American singer Mark Huff became known to hard-rock/metal fans in 2010 when he took on the frontman’s role in a reformed Quiet Riot, following the passing of Kevin Dubrow. A difficult task, no doubt. His tenure with the band ended in 2012 with health issues, and Huff would return once healthier and sing in various projects. Last year he joined DARK MILE, a new band put together by Paul Alfery (guitar/keyboards) and former Dio guitarist Tracy G., and along with bass player Randy Oviedo put out their excellent self-titled debut album. I recently spoke with Mark about his past, his various other bands, Quiet Riot, and the Dark Mile CD, as well as what else is on the go. If you haven’t checked out this album yet, I highly recommend it!
Who were some of your favorite singers you grew up on?
Don Henley, Phil Collins, Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant, Steve Walsh.., and the list goes on.
Did you buy a lot of albums growing up? Do you still keep an album collection?
I keep a few albums, tapes etc. I still have – Eagles Hotel California, Steve Miller’s Book of Dreams, Nazareth Hair of the Dog, Kansas Point of No Return, Kiss Alive signed by Paul and Gene, and a bunch of well-worn Led Zepplin, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple Machine Head…
What other bands did you grew up on?
Beatles, Golden Earring, Bad Company, Eagles, Aerosmith, Kansas, Cheap Trick, Cars, Ted Nugent.
So when you landed in California, what were some of the first bands you got involved in?
That was OU812. That was a good friend of mine named Angel Llanos. He’s still there in San Diego. He does a tribute to Carlos Santana, and he stays real busy doing that.
0U812, 5150/ Atomic Punks, Lead Foot Overdrive,
What were some of your favorites from that Van Halen era of Sammy? Do you have any song preferences from that era?
5150, We played all the hits from the Van Hagar era and a few obscure deep cuts – “Right Now”, “Dreams”, “When It’s Love”, “Black n Blue”. With 0U812, we did ANYTHING SAMMY – Montrose, solo songs, Chicken Foot, The Wabo’s….
That’s good. I love all those albums. 5150 was a favorite of mine.
I think that my covering of the vocals of the Sammy era, live and on video, are what got me recognized and a call from Frankie Banali.
Cool, and the Deep Purple stuff you did as well?
‘Deeper Purple’, we covered songs from, I think, all three singers. That was fun to me and that was always a challenge too.
During this time prior to Quiet Riot, had you done any recording stuff or any kind of original stuff?
Prior to Quiet Riot, I did a project with a band called ‘Leadfoot Overdrive’ in San Diego and Jeff Poremba, Steve Bernstein, Greg rupp and Mikey Panone. No releases but a great project. I still have recordings.
So that stuff you did prior to Quiet Riot, some of that was original stuff?
Yes, all original songs.
And the Quiet Riot thing, you were there with Frankie and the guys had been there for a while!?
Yes. Frankie ,Chuck Wright, Alex Grossi (he’s still playing).
With Quiet Riot, I know you were there for a couple of years, did about 40 shows. I know it didn’t end well, but what were kind of the highlights while you were there?
All a learning experience through a time I wasn’t physically well. But biggest crowd was in Germany ‘Bang Your Head Festival’, maybe 30,000 + the travel and locations I will never forget. I was fortunate to be included in many shows alongside people I had to pinch myself to question the reality. It was all an honor and a privilege. Doing a show in the mountains, snowing outside, stage is outside and at that elevation, they offered oxygen tanks if you needed to take a pull on stage. Shout out to all the kind people along the way!
Was there any opportunity or talk of doing anything original while you were there?
The possibility was discussed, but I wasn’t there long enough to see it happen
Post-Quiet Riot, you’ve done some other things as well, at least one or two albums?
‘Steel Imagination’ doing covers, and ‘Endangered Species’ – all original; I have recordings of that as well
I did some music with Craig Goldy. After I was well enough and anybody locally thought that I was ready to start getting involved in music again, he was one of the people that approached me too; that was probably from seeing me play in a ‘Deeper Purple’ show at Brick by Brick.
Greg and I worked on some stuff, and he was the first initial one to kind of … ‘baptize me’ with trying to record from home. We did everything from my house, and he mastered everything at home. And that was a learning experience, and he was the one that kind of helped me feel like I could still do this. We aspired it to do other things with it, but… it was more about the politics of who I sang with…and maybe politics for him personally too, I don’t know. I did that with Craig and those things were called ’13th Floor” (live, this was Endangered Species).
And then I hadn’t done anything for a while and I went to Florida, did a show with a band called Trixie Lee Taylor (with Taylor Murphy). I was blessed that people cared about me, wanted to be involved with me and for anything that was positive that way. I got to bounce around a little bit. And then after that I got approached, by someone on the phone, from up your way there in New York. And (he) approached me about doing some music. He already had songs written. And again, he kept me active in music and stuff and that didn’t work out. So, we’re at where we are right now.
You did an album in 2017!?
It was called ‘Steel Mountain Crossing’.
What was that about?
I was contacted by someone who wanted to make some music with me. We made some recordings, originals and a few covers. None of my songs. We are on opposite coasts so it was too hard to do long distance at the time. Creative differences but we gave it a go.
You eventually met Paul Alfery and Tracy G, and they’ve started this Dark Mile project. What did you think about that when they approached you with it? I think they had a lot of the songs written before you joined, correct?
Paul Alfery contacted me via a musicians’ app called ‘Band Mix’. My profile only states that I am a professional singer looking to stay active. Paul said a project he is working on needs a vocalist to finish a song, possibly more. We get through the song as we come to know who is in this project…. Tracy G, Paul Alfery, Randy Oviedo. So out of respect to these gentlemen, I had to reluctantly let them know that I was that guy from QR. When anything on the internet about you is not very positive, the last thing you would want to do is brag about any of it. I wanted a job where I didnt have to act, look, or sound like any one or thing except me. You can always be compared to someone else, the look, the sound. I appreciate this opportunity. My vocal spot here is…,I sing.,I have not written any of these songs. I give input. We collaborate. And these guys make it super simple for me. We tweak the melody, words here and there. Come up with another verse, float it around to each member until it works.
You did all the vocals from home?
Yes I did.
And were all the lyrics done for you? Or did you have to tweak a few here and there?
Every song comes to me differently. We tackle each song differently depending on what Paul has planned. The process gets better all the time; practice makes perfect.
Do you have a favorite, any favorite tracks on there? Or are you just all, you’re happy?
I like “The Boy” and I like, “He Said, She Said”, “Maybe On A Sunday”,…”Can’t Help You” …We are proud of the efforts, it’s all my favorite!!
How far along are you guys with the second album?
Just a couple songs to finish, we just finished a ballad for #2.. We thought we should put one on there.
Will it still maintain that kind of that 80s hard rock vibe?
That’s hard for me to say without hearing mastering, but it sounds great!!
Has there been any discussion about doing any live shows at some point?
We are prepared to do live shows in support of our music if warranted. I’ve been doing my parts, I have them tattooed on my brain and I’m ready to do this live, no problem… We all are!
What else are you involved in right now?
I’m working on doing something local soon, some recording.
What’s the live scene like where you are?
My friends Jeff Mills, Lynn Sorenson are active in the scene here. It’s about time for an open mic drop. People are getting back to entertainment!
Lynn Sorenson, he was on a couple, he was on the Stuart Smith album with Heaven and Earth.
Yes, he was. Lynn lives north of me. He stays busy doing what he loves. He’s played with Bad Company for a while, Paul Rogers and stuff. He’s a string player, he plays anything with strings, but he’s a great singer as well.
Cool. Lastly, do you listen to, you’re familiar with any Canadian bands?
Kim Mitchell, Loverboy, Honeymoon Suite, BTO, Rush, April Wine, Triumph, Mahogany Rush, The Guess Who, Steppenwolf…
I used to play the club circuit from all of Washington and Oregon, and all the way to the Canadian border. And we were playing Port Angeles. We had a guy in the audience for the whole night, and it was an off night, (early in the week), but he was very appreciative, and we got talking to him and it was Randy Bachman! He was going to catch his ferry back over to Victoria. We used to cover a lot of Loverboy, “Working For The Weekend” and “Turn Me Loose”, a few songs… April Wine was one of my favorites too, as far as the 3-guitar piece band, and the vocals and everything; we did a few April Wine songs too,
Anything else you’re listening to these days?
The works of Tracy G. The Winery Dogs, Myles Kennedy and everything that still inspires me!
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