Marco Perfetti
Marco Perfetti, creator of the music project Perfect Mark, recently released the hit album Flesh & Voice. The eight songs highlight his versatile talent. I love the video for the single Footprints. My favorite track is Green Light, a fun, upbeat dance tune.
The album released in April, so Marco promotes it as much as he can. “I want to make some more videos. I think Green Light is going to be the next one.”
A lot of people as Marco Perfetti, “What kind of music do you play?” That’s a difficult question for him to answer: “When you pop or you say rock or even pop rock, they’re such wide genres that include so many different artists and so many influences. Usually, I answer ‘Alternative.’ It’s a way to avoid a label.”
Marco goes on to explain: “I’ve had so many different influences in my life, and you can hear them in the album. I wouldn’t say my music is rock or classic rock or even contemporary rock, because there are even soul and R&B influences. The song Green Light has a strong funk influence. It’s reductive. I like that I cannot be defined; it means I’m open to different things.”
The Perfect Mark project is a collaboration of between Marco and several other recording artists. Marco Perfetti is the project leader. “I love to collaborate. I love to sing with other people, play with other people and write with other people. On this album, of the eight tracks, I wrote three songs by myself, one I wrote the lyrics and a friend wrote the melody, one I re-wrote a song that a friend of mine originally wrote in Italian (I’m from Italy), and two other songs are co-written with another friend.”
Marco continues, “When I write with others, the melodies and harmonies that I write are different from the ones that I write by myself. Other musicians take something out of me, something I never would have found by myself. They make me explore new musical territories.”
For his next album, Marco Perfetti plans to write almost everything himself. “So far, 90% is all mine.” However, that doesn’t mean that Marco won’t continue to collaborate: “I really listen to the musicians that I play with. They are such professionals and such amazing musicians. Their opinion really matters to me. If they have criticism or feedback, I always take it into consideration; but in the end, I’m the one who chooses.”
Marco Perfetti has been singing since he was a young child: “My Mom tells me that I used to sing when I was one. I always learned songs from the TV, from the commercials and from the cartoon themes. I started studying professionally when I was 17, because I really felt the urge to explore my instrument.”
For Marco, it’s a matter of listening: “I’ve always been a huge listener. I always listened to every kind of music. Studying is important. I’ve studied my whole life and I’m still studying. You never stop studying when you are a musician. Listening is a huge aspect of the learning process. The artist that I am today is influenced by all the years of studying, all the bands that I played with and all the different projects that I’ve sang with. I’ve sang in rock bands, blues bands, soul and even some jazz. I love all kinds of music. Folk music is one of my favorite genres now. I used to listen to R&B and hip hop and I still like it today. I’m a mixture of all that, and you can hear everything that I love in my music.”
We now know that Marco Perfetti has many music influences. “If we talk about my sound with Perfect Mark, the way I write and the way I want my music to sound, Chris Cornell is my favorite rock singer. I love Incubus, one of my favorite bands when it comes to rock. My favorite band in the world is Counting Crows when it comes to lyrics. Adam Duritz, the lead singer, really changed my conception of how lyrics are written. He helped me understand that you can write what you feel without worrying too much about what the listener understands, because everybody can find their own meaning in your words. Vocally, I love the soul singers of the 60’s and 70’s. Stevie Wonder is my absolute idol. Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye, I’ve been singing their songs my entire life. My other favorite artists are John Mayer and Mumford and Sons.”
When I asked Marco Perfetti what advice he has for other artists, he told me: “The first thing, it might sound cliché, but you need to believe in yourself. This doesn’t mean believing you’re the best or believing you’re good at everything. You have to know yourself, what you’re good at and even what you’re bad at. You have to be humble and listen to people, your fellow musicians and other artists. Listen to advice and criticism to figure out who you are and what you want to do. You’ve got to have a plan. You have to know how to do things.”
Marco meets many artists who think some opportunities are beneath them. “Me. I always try to say ‘Yes’ to everything that is offered to me, because most of the time when I said ‘I don’t want to do that’ and I did it, good came out of it. You never know what’s going to happen; and if you have a chance to perform, you should always jump at it, especially if you are an independent artist. You have to do everything possible to be known and to expand your fan base.”
As for the next Perfect Mark album, Marco Perfetti wants to take his time. He felt rushed to release his first album. Marco plans to start recording early 2015, so we may have the next Perfect Mark album by the end of next summer.
Watch the complete video interview on the Amused Now YouTube channel: http://youtu.be/VRymjU70YhU
Watch the video for Footprints: http://youtu.be/Vz-4SHAgAys
The Amused Now Featured Artist Series
Marco Perfetti, the Perfect Mark project
www.perfectmark.net
@PerfectMark1
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Cynthia Kahn, Founder of Amused Now
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