Mark Speer

Mark Speer (born November 9, 1979 in Houston, Texas, U.S.) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the guitarist and one of the founding members of the musical trio Khruangbin.

Mark Speer
Mark Speer performing with Khruangbin in All Points East festival, 2018
Background information
Born	(1979-11-09) November 9, 1979[1][2] Houston, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Psychedelia soul funk instrumental rock dub
Instruments	Guitar drums bass guitar vocals
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Dead Oceans Night Time Stories
Associated acts	Khruangbin

Biography

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. At the time, Speer thought that rock and roll music "was terrible".[2] 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 his future bandmate Donald "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 then met Laura Lee through 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 three studio albums with Khruangbin: The Universe Smiles Upon You (2015), Con Todo El Mundo (2018), and Mordechai (2020). His family owns a barn in Burton, Texas where Khruangbin records all their music,[6] while the overdubs are done in SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston.[2]

A notable part of the band's visual style is the black wigs that Speer and his bandmate Lee wear on stage, and during promotional interviews and photoshoots. Originally this was to help them move from the stage to the merchandise stand without being recognised during early tours.[7]

Songwriting, technique and gear

Mark Speer uses a Fender Stratocaster which is the only guitar he has. He replaced its neck pickups with DiMarzio Cruiser and did the same in the bridge position because he wanted to achieve "screaming leads" with his tone. In an interview Speer said he only has one guitar pick which is worn to a round tip. He changes guitar strings once a tour because he does not like the sound of new strings. When Speer got his own guitar he changed the strings and took out the low E and added a 0.9 for his high E, basically installing every string one place lower and adding a thinner high E. He uses the standard EADGBE tuning.[8]

While on studio, Speer uses a Fender Deluxe Reverb guitar amplifier; live, he uses a Fender Custom Deluxe. He connects his guitar into a Dunlop Cry Baby pedal that he never turns off. From there, the connection goes to a Boss DS-1 pedal, and then to a Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail. The reverb effect is a big part of Speer's sound. Live, he uses a Strymon El Capistan for delay with an expression pedal hooked up to the back, and a Nose volume pedal, which allows him to move it with his feet on the board. Sometimes, he uses slow vibrato at the end of the chain to change the pitch.[2]

Speer prefers to compose on bass and drums, instead of guitar.[2] When performing live, he provides occasional vocals for the band.

Influences

Mark 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] 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]

References

1. Lee, Laura (2018-11-09). "Happy birthday to my BFF, @robotdouble". Instagram. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
2. Kobylensky, Paul (2018-03-08). "Khruangbin's Mark Speer: Addicted to Reverb". Premier Guitar. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
3. "Khruangbin - Records In My Life (2018 interview)". YouTube. 2018-05-28. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
4. Rhodes, Margaret (2018-01-30). "Khruangbin's Feel-Good Funk Is Undeniable". Vulture.com. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
5. "Khruangbin – A Calf Born in Winter". Echoesanddust.com. May 12, 2014. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
6. Greenberg, Rudi (2016-09-01). "Khruangbin takes fans on a sonic journey to Thailand — and beyond". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
7. "Interview: Khruangbin, the band making American rock music under the influence of Thai molam". Coconuts.co. August 17, 2018.
8. "Rig Rundown - Khruangbin's Mark Speer and Laura Lee". YouTube. 2018-05-01. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
9. "Hello r/Khruangbin ! Khruangbin here, ASK US ANYTHING". Reddit. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
10. Gotrich, Lars (2018-01-26). "Khruangbin's Vibrant 'Con Todo El Mundo' Is Drawn From Life". npr. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
11. "Khruangbin Amps Up Its Houston Pride". Houston Press. November 3, 2019.
12. "Knowledge Arena: In conversation with: Khruangbin". Dimensions Festival. January 12, 2018.
13. "Khruangbin's H-Town Homecoming Was Nothing Short of a Beautiful Night". Coog Radio.com. November 13, 2019.
14. Murphy, Bill (2018-01-26). "Khruangbin: Chasing the Eternal Sunrise". Relix. Retrieved 2020-05-21.