Mark Hillman - Musician

Mark has been playing guitar for nearly a quarter of a century. His music is soulful and emotional but it are his live performances that leave you with the "wow factor" -  this man knows how evoke the soul of music.

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Mark studied music in high school in Broken Hill (NSW), graduating in 2003. Following this he worked a variety of different jobs; including metallurgy technician at the local mines, before moving to Townsville (Qld) with his parents and taking a job as an Infomation Technology trainee with the local TAFE.

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After a short stint at university starting (but not completing) a Bachelor of Information Technology, and some casual office work, Mark became a bottle shop attendant and finally a bartender. This at least put him amongst the local music scene, and he started attending local open-mic nights at various pubs, including his place of work.

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Eventually he met Jeremy Hawker, a guitar tutor and lead guitarist of a local band. After striking up a friendship, Jeremy saw something in Mark’s playing offered to teach him for free. To this day, even though Mark no longer takes lessons with him, Jeremy will still critique Mark’s playing and drive him to improve nearly every time they meet.

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Beginning his professional career in 2009, Mark quit his job as a bartender and took to the streets as a busker. Mainly performing on Townsville’s night club strip on Flinders Street East, Mark developed his abilities and built a fan-base in Townsville playing covers and improvised instrumentals.

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During this time Mark met Michael Bowkett (aka Tiny 'The Bad' Teddy); together forming Sons of Ra, a busking duo that would gather large crowds of revellers in the following years. They also worked together on a charity busking event for Camp Quality that had been organised by Michael and was supported by local venue, Bullwinkle’s Nightclub. Over $500 was raised in a few short hours. Other local musicians, including Tasha Zappala and Luke Thomas also contributed their talents.

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In 2010, Mark formed a folk-rock band called The Walkers with Ilona Bienkiewicz, Heather Simpson (aka Feraliza) and Yiss Mill. The four embarked on a journey - on foot - destination: Cairns Winter Solstice Festival (near Mt Garnet, North Queensland). 

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Playing at small town pubs and busking along the way, the band entertained crowds from Townsville to Cairns before arriving at the festival.

 

Thanks to Heather's connections with the crew running the festival's market stage; the band ended up playing on the Sunday night, turning what had been a journey to check out a festival into the performance of their lives. This was also Mark’s first ever festival - both as an attendee and a performer.

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Each of the members went their own way after the festival and Mark took with him a desire to write more of his own material, and continue his musical journey. Eventually ending up in Cairns, Mark discovered Digger Street Arts Collective; alive with activity after the festival. Finding a place full of such creative and inspiring people, Mark ended up staying for 3 months and began working on his own songs.

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After returning to Townsville, Mark continued busking and kept working on his originals, also playing more and more of his improvised material. Mark also began attending festivals whenever he could, and found himself returning to Digger Street for at least a few months a year for several years.

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In 2012, Mark went back to South Australia for a family visit, travelling back to Townsville with his partner at the time (artist Hils Clair). The pair hitchhiked the entire way, taking two months to explore the places in between. 

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These travels and an earlier visit to Melbourne for Rainbow Serpent Festival at the start of the year, followed by the Solar Eclipse Festival in North Queensland at the end of 2012 left Mark more inspired than ever to put everything he had into creating something original that he could share with the world.

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Shortly after this he released his first EP, The Digger Sessions (recorded, produced and mostly written at Digger Street). This EP ran only 50 physical copies, which were given to friends, family and other artists, or sold on the streets during busking performances. [ The Digger Sessions continues to be available on Bandcamp. ]

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Around the same time, Mark began work on another project with a producer and other musicians he met in Cairns - an experimental live/electronic project (Fuck Yeah! Small Dragons or FYSD). What resulted was a collaborative effort that spanned three months, producing an hour of glitch-hop and progressive psytrance on a 3,000 watt PA in the loungeroom of a house in urban Cairns.

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This project took Mark to Sydney and Canberra for his first insterstate festivals as a billed performer (Tribal Rhythms as FYSD and Dragon Dreaming as both FYSD and a solo performer).

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By this time Mark had started experimenting with looping technology, and added a 12-string acoustic guitar to his sound arsenal. After two successful performances on the Earth Stage at Dragon Dreaming, and drawing and holding a decent crowd of people while playing at the Psybus Cafe at the same festival, Mark returned home with the desire and the confidence to move things along with his performances. Acquiring a loop station, he began developing his current material, which is a blend of written tracks and improvisational frameworks using live looping and multiple guitars.

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Mark spent the remainder of 2013 developing his original material and in the later parts of the year, attended Wallaby Creek Festival and Mission Evolve Music Festival with Michael Bowkett and Sons of Ra. Volunteering to help the crew at both events; they ended up on stages in impromptu performances both as a duo, solo and with a host of other incredibly talented musicians.

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Mark went home for a time after this, and by sheer luck or stroke of fate, scored a setup crew position at Woodford Folk Festival over the 2013/14 new year. Getting to spend a month at Woodfordia, playing music at any and every opportunity, Mark was humbled to find so many wonderful people enjoying both his music, and that of Sons of Ra.

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After Woodford, the pair hit the road, intending to take Sons of Ra to Rainbow Serpent Festival. Mark didn’t make it, but instead stayed in Melbourne; working on his second music release, the self-produced Finding Dragons.

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Finding Dragons was released on Bandcamp and a limited number of physical copies were printed for sale at his performances.

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After two months in Melbourne, Sons of Ra hit the road again, this time to Regrowth Festival to open one of their stages. Mark also played a solo set in the Evolver Lounge on the Saturday night which saw him gather quite a crowd, and is still one of his most personally memorable performances to date.

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From Regrowth, Mark headed home, returning to Townsville by late March and beginning work on his debut album and various collaborations.  

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The album didn't happen as expected, Mark instead getting involved in various bands over several years while he continued working on material and building experience by playing shows. These bands included Crossroads, Band of Dawn, Triple Threat, and finally co-founding The Firelight Collective.

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Following a hand injury in 2018 which resulted in 6 months of Mark being unable to play guitar, he made the decision to branch out into other areas of the music industry in which he'd dabbled or had some experience along the way. To this end he commenced a Bachelor of Music at Central Queensland University, focusing on expanding and legitimising his skills in performance, music theory, composition, audio engineering and music & arts business management.  

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The intent of this is for Mark to be able to deliver a range of industry-related services such as songwriting and audio production and even artist management - giving him a means of remaining in the industry he loves even if something physical were to prevent him from being able to perform live.

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Now nearing completion of his degree, Mark is focused on building his craft into a business beyond that of just performing music using the skills mentioned above, working with The Firelight Collective as a performer, songwriter and event organiser as well as completing work on a new solo EP/Album to be launched mid-2022.