Mark Ramos-Nishita was
bound to end up doing something cool. Moving with his family from
Detroit at the age of six, Money Mark found himself on the West
Coast. Somewhere between working as a ball boy for the Los Angeles
Lakers and taking up carpentry, Mark began experimenting with different
instruments, starting with a Fender Rhodes.
In order to find his sound, Mark literally deconstructed it. The
Fender Rhodes came apart, and then back together again, along with
other vintage keyboards like it. Out of these experiments would
develop an open, unique sound that led to work with the Dust Brothers,
Beck, and Femi Kuti, among others.
A routine repair call in the early nineties led to work with the
Beastie Boys, changing both their sound and overall direction. During
this period, Mark began working on his own projects, starting with
“Mark’s Keyboard Repair,” released in 1995.
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Mark began touring, and
released two more albums that gained strong followings. Channeling
Jimmy Smith, Robert Moog and Evel Knievel all at once, Mark incorporated
rickety furniture and witty banter into his live shows. This all
made sense to fans familiar with his work, who were able to find
the same fragmented joy found in his music, yet leave amazed and
confused. After taking a much-deserved break, Mark headed back to
the studio and came out with the remarkable “Demo? Or Demolition?”
EP in his back pocket. For our guy, it was another day at the office.
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