One United Generation, the Story

WARNING: In the past few weeks, I’ve been adding some shameless plugs at the bottom of my postings. This one might feel like one big shameless plug, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Last Saturday was the culmination of a four year journey and a twenty + year dream for me. That morning I got the image files from my designer, and that evening I began printing and assembling my first CD. My second collection of my own songs, but the first to really be retail ready. Let me share the journey with you, my blog friends.

I discovered rock music in high school. Before that I was mainly into classical. But I picked up the guitar and wanted to learn it. Actually, I started on bass, but I learned them both pretty much concurrently.

I played in various bands through high school and early college. I also started writing songs early on. Really bad ones. I know everyone says that, but in my case it was really true. All through this time I was into all kinds of what we now call “classic rock” (boy that tells you how old I am). Boston, Yes, Kansas, Nazareth, Ozzy, BOC, all that stuff that young rockers are supposed to be interested in.

I remember at about that same time, or maybe a little earlier, the CES (Church Educational System) came out with a CD called “Like Unto Us”. It was schmaltzy and had lots of cheesy pop organ in it, and it drove me nuts, but it also inspired me. Someone was doing pop music for mormons. From that early beginning, I knew I wanted to do LDS rock.

After my mission, I read about a school that taught recording and sound engineering. My parents hesitated, but were willing to cough up the tuition, and I went. I learned a LOT. But not enough to get a job. But I kept looking, and did some independent work here and there.

Along the way, I was formulating the idea of doing LDS rock. I had actually written a bunch of songs, so I started a band. There were only two of us that were actually members of the church, but everyone else seemed to be open to the idea of playing religious rock, so we went ahead with it. This was in Indiana, so we didn’t have a stake center on every street. Visualize a city the size of Provo with only one LDS chapel, and that was Terre Haute. There were seven church members in my graduating class. Made dating tough.

But anyway, the band… I named the band “Covenant”, and we did some local gigs. I was getting on in age, and at 24, it was getting to be time to leave the nest. My sister (who had been living in SLC for years) invited to put me up while I found a job and an apartment. I figured that the valley was the best place to find LDS musicians.

So, I moved to Salt Lake, and immediately (after finding housing and employment) started putting up flyers in music stores. A guitarist named Larry contacted me, and he and I became fast friends. He’s a killer player still, and a great guy. His wife’s best friend was Jodi, and she and I were married about a year after I moved to the valley. Marrying her was the smartest thing I ever did, but that’s another story!

Right after we got married, I started trying to get myself worked into the Salt Lake Valley music and recording scene, with varying levels of success. I was helped along in the early stages by some great people. Chance Thomas, another great friend, who now has a name for himself for scoring the Lord of the Rings computer game. Jim Anglesey, who founded the recording program at BYU. Clive Romney, now of Enoch Train and head of Little Stream records and pretty much the nicest guy in the entire LDS music world. My grandfather, Rulon Brimhall (I was named after him, Rulon Mark Hansen), who bought me a 4 track cassette recorder. Dan Whitley, of Sun, Shade and Rain, who set me up in his studio.

It was while I was working with Dan, that I recorded and released my first collection, a cassette tape, called “A Joyful Noise”. It had a bunch of songs, many of which were truly only demo quality. I ran about 250 copies, sold precious few, and gave most of them away to family and friends. I currently only have one archive copy left in my possession.

That came out in 1993.

Soon after that, I took a hiatus from the music world. I needed a break. Then I got a job as an internet business mentor in 1998. My supervisor, Anne, in advising me to pursue my passions in business, got me to rethink my web businesses that I’d been involved in up to that point, and I resurrected my songs. The mp3 phenomenon was just beginning to perk up on the web, so I started posting my songs at a rate of one each month. Some were old, from the cassette, others were new ones that I had begun writing and recording.

Finally, four years ago, I took a plunge. I sold off much of my gear, gave away other parts of it, and bought a computer with Cubase recording software. I went digital. I decided at that point that it was time to make something of real quality and go for a CD release, ready for retail. This was to be more than just a demo, but rather, a full-blown production, as best I could create.

At that point, I had a collection of about 80 songs that I had written. I looked them over to pick which ones to record and re-record. I ended up making the decision to move ahead with new songs. I wanted to keep looking forward. Plus, the newer ones were better tunes, anyway.

The process of creating the CD has its ups and downs. Some times I was working like a man possessed, other times, weeks would go by before I played a note. All the while, I’d be playing a gig or two here and there. Usually about once a month.

Then, about a year ago, I found I had 11 songs, almost completed. A redo of one track here, fix this there. But nothing was in the can yet. So, I decided that I would move forward one song at a time. Finish it. Move on. I set the goal to have the music done by the end of ’04, and I succeeded. You can read along with the process in my studio blog

Now, the graphics are done, the duplication is happening, and the goal is reached. The CD is ready. I’m pleased to announce that, and thanks for the chance to tell the story. I don’t know of any other CD, written with original tunes for the LDS market, that rocks this hard. I’m proud of it, even though I hear all the flaws. Check it out at my site. Let me know what you think.

The offer, BTW, to other LDS bloggers who’d like a copy to review still stands! Email me!

MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

The Work and… Well… Some Glory… Kinda…

My wife and I went out on a date last night, and we saw “The Work and the Glory”. After watching, we came out of the theater, looked at each other, and said, “Meh…”

I mean, it was OK, but it wasn’t great. There were a couple of moments where it almost tried to kinda get intense, but it just didn’t deliver. Overall, it still felt preachy.

Perhaps the most telling review of it I’ve heard or read so far was my Wife’s. She said, “I liked ‘Legacy’ better.”

There were some bright spots. The bad guys were good. I mean, they were done well. The actor that played Father Steed (I forget his name) was pretty good, I thought. Possibly the best of them all.

I had a good time. But I liked “Singles Ward” better.




MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com

A Story

Imagine with me, a moment, a tribe of Native Americans. And imagine that there was a burial ground of deep significance where many of their predecessors had died, having been driven from their homes by a brutal genocide. The site is so revered that it’s considered sacred. Many members of the tribe travel there and draw spiritual strength from the lives of those that died there. They draw close to those ancestors by reverently re-enacting the experiences of those that traveled that site.

The problem is, they don’t own this land. It’s owned by the federal government. Because these Native Americans respect that holy ground, they want to make sure that others don’t desecrate it. They want to share the sacred feelings that permeate the hills. They don’t want non-native Americans to ridicule their beliefs or mock their rituals. They want to be able to tell people what is appropriate behavior on such an important site.

But it’s owned by a foreign power, controlled by outsiders.

The ACLU is, of course, taking up the fight. They’re all about protecting the rights of people, correct?

Now, let’s shift our imaginations a little. It’s not a native American tribe, but an established American church, the LDS church, my church. It’s a site where a large group of our pioneer ancestors died as they struggled to find a peaceful home in the mountain west. They had been driven from their lands in Nauvoo, Illinois by a violent mob and an extermination order signed by the governor of the state. As they crossed the prairies, they were caught by a brutal winter and many of them died at a place called Martin’s Cove. Others were saved by rescue parties sent from the Salt Lake Valley, made of other mormons that had made the journey before them.

To members of our faith, this is sacred ground. Rather than reject their beliefs in Nauvoo and find safety, they chose to stand firm to their testimonies and be driven away, eventually to die in a frigid wilderness.

This land is sacred to us as a reminder of our heritage.

But the land is owned by the government.

As a tribute to this experience, the Church negotiated a lease of this land from the federal government. A part of that lease allows the Church to regulate the behavior of visitors (mormon and non-mormon alike) at the site, to preserve the sacred feelings there.

And the ACLU is involved. But not to defend the rights of the believing, but to rail against them. The Church has no right, they claim, to tell others what to do or say on federal land. That violates the constitutional right of all to free speech. So, if someone wants to stand at the site and preach hatred of the mormons at our sacred site, they should be allowed to.

Let’s go back to the original imagined scenario. Let’s reverse the roles. What if someone were to go to a Native American sacred site and start ridiculing their beliefs, practices, and traditions. How fast do you think the ACLU would jump to defend the natives’ rights to worship in peace? Heads would be spinning as the lawyers would swarm.

But the mormons are the target du jour. The flavor of the month for the wolf pack. We’re traditional, conservative, rich, and powerful (not individually, of course, but as an organization). As much as I don’t like it personally, we also tend to vote Republican. It’s like we’ve got a “Kick Me” sign on our backsides and a target on our foreheads.

We’ll survive. “No Unhallowed hand…” and all…


MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com