcore fans happy.”

He seems awfully busy for an unashamed star of the 80s. The band are celebrating their anniversary with a four-CD box set Living it Up.

“It includes acoustic versions of 10 classic tracks, and has gone down well,” he says.

So what pearls of wisdom can he pass on to any new musician hoping to be the best in the world?

“You have to believe in yourself,” he says. “You will be the only one to have that belief as everyone else will knock you back. When I went to see careers officers and said I wanted to be a musician, they told me to get the idea out of my head. But I was ambitious and I wanted it.

“My advice to anyone starting today, is get your head down… and good luck!”

But, he warns, prepare yourself for a fair amount of weirdness. “Lots of strange things happen when you’re in a band,” he says. “For me the weirdest thing happened in Germany in ’84, when a gift wrapped box hit me on stage. A label on it said ‘for you I’d give my eyes’. And inside there was a pair of real eyeballs. They didn’t look like animal eyes, and to this day I don’t know what they were. Of course, at the time I thought it was a hoot.”

* Level 42 play Bestival, on the Isle of Wight, next Friday. They join a line-up featuring Dizzee Rascal, The Flaming Lips, The Prodigy, Roxy Music, Marc Almond, Hot Chip, Crystal Castles and Oxford’s Stornoway. Bestival.net They play the New Theatre, Oxford on October 9. Tickets are £25 plus a booking fee newtheatreoxford.org.uk Living it Up is available on Universal.