Mark Robinson was born into a musical family, and commenced his own journey of playing and writing at the age of 13 when his mother, a jazz violinist, ‘conned’ him into learning the guitar. He describes the experience as “like learning to speak for the first time, as if I’d been in a world of silence all my life and suddenly I had a means to articulate what was inside of me.”

Early musical influences included The Beatles, James Taylor and Neil Young (it was the 70s, after all) but it didn’t take long before it was all Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. When punk and new wave hit Elvis Costello and The Police became his staples. The most significant influences however, were Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and The Blue Nile. Though very different musically he saw a raw honesty and emotive power in their music that made him want to express what they expressed. If you listen closely, you will hear echoes of all of these influences in the music Mark writes and performs.

During the 70s and 80s, Mark played with a num