Mundell Music Gigs and Live Music Events
Thursday 11 February 2010 - Marcus Bonfanti
Marcus Bonfanti’s like all of us. Some days he wins, some days he doesn’t. But to a songwriter with a half-full glass, that means there’s always plenty of subject matter for songs.
Bonfanti’s second album is full of the highs and lows we all know, referencing a cool range of influences from Tony Joe White to Led Zeppelin. But ultimately it’s his own style. ‘What Good Am I To You’ is the sound of the North London blues.
27-year-old Marcus was born and raised in London to an English mother and a “dangerously Italian” father. Inheriting his dad’s work ethic, he shared an appetite for musical discovery with a younger brother who’s also in the business, as a respected bass player. Marcus, self-taught as a guitarist, has already packed plenty in, from LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) to top level session work, from school days as a trumpet player to learning licks in his bedroom to the strains of ‘Black Dog.’
Bonfanti exudes a certain laid-back determination, coupled with an obvious passion for music of many kinds, that means you’d be brave to doubt his ability to get where he wants to go. It’s a certain single-mindedness that runs in the family.
“My mum showed me a picture of my dad aged 27 and I’ve basically got his style, the beard, the long hair,” says Marcus. “I had no idea, I got a bit of a shock. I guess I inherited a work ethic, because he’s the most hard-working person I know. He left school at 14 and went straight into work, then studied later on to get a degree, moved to England and worked constantly so that me and my brother could do what we do, basically. I find myself in that mentality a lot of the time. I don’t like days off.”
Bonfanti knows that comparisons are customary at this point, but he sometimes finds them more amusing than accurate. “Someone called me the lovechild of Tom Waits and Van Morrison once,” he laughs. “I quite like that one.”
He admits that ‘What Good Am I To You’ does bear some American hallmarks, and after all he did write some of it there. “But there’s something British about it that I can never quite put my finger on. It’s rooted in blues, that’s my favourite genre of music to play and listen to. But I don’t think the end product sounds like a traditional blues record, in fact I know it doesn’t. I listen to a lot of other music, country, soul, bluegrass, jazz, some quite heavy rock stuff as well, and I think it all feeds in.”
Marcus Bonfanti Website
Times
Not available.
Contact Details
Inn at Lathones
Tel; 01334 840494
Booking / Ticket Information
www.mundellmusic.com
Tickets £14
Review
Not available.