Mark Z.

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Laurel Main Street Festival.

Born in Washington, DC, Z began his musical journey by being forced into piano lessons at an early age. This went on until he tracked mud all over his teacher's beautiful Persian rug...She was none too pleased! Finding outlets for a teenager's pent-up, hormonal energy wasn't easy. After trying his hand (and foot) in Kung Fu lessons, football, baseball, etc, Z heard a sound that would forever change his life...
"I'd say Jimi Hendrix really spoke to me and convinced me, in a musical way, to pursue electric guitar."
After playing in several garage bands, Mark found his way to Boston's Berklee College of music.
"Being exposed to Jazz in that magnitude was mind-blowing. Musically, I improved 100% by exposure to all those awesome teachers and students."


From Berklee Z became immersed in the local Boston music scene. He played, toured (including Europe), and recorded extensively with Boston's "all star ska" outfit, Steady Earnest. "We played all over the New England region. Europe was killer, especially Amsterdam and Berlin. Ska will always have an important place in my musical development." Two full-length albums and dozens of compilations later, an opportunity to play guitar for Ringling Brothers Circus would take Z on a 2 year train trip across the US and even to Mexico City. After 1000 shows, and 90 cities, living in a room the size of most bathrooms got old. It was time to find an outlet for his creativity. Z eventually found his way to Baltimore, MD in search of the perfect musical situation. Finding just the right mixture of musical influences and personalities was of major importance! witzend was clearly meant to be: Wayne, Bryan, and Chris were the right combination of talent and personalities...call it luck or fate... Z's influences include Jimi Hendrix, Andy Summers, Alex Leifson and Jeff Beck. 


98ROCK stage at 2000 TowsonTown Festival

 Email  Mark Z. Mark uses Tom Anderson and Ibanez guitars, BOSS effects, Fulltone effects DR strings, and Marshall amps and speakers.


Marshall