Marcus

Marcus started writing music when he was 20. He dropped out of college and was definitely lacking direction. Playing the guitar had been a childhood passion of Marcus although he had stopped by the time he was 14. When he picked it up again he knew instinctively that this was what he wanted to do with his life. He've played the ruby sessions once and hundreds of open mic nights. In 2016 Marcus went to London for 6 months and just worked in a bar and played as many open mics as he could. His dad loves music so he grew up with a lot of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Jimmy Hendrix and R.E.M playing in the house. He got into hip hop as a teenager and would still mainly listen to hip hop music. Marcus love the flow and rhyming schemes in hip hop and he try to do something similar. His favorite probably being Meek Mill.

About his London experience Marcus says....

When I went to London I didn't know where to start. I stayed with an Aunt in Clapham for a couple of weeks while I found work. Before long I found myself clearing glasses and wiping tables in a busy club in Camden. There was also a permanently clogged toilet and I had to go into it several times every night and unclog it with a stick. But it was a wage nonetheless and before long I found myself renting a room in a crowded house share in Finchley. It wasn't much but I had a room to write in and money to get to and from open mics. I remember playing an open mic one night and nobody was listening, to the point people didn't even realise when the songs had finished. I decided I needed to work on my delivery so I found a vocal coach in London who could help. Between paying rent, transport, food and voice lessons I literally went broke. I would have to hop over barriers at tube stations late at night to get home from work and would have a Pot Noodle or a packet of crisps for my dinner. It was definitely tough at times but I was really enjoying myself too. After 9 or so months a friend of mine came over to visit. He saw how I was living and we had a long chat, I decided it was time to come back to Dublin but I had no money for flights. His Mum ended up lending me the money and I flew home with him that weekend. When I got home I was fully dedicated to music. I moved back in with my Dad, started working and saving money. The money would go towards studio time, putting together a home studio, voice training, getting to gigs etc. Around this time I met some Irish rappers and began travelling out to suburbs like Blanchardstown and Finglas to jam with them. I was so impressed by their lyricism and I would try to mimic it. I've spent a lot of time around hip hop and a lot of time around singer songwriters and I think this has helped me develop my sound.