Mark Cloutier

<p><span style="font-size: small;">Whenever there is news on a Mixposure Artist, we will always try and keep everyone informed! If you have news, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="mailto:news@mixposure.com">please email us!</a>&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><a href="http://www2.mixposure.com/MARK_CLOUTIER/">Mark Cloutier</a></strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Based in Upstate New York, in the Syracuse region, guitarist Mark Cloutier is doing a great job releasing a barrage of CDs on his Blues Lion Records label. Much of Mark&rsquo;s 2009 CD <em>Attitude With Gratitude </em>is instrumental in nature and with that unique element front and center, his guitar work sounds also greatly inspired by rock legends like Hendrix, Jimmy Vaughan, early Buddy Guy and T-Bone Walker. Likewise, much the same could be said about Mark&rsquo;s 2008 CD with his group <em>Stratattack, </em>entitled <em>Blues In My House. </em>Featuring solid support from an adept rhythm section, Cloutier&rsquo;s guitar takes on a number of sonic guises on different tracks. For instance, track 8 on <em>Attitude With Gratitude, </em>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s A Place&rdquo;&mdash;a great atmospheric instrumental that mixes rock and jazzy styles to great effect&mdash;is one of Cloutier&rsquo;s finest and most memorable tracks. One look at Cloutier&rsquo;s web site and you can really see a guitarist who is quite prolific, with each of his CD's being strongly recommended to both blues and rock fans, as well as guitar instrumental fans. <strong><a href="http://www.DoubleBarrelBluesBand.com" target="_self">www.DoubleBarrelBluesBand.com</a></strong></span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">MUSIC WEB EXPRESS 3000 <br /> presents MARK CLOUTIER</span><br /> Guitars Center Stage&nbsp;Guitarists making waves in the music world,&nbsp;their new recordings and gear!</em></strong></span></strong></span></p><p><em>Musical Background</em></p><p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><em><span style="font-size: small;"> <br /> </span></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I started playing guitar when I was 14 years old. I saw this fella playing a Halifax Les Paul copy guitar in the school hallway and it caught my attention. I remember him playing &ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t Talking &lsquo;Bout Love&rdquo; by Van Halen and I thought it was the coolest thing. I approached him and asked about the guitar and he told me he was selling it. I went home and begged my parents for a week or so and they finally gave in and gave me the money to buy it! Very exciting for me as I was tiring of athletics and need something new&mdash;a new challenge! I had a friend who played guitar so he started teaching me basics and eventually I studied with a fella by the name of Dana Klipp. He turned me on to the blues and all the great guitar players! I have been playing for 30 years now and everyday I am still learning something. I also enjoy playing bass and on some of my early solo guitar recordings you can hear me playing the 4 string! <br /> </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong><em><br /> <br /> New CD<br /> <br /> </em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">As you may have noticed I am very busy recording my works. It really is an ongoing documentation of all my ideas and influences.<img src="http://www.mwe3.com/reviews/MarkCloutier2010/Mark11.jpg" alt="" width="444" height="451" align="right" /> I really love turning on the record and sometimes just tapping into my stream of conscience. Lately I have really worked on themes and dynamics to build off of and then come back to. Seems to be a very good formula of late. The new CD <em>Attitude With Gratitude</em> was based on that formula. I received some helpful tips from the legendary Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records. He has listened to some of my recordings and made mention of paying a bit more attention to melody and themes to bring out my soloing more. I took that advice and think I am heading in the right direction for sure! <em>Attitude With Gratitude</em> is the result.<br /> <br /> I record at home in a very simplistic manner. I use Cakewalk software with a Lexicon Lambda usb. The bass guitar and drums are from a fellow by the name of Lawrence Fritts, a professor from Iowa University. He had posted some backing tracks to be used by musicians such as myself. I asked him if it would be okay to use the tracks for my CD&rsquo;s. He said no problem and mentioned he really liked what I was doing with them! I have embellished many tracks with rhythm guitar and in some cases double lead work. I just plug my SRV Fender Strat into either my Crate or Hughes and Kettner amp and run it direct into my computer by way of mic-ing my amp. It&rsquo;s a cool formula that allows me to work efficiently during my usual two hour stints of recording per session. I work and have a family and gig often so I am very busy. I do much of the online advertising with our web site and everything else involved. Essentially, I am my own recording label. I do think these recordings are influenced by my many years of gigging and reading people. The people&rsquo;s response-reaction to what you do and what you don&rsquo;t do are important. I tend to lay back quite a bit to set the crowd up for my attack. Some say it&rsquo;s a form of blues shredding when I get excited. I would say Buddy Guy has influenced me in that manner&mdash;I love how he attacks. Of course SRV had the same effect on me along with Hendrix.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.mwe3.com/reviews/MarkCloutier2010/" target="_blank">Read More.....</a></em></strong></span></strong></span></p><div><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></span></div>