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Have you met Marc Gunn?

Known as a lover of cats, producer of podcasts, writer of filk (parody fan fiction songs), and one half of the Brobdingnagian Bards, he always has numerous projects in the works. One part musician, one part entrepreneur, full time busy guy, he juggles performing with a vast online presence specializing in free MP3 downloads. Let me introduce you to Marc Gunn.

The Music

It is not surprising that Marc loves music considering he grew up in a musical household. His Dad was a great lover of folk music and he listened to many an Elvis record belonging to his mother. However, the path to his current love, Celtic music, took a windy road. It wasn’t until 1998, with a degree in geography and a couple of rock bands under his belt, that he picked up the autoharp he’d “borrowed” from his Dad six years earlier and began to learn to play. He had gotten in to music because he wanted to write lyrics and sing songs but had difficulty with melodies. Because the autoharp is so easy to play—at its most basic, push a button and strum the strings—he was able to concentrate on writing and singing.

The music coming from his autoharp these days is far and above basic. While he plays about a dozen instruments, Marc has chosen to focus on the autoharp, using it to create melodic bodies of music that add accents to enhance the vocals. Not many people know what the instrument is—he has had guesses of dulcimer, lute, banjo, and even harpsichord. Most just listen and enjoy the unique sound he and Andrew McKee, the other Brobdingnagian Bard, create. If you have ever heard them, you know there is no one else in the world that sounds quite like them.

Faire History

While working at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Marc remembered hearing stories of Janis Joplin playing autoharp on the South Mall. Envisioning huge folk gatherings, he began to practice on the Mall each day at lunch. He produced a solo album in 1998 with Andrew’s accompaniment on the recorder. In 1999, a student approached Marc on the Mall and asked if he would be interested in playing at the Excalibur Renaissance Festival. Seeing the opportunity to develop a band and fans, he contacted Andrew and the duo formed the Brobdingnagian Bards, spending the time leading up to faire developing a fan base. When faire began, they had a following and performed every weekend.

The first year at Excalibur was a learning experience for Marc who says his autoharp hates being outside. Gunn says that one broken string on an autoharp is not a big issue; with two strings, it is out of tune but playable; when the third string breaks, it is finished. He chuckled when he told me that he didn’t think Andrew, who had some stage fright in the beginning, had forgiven him yet for turning to him at one of their early sets and saying “OK, finish the set.” In another memorable instance, Marc says Andrew appeared to do a Matrix impression as the string broke and flew toward him. McKee slowly ducked back as the string flew by, never missing a note as he continued to play. One weekend, 21 strings broke. At times like that, the people that love faire are what keep him going. He has learned that some weekends will be good, others bad. Nevertheless, it is when people start to gather, bonding with each other and with the band, that he feels the best. He loves the people and the faire atmosphere.

These Days

The Bards—as their fans, the Nagians, call them—continue to play faires all over the country. Performing both traditional Celtic music and Filk, the band’s 250-300 song repertoire gives the audience a wide range from which to choose. Marc says the Bard’s greatest strength comes from the ability to not just play but also provide good entertainment. He chuckled and used a favorite quote from Elvis Presley “You’ve got to put on a good show to draw a crowd.” They strive to provide great entertainment and achieving that goal consistently allows Marc to concentrate on music fulltime these days. According to Gunn, playing Festivals and Faires is a blast but it takes a lot of work to make a living at it. Musicians are not generally well paid and, if you are not good at promoting yourself, making a living at music can be tough. That is why he expanded and broadened in to many different areas like promotions and online marketing. In addition to playing with the Bards, he produces solo releases, has five podcasts, and spends a good deal of time both promoting his own work and teaching others to do the same.

Performing at faires seems to tire him more easily these days and sometimes he likes to visit faires he is not under contract to, just to enjoy the atmosphere. When visiting new faires, he looks to see how others do things to take advantage of site challenges and features. With the Bards primarily a stage act, he looks at things like stage settings from a performer’s viewpoint. He was especially impressed with the site at this year’s Two Rivers Renaissance Faire, a one-weekend event. The stages were stable, structurally sounds, and completely portable.

Current Schedule and Projects

The Bards’ 2008 schedule currently includes the Four Winds Renaissance Faire, Oklahoma Renaissance Festival at the Castle, and C. W. Post Renaissance Faire in Long Island. They are still talking to several other faires like Louisiana Renaissance Festival where Marc says he just loves the people and Kansas City Renaissance Festival, home base of Toy, a wind up mime who is one of his favorite persons to see.

The Renaissance Festival Podcast, hosted by Marc and Kristen Rogers and produced by Joe Haydu, are very popular with Renthusiasts all over the world. Published biweekly, the podcasts currently highlight acts appearing at events during the following two weeks. During the last quarter of 2007, listeners voted on performers to receive the Third Annual Renaissance Festival Awards. Marc announced at RenaissanceFestival.com, as Bellobard, that he hopes to release the awards Friday, February 29, or thereabouts. Tune in to RenaissanceFestivalMusic.com on Friday to find out who won awards in categories that, in 2006, included Best Musical Acts (Group and Soloist), Best CD, Best Non-Musical Acts (Group and Soloist), Best Vendor, Best Faire Web Community, Best Faire, and many more. He and Kristen started the podcast in 2005 on a whim and have lots of fun with it. The number of artists who allow their music to be included and the audience continues to grow. Gunn hopes everyone who listens to the Renaissance Festival Podcast enjoys them as much as the staff enjoys producing them.

Websites of Performers and Faires included in this article:

Marc Gunn
Renaissance Festival Podcasts
The Brobdingnagian Bards

February 27th, 2008 Posted by Escarlata | Have You Met? | 7 comments