An energetic live solo performance of great pop songs.

6 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Acoustic, POP: Power Pop



Details:
The debut live solo performance by Nicholas Markos was an opening set for a live broadcast of a Concrete Blonde concert in Chicago, captured on tape as "Live at the Vic."

The then-unknown singer rocked the roof off The Vic Theatre in Chicago with his energetic pop songs. You can hear the crowd's wildly enthusiastic reaction to originals like "Boy with the Big Green Jealous Head" and "Building Up," and the cover of "Pinball Wizard" blew their minds, complete with an insert from the Overture from "Tommy."

While his songs are compared to the thoughtful and emotive work of Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, Van Morrison, and David Gray ("He's like David Gray without the accent... or with the accent, depending on how you look at it, I guess..." - Swifty Lazar), the songs incorporate a range of elements that reveal both Markos's depth as a musician (in addition to guitar and bass, he was formally trained on viola and saxophone) and his egalitarian tastes. "I'm not concerned with classifying my songs," he explains. "I'm just focusing on making music that speaks to me."

Nicholas has since gone on to open shows for Bob Dylan, Curve, Melissa Etheridge, Todd Rundgren, Roger McGuinn, The The, the Violent Femmes, and many others. He has released 4 other solo records, as well as being one half of epic synthpop duo Jordan and the mastermind of bee, who just released their second record. Nicholas has also performed, produced, and recorded with other artists, including Cath Carroll (TeenBeat), Last Gentlemen (Zoo), and Michael McDermott.

SAMPLE PRESS
Chicago Sun-Times
By Jim DeRogatis, Pop Music Critic

A slave to no genre, the ridiculously prolific Nicholas Markos brings to mind a hipper underground version of David Gray while recording under his own name (as on the newly reissued solo disc, "Pinata Mondatta"), but he also dabbles in amusing electronic tomfoolery via a disc of diverse remixes of "Ave Maria" (credited to Jordan) and computer deconstructions of classic rock songs on "Let There Be Hits" (attributed to his techno-saboteur alter ego, The Hitmaker). . . . .(www.tierecords.com)

DISCOGRAPHY
Break Through Overground, 2005 (as bee)
Nice Hits v2.0, 2005 (as The Hitmaker)
The Theme From Hot Doug's, 2004 (as bee)
Nice Hits, 2003 (as The Hitmaker)
Holiday Pop, 2001
The Usual Tactics, 2000
Epiphany, 1999 (with Jordan)
"Lotta Love to Give" on The Unbreakable Chain, 1999 (with Jordan)
Scott Burrell (He's My Guy), 1998
Piñata Mondatta, 1996
True Crime Motel, 1995 (with Cath Carroll)
Whatever, 1993
Live at the Vic, 1992