Mark of Desert Atlas joined KGNU’s Indra Raj live from the Mapleton Hill Porchfest. He shared his appreciation for the event and the community and discussed his songwriting inspirations. Mark performed two songs, including one titled “Lakeside”, inspired by Denver’s historic amusement park (Interview date: 9/22/2024)
Indra Raj: This is KGNU Community Radio. We’re live from the Mapleton Hill Porchfest and we’re so lucky because we have another acoustic musician joining us right now. We have Mark from Desert Atlas. Welcome, Mark.
Desert Atlas: Hi, thank you.
Indra Raj: Thanks for joining us. You just played a set.
Desert Atlas: I did.
Indra Raj: How was it?
Desert Atlas: It was a lot of fun. It was great. When people really listen to you, that’s what musicians want, right?
Indra Raj: Yeah, that’s such a gift. And this is your first Porchfest. So did you know about Porchfest before? How did you get involved?
Desert Atlas: I had seen a social media post from another musician that I follow and they were obviously very happy about playing at Porchfest. I made a note to myself, I gotta look this up next year and see what’s going on, see if I can play.
Indra Raj: Great. It’s great to have you. Since we don’t have a lot of time, I want people to be able to hear your music, so why don’t we hear a song from you and then we’ll chat a little bit more.
Desert Atlas: Okay, sounds good. This is called Lakeside. It’s named after the amusement park down in Denver.
Indra Raj: You’re listening to Desert Atlas, who’s playing live with us here from the Mapleton Hill Porchfest. We’re in between live sets on the porch, and so we’ve had a couple musicians come by the tent to play some acoustic songs. I love that you wrote a song about Lakeside, this quirky little spot in Denver.
Desert Atlas: Yeah. There’s a history book about it that I felt I had to read before I wrote the song, but it’s such a fascinating place. People talk a lot about old Denver and how they miss it and everything’s changing. I’ve been a few times and it’s just fascinating.
Indra Raj: Yeah, I was surprised to hear that it used to be a vacation area. The houses around there were all vacation rentals and people would spend summers there.
Desert Atlas: There was a big auto racing scene there. People would swim there and there was ballroom dancing, and all the stuff that is only in pictures now, obviously.
Indra Raj: Yes, very Dirty Dancing vibes, right? That’s how I feel about it.
Desert Atlas: It was what, the turn of the century, so maybe not so dirty back in the day. Everybody had floor length ball gowns.
Indra Raj: Yeah. Okay. So maybe not quite that, but that summer camp vibe maybe.
Desert Atlas: Yes, definitely.
Indra Raj: So Mark from Desert Atlas, tell us a little bit about your journey, as a musician here in Colorado. Tell our listeners about you.
Desert Atlas: I was born and raised in the Philippines. I discovered music there. In high school there was a big band explosion in the nineties and a lot of local original music. I moved to the U.S. soon after. I was 17 and listened to a lot of music that folks listen to. Smashing Pumpkins was a big favorite. I was in bands for a while, but then thought that songwriting was really where I found the most pleasure out of music and did that. I actually moved to Colorado seven or eight years ago now from New York. It’s so different from the East Coast, specifically from the Northeast. It was really inspiring in terms of new subjects for songwriting. Just because landscapes have always been a topic that I’m drawn to, and obviously it’s so different here from the East Coast. Just feeling dwarfed by the East Coast. Everything in wide open spaces and that kind of stuff.
Indra Raj: Yeah, quite a story including the Smashing Pumpkins. What’s your favorite Smashing Pumpkins album?
Desert Atlas: You know what? I actually like the B-sides, the “Pisces Iscariot”. It’s weird, which is maybe my style, to just throw a lot of stuff together without thinking about how they go together. I definitely have some favorites in that album.
Indra Raj: Yes, totally, love it. Okay, let’s get one more song in here before we switch over to the Bill Palmer Trio at three. We’re listening to Desert Atlas, playing some acoustic songs for us here, live from the Mapleton Hill Porchfest.
Desert Atlas: Great, this one is called “If Not Quite Forever”. It’s new, so I hope I don’t mess it up too badly.
Indra Raj: Desert Atlas here on KGNU playing a live little set from the Mapleton Hill Porchfest. Lovely. I really like your music.
Desert Atlas: Thank you.
Indra Raj: I don’t always say that, but I do really like your music. We don’t have much time left. But I would love for our listeners to know more about how they can find out about what you’re up to.Any new projects you have coming? That was a new song you said?
Desert Atlas: Yes. No shows lined up. I think maybe I’m playing a farmer’s market somewhere before the year’s over. But hoping to record more. I definitely have enough songs for that. I do have a record that I put out during the pandemic. It’s on all the usual streaming platforms and I’m on social media, though not very much. But I’m always writing new stuff. I hope to be able to share more.
Indra Raj: Great. Thank you so much for being here for your first Porchfest. Hopefully, we’ll see you again here next year.
Desert Atlas: Yeah, it’s been wonderful. It’s been amazing, and I love my hosts. They were long-time hosts, and they’re just great, and people stopped by and listened and talked. It was awesome.
Indra Raj: Wonderful. This was Mark from Desert Atlas here on KGNU. Thank you so much, Mark.
Desert Atlas: Thank you.
