"This is a great story... My studio mate, one of my best friends and guitar players in the world, Julian Coryell, was touring with one of the big Japanese artists. You should know that Julian, son of the legendary guitarist Larry Coryell, is an extreme overachiever. He started Berklee School of Music at 16 and graduated as the youngest graduate ever at 18 years old. Normally it takes four to five years but he got it in two. A brilliant guy, who decides to learn Japanese while on tour there. So, he teaches himself Japanese, and then writes a record in Japanese with American and Japanese lyrics combined. Wagamama is one of the songs on that record. When he invited me to record for the album I had no idea he was doing all this stuff."

"This is a song I produced for an artist named Jared Engelmier a few years back. A cool guy and a great songwriter. This is an example of a track that I produced, mixed, arranged, I did everything but the mastering on that song."

"Kemble Walters is a singer/songwriter, guitar player, drummer and a very talented dude who also lives in Los Angeles. This is an example of someone that just hired me to play on the record, and we became really good friends. Normally, when I play tracks for people, they send it to me from all over the world. He lives in LA so he came to the studio and we produced and recorded the songs and became really good friends. He had already played the drum tracks but wanted me to replace them."

"Doing a recording clinic is a lot fun, because it is another component of what I do and I can share what I've been doing for many, many years. Normally, when I do my own recording clinics they last all day. Those days take up to ten or twelve hours with only eight people. Not only do they hear me talking about miking and all that studio stuff, but everybody gets to play and experience what they are learning on the spot."

"I always say: 'Play what you like.' For instance, I love Mexican food and my least favorite food is Chinese food. So you can't tell me to like Chinese food. Therefore I can't tell you to use Remo heads because I play Remo heads. I play the instruments that I have because they feel comfortable. Drum heads are a very personal thing, but they also determine the sound of the drum much more then, let's say, the bearing edges.

After many year of playing Remo drumheads, I went to Evans mainly because my good friend Marco Soccoli, who was the artist representative for Vic Firth, left and became the artist representative for Evans. I stayed for eight months with Evans and came back to Remo. And there were several reasons I decided to switch again. Primarily, they lasted as half as long as the Remo heads - they didn't have the durability. And there is the sound difference: I didn't like the attack, the transient sound as I like to call it, as much as I like it with the Remo heads.
I use several kind of Remo heads. My favorite on the toms are the Clear Vintage Emperors. I play the Emperor X on the snare drum and I play all kinds of Coated Ambassadors in the studio.

Generally speaking, Remo is like Mexican food to me, or like my wife; it feels very comfortable and that's why I eat Mexican food, love my wife and play Remo drum heads. They feel like home to me."

"First of all, I love what I do. And I am grateful that I am able to play drums for a living. And I just seem to be a balanced source of energy even when I'm exhausted. One of my great fears in live is a missed opportunity. So if I get an opportunity to do a clinic, or a seminar, or a recording session, it is a fantastic experience. I get to change people's lives, I get to know people and learn. And all those opportunities that I get to do give me that balanced source of energy."

In the past few years, while touring with Foreigner and P!NK, Mark found the time to write a book called 'Nerve Breakers - Conquering Life's Stage Fright'. A book about getting through the moments of anxiety when you are about to perform, whether it is on stage or giving a speech. Our next interview with Mark will be about this, so stay tuned.

The Sandlane Sessions are an initiative of Remo distributor EMD Music in Belgium and Sandlane Recording Facilities.