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Writer's pictureNew Artist Spotlight

NAS 10 Questions with Mauri Dark

[Interview Number 47]


This time, we get to know Mauri Dark. His track "Thin Line of Understanding" is featured in the New Artist Spotlight Family of Playlists.


Link To New Artist Spotlight Playlists:


Okay, letโ€™s get into the Ten questions for Mauri Dark!


๐Ÿญ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฏ๐˜†?

I am from Turku, Finland. I am also professional visual artist so art and music are my passions. For hobby I have hiking in nature (I am a landscape addict), traveling (when that again is possible). I also play football and go to gym.


๐Ÿฎ. ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ผ ๐— ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ/๐— ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป?


I was about 7 when I heard and saw a cassette of Kiss in their make-ups. It was impressive! I started to play drums at that age, and at 16 started to play in bands and write lyrics. At 18 guitar, vocals and songwriting came along. Since then I have done 8 albums. My debut solo album is called โ€Dreams Of A Middle-Aged Manโ€ is coming December 18.


๐Ÿฏ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€?

Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Tom Waits, Neil Young, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. I listen mainly 70s and 90s music.


๐Ÿฐ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ?


Well I started to do it โ€seriouslyโ€ at 16. Gigs started soon. I counted I have done about 500 shows. Most of them (and five albums) as vocalist-guitarist of metal duo Mystons. I have been writing songs for 25 years and I think I am learning to be better at it all the time.


๐Ÿฑ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜†?

I am 42 now and still kind of dreaming of โ€stardomโ€ but it is very different dream than when I was younger. Now my goal is to make as good as possible songs, lyrics and music that is able to touch snd give something to people. I also want to keep performing live. I think music and live shows can give wonderful things to people. It helps them relax and feel something extraordinary and takes them away for a moment from their troubles and everyday lives. There is magic in music and I just hope to be able to spread that magic because it does good things to people.


๐Ÿฒ. ๐—œ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ?

I have never toured in USA. Would like to tour there. Generally all the places where I haven't performed yet. I have been in many countries and tours in Europe and nearly every town in Finland. It's always fun to see different audiences.


๐Ÿณ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด?


The first that comes to mind is โ€The Endโ€ by The Doors. I have not heard any other band or frontman who has the ability to make that kind of studio recording.


๐Ÿด. ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜?


First that comes to mind was at metal duo Mystons show. Theres only two guys in the band, the other one playing drums. My guitar went dead quiet in the middle of the song. It was a loooong drum solo for the drummer before I got things working. Lots of embarrassing moments have happened at the shows, but you just get through them not showing your embarrassment too much. The thrill of live music!


๐Ÿต. ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜?


I think of all of the public artworks I have done as visual artist (with my birth name Mauri Kosonen) and all of the albums. Especially the upcoming Mauri Dark album which was a lot of work, learning new things and instruments and feels a very big achievement. I also got to work with mastering engineer Vlado Meller who has done mastering for Johnny Cash, Metallica and many others. But I still have to say without a doubt that it is my 2,5 years old daughter. I could not be prouder of her.


๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ?


Well I have always dreamed of being Produced by Rick Rubin. Most of my favorite albums are his productions.

"Thin Line of Understanding" on Spotify


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someformofmusic
someformofmusic
Dec 14, 2020

This was a fantastic read, Mauri, looking forward to the album release! Huge fan of Finland by the way, especially the Turku area!

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