Interview with Marcus McDonald from the legendary Psych/Space Rock album "From The House Of Trax"

Louis Hauguel: Thank you for accepting this interview, it's a great pleasure to have you here for Fuzzine! So to start, could you tell us about your musical journey, when did you start playing music?

Marcus McDonald: Let me start by saying I am very flattered to do this interview and thank you for your interest in my path on this old rock.

My parents gave me a set of drums when I was 13 and that lasted about 2 weeks and they took them away from me… I guess it was pretty annoying to listen to a kid banging on them all day and not really having a clue as to how to really play them. They had given a guitar to my older sister who never played it and it just sat in the closet so she gave it to me. So by that time I was around 14 and started playing music well I guess it was music but mostly I just banged around on it until it sounded good to me. I carried it around with me nearly everywhere I went.

2/ We will talk about "From The House of Trax" of course but before, could you tell us a bit more about your influences?

The first cover tune I learned to play was Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven; you know a little Led for the head. Second tune I learned was Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water; after that I just started making my own music. That way nobody knew if I was doing it wrong. To answer your question better I must say that my influences were varied from bands like The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Rolling Stones and a host of others.

3/ "From the House of Trax" is a very unique record with lot of psychedelic effects and sounds like nothing else. How went the recording process of that album, what motivated you in exploring such atmospheres back in 1978?

I met Jim Fergusson who owned and operated The House of Trax Studio and when he heard me play he offered to record my music for free so I could not pass that up. It turned out that he was and is a Masterful Genius when it comes to audio engineering and my music would have never turned out like it is without him.

4/ Did you expect after all those years that your album would turn into a psych masterpiece highly sought after by collectors?

Funny thing about that… Jim Fergusson said that my music was 10 years ahead of its time and may take a while to catch on and sure enough I could not sell copies for place mats and some of my friends used them for Frisbee's just to see how far they could toss them. Almost ten years to the day a guy in New York called me up and said he found one in a used bookstore for 2 dollars and loved it and asked if I had any for sale. Well yes I said I have a few but actually I had a lot but anyway he offered me 300 dollars each for 10 of them and I was astounded and said sure I will sell them to you. The man drove from New York to New Albany Indiana and met with me and paid me 3000 dollars for 10 records. I have seen this sell for as much as $1.200 at an auction in Germany and I have sold some to places all over the world from California to Japan and many countries in between Like Greece, England, France, Germany, Australia and many others. The short answer to this question as to did I see this coming? No I did not but am very pleased that people from around the world still likes it.

5/ What are your thoughts on the music industry of nowadays?

Well to each his own I say… There is no music anymore that moves me like it did in the 70s and I guess that era has passed sad to say but thanks to the modern technology we are able to preserve that music to enjoy and reminisce with today. I am a bit surprised with country music today it seems it is not country at all anymore it is all starting to sound like rock music and I must say I like the change.

6/ Do you have any interests in the occult, unknown secrets and mysteries in this world?

The world is full of secrets and mysteries that level the playing field of life and death and the reins of power and control are often being slacked and taught. But I will not be divulging any antithoughtical information today. Don’t bother looking up antithoughtical because I just made that up.

7/ Do you have any plans concerning some new releases in the spirit of "From the House of Trax" ?

Yes I do and I have a few new pieces of music nobody has heard yet and working on a few more.

8/ Would you consider touring and playing "From the House of Trax" in its entirety along with other compositions?

I would absolutely love to do that if it came to pass as a possibility.

9/ I read that you were also releasing a movie, could you tell us more about that other project, how things are going?

Ah yes my new movie… Chain of Events {The Movie} Well it is not at all what you would probably expect from me but I made it to get my foot in the door. It’s a Romantic Comedy that took me 2 years to make and it is finished. I just submitted it to the Sundance Film Festival and hope something good comes from that. It was a lot of fun and I had the privilege to work with some very talented actors. Now that being said if we make any real money from this or not my next project will be the complete opposite of a romantic comedy and should be inspiring and downright frightening. I got to give a fair shake to the other side.

10/ I always submit that question, which is the desert island one haha... Tell me about one album, one book, one movie you would take there with you ? 

Pink Floyd; Dark Side of the Moon, My next Movie and The Bible.

11/ Would you like to share anything else with us, thoughts, whatever coming to your mind right now...?

I was kind of wondering why French Fries and French Toast have nothing to do with France and if we want peace in the middle east and the rest of the world why don’t we just have a one world order and have the whole world take a vote for just one good king.

Thanks for letting me voice my thoughts and memories into your world, Marcus


Louis Hauguel for Fuzzine (2014)

Interview with Rosalie Cunningham, singer and guitarist of the psych/prog band Purson.

Purson belongs to la creme de la creme in the circle of neo psych/prog rock. You take all the good things : infernal guitars and keys that are tormenting you without a rest, aerial moments where the beautiful voice of Rosalie is accompanied by a majestic mellotron. Everything is thought perfectly and hard worked by young and talented musicians. Yeah, that's another great thing, their age ! I simply don't know any other band of our generation that managed to catch "the spirit" so well, they rock it like never before, we have an opened soul of what is a music tainted of psychedelia and progressive atmospheres, with some ghosts of german krautrockers knocking at their door. Everything is well structured and also visually mind blowing. Take a look at their music videos. Blow your mind, this is an explosion of senses, it's being under the spell with the eyes wide opened. They are bringing you down to their parallel dimension made of many colors and acid dreams. A real trip for the mind in its different paths, from the colorful moments to some dark and tortuous roads. Here's an interview with Rosalie Cunningham, singer and guitarist of the band.

Louis Hauguel : It's been a long way since Ipso Facto back in 2008, after the band split up, I remember about a couple attempts to start a new project ( that went from Ketu to Purson ), what kind of difficulties did you meet on the way that finally lead later on to Purson ? And how did you guys all met ?

Rosalie Cunningham : The biggest difficulty was finding like-minded people who not only understood the vision and direction, but were musically able enough to make it happen. I worked with some very talented people before Purson became fully formed but I always encountered the same problems. Musicians of my age who are good enough to play the songs, usually have strong ideas about how to play them and more often than not, they clash with my own. Meeting Ed was the first important step. He was the only person who I felt that kind of musical connection with. Sam was my best friend and we’d always had a shared love of music and art and glamour but the problem was, he wasn’t a musician. We realised that he had no choice, he HAD to be in the band, so he learned to play the keyboards pretty damn fast. George and I had been friends since we were very young and grown up together on a diet of The Doors, The Beatles, Floyd, Bowie and all the best stuff. We’d always played guitar together and when I was putting the band together, it just made perfect sense to have him in. Justin, our bass player, is quite a recent addition. He got in touch with us on facebook when we were advertising for a bassist, came for an audition and got the job right away. I think the car and the kaftan sold us before he’d played a note. James is even more recent. He is a friend of Jus’s.

2/ As it's pretty rare for our generation to be into that kind of music, how did you personally come up into the world of psychedelic and progressive music ?

It is a sound that I have been in love with for as long as I can remember. I grew up with all the classic rock staples but was always drawn to the more psychedelic songs. My Dad was a musician and I worked in a record shop when I was 14-16 so that aided my exploration. Then when I discovered prog in a big way, that was all I would listen to, always looking for more and more far out bands. There wasn’t really anything current that I could relate to so looking back became a bit of an obsession.

3/ Do you believe in the fact that "everything happens for a reason" ? Karma, unexplained phenomenons, that type of things that are happening sometimes and have an impact in our lives. Did anything like that happened with Purson as well, like some great, pleasant circumstances that seemed to come from nowhere ?!

Yes and I believe that whatever comes your way does so to teach you something. I wouldn’t have the strength to weather the storm and carry the emotional burden that is being the leader of a struggling band in this day and age if it wasn’t for all the mistakes and the disappointments. Things haven’t been easy for us but it just goes to show me more that I was born to do this. Of course, there have been some positive gifts from the universe too! For instance, a date on our recent tour was cancelled which we were really gutted about but it meant that we had 3 days off in Amsterdam which turned out to be the best time we’ve ever spent together as a band. It was important that that happened.

4/ Let's talk about Purson. You released your debut album earlier this year. You're just about to start a tour with Spiritual Beggars. Also I noticed a successful Pledge. Things seems to do pretty well for the band ! Tell me, are you more a studio or a stage person ?

Haha! I’m glad that it all looks smooth from the other side! It has been so much hard work! We are eternally grateful to the fans for helping us reach the pledge goal. Performing is great fun, it is a drug, the best high in the world, but I am more of a studio person. I spend most of my time writing in my home studio and it is a perpetual process that consumes my every waking thought sometimes. I suppose creating something I am proud of out of nothing gives me more long-term satisfaction than playing live. 

5/ Purson, one of the kings from Hell, it's a very specific thing ! How long did it take you to come up with this name, was it a difficult process ? Do you like old, dusty and mysterious books ?

We knew we wanted a powerful one word name but I was thinking it should be the name of a god. We stumbled across Purson when reading about demonology and liked the idea and the imagery that went with him. It wasn’t a difficult process, it just felt right. Mysticism and the occult have always interested me but it wasn’t until after we named the band that I started to get into it. Now, reading about the archetypes of angels and demons and how they can help explain the secrets of the universe is something I find fascinating.

6/ Visually speaking, whatever it's on stage or on the album's cover itself, Purson has this very 70's-ish "Hammer movies" feeling, it's also very glamourous. Did the whole outfit thing come up naturally among the band or was it something that you wanted very badly as part of the band's identity ?

The way we dress is our way of living what we love. Why stop at expressing yourself through just music and lyrics? I love dressing up and I have always collected vintage clothes, it’s a passion. I resent the fact that it is often criticised these days. Some people ignorantly see it as ‘hipster’ and style over substance but I don’t see anyone calling Elton John a hipster!

7/ These days, there is an important revival of 60's/70's psych influenced bands.

Is that scene still very isolated or growing a bit in London ? Are people quite opened or closed-minded ?

There has definitely been a resurgence of that kind of thing which is great for us. People are much more open minded about it, even hard-core metal fans are embracing it. I think there are a lot of rock musicians of my generation who feel quite alienated from current mainstream music and so are taking inspiration from the golden days of rock.

8/ Alright, now, what is your personal Top 5 records that you would take on a desert island ? ( assuming that there will be a turntable somewhere )

Oh god, that is a hard question! It would have to be old favourites but if you asked me this another time, you’re likely to get a different answer.

King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King.

The Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake

The Beatles – Abbey Road

David Bowie – Man Who Sold The World

I can’t settle on a 5^th one… It’s between Slade, The Move and The Idle Race.

9/ What are the upcoming plans for you and Purson, any new releases, maybe a dvd one day ?

I’ve pretty much finished writing the next album so I can’t wait to record that. We hope to being touring a lot more and playing some festivals next year and we’d definitely like to make some more music videos. We’ve got a load of ideas for videos.


10/ Those lines are yours : any comments, anything you would like to add about anything you may have done/listened to/read/seen recently ?

Errm…..This could take me a while so I’ll leave it blank.


11/ As a bonus question. You're a Taurus lady. What are your thoughts on Astrology ?

I think we are all affected by what is happening on a grander scale in the universe and the forces it creates. I’d like to know more about it. I can’t say I have much of an affinity with the typical Taurean personality traits though. In fact, apart from the stubborn and determined work ethic, I am the polar opposite! 

Thanks for the interesting questions!


Louis Hauguel for Fuzzine. (2013)