With an illustrious career working alongside legendary musical acts such as Pink, Velvet Revolver, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Shinedown, Staind, Prince, Cher, Ne-Yo, Seether, Jonathan Davis, and Chris Janson, Mark Bennett brings a wealth of experience to the conversation. As our esteemed interviewee, he takes us on an exhilarating journey through his life story, revealing the untold tales of resilience, risk-taking, fear-conquering, and the pivotal moments that shaped his trajectory.

Join us as Mark candidly shares the challenges he faced while climbing the ranks in the music industry. With unwavering determination, he transformed adversity into opportunity, demonstrating how every setback can fuel innovation and personal growth. Through heartwarming anecdotes and gripping narratives, Mark illustrates the power of resilience in the face of adversity.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Welcome to the mindful mutiny. Podcast I am Jeremy Van Wert, CEO therapist and high level coach on mindful mutiny. We thoughtfully rebel against anything that keeps people from obtaining their highest potential. I have an awesome guest with me to really kick off this podcast in a wonderful way. I have Mark Bennett with me. Mark Bennett has been

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Jeremy Van Wert: in the background of many of your favorite bands throughout the last couple of decades. Somebody that you don't know but that you should know. No, no, mark Bennett started his career a really long time ago, just working at Guitar Center. He's a warehouse and operations manager department manager, sales and training manager. And out of that

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Jeremy Van Wert: Mark started making relationships and building a whole career where he has gone all over the planet doing amazing things he has toured with and played integral roles with pink velvet revolver share. Prince stained Marilyn Manson, neo corn shine down sether.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Jonathan Davis and Chris Jansen. He has been integral with the maypex sonar drums, a Us. Brand manager and artist relations manager, where essentially

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Jeremy Van Wert: he is the person that these big name artists call, and he makes sure that they're taken care of on the road, that they get what they need, that they're able to say I'm in Milwaukee right now, and I'm missing this part and getting that part to them as fast as possible. You can only do that if you have the ability to make great relationships and figure things out quickly.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Mark is a business owner for backseat, chop shop customize drums, drumheads, drum wrapping powder, coding, programming, electronics, playback tour and studio drum teching. He has done so many things in the world of entertainment and music more than we can even say in a short, bio here. So with this, this in inter bio that I've done here, Mark, thank you. So much for joining us on the

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Jeremy Van Wert: the podcast here.

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Mark Bennett: Good. Thank you very much. I'm honored to be here. And I'm excited about our conversation.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Yeah, I think this is going to be really enlightening for people. Now. I have known Mark for a really long period of time. We do go way back. And so there's parts of Mark's story that I know really well, and other parts that I don't know. I know that, Mark. You have invited me to a number of the shows where you're sitting in the back of the drum set while there's a giant stadium full of people, and you're making sure that that drummer has everything that they need. But that's where the story is. In its middle.

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Jeremy Van Wert: You grew up in a very different kind of environment. So where did you grow up, mark.

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Mark Bennett: Originally from San Jose, California. I was actually born in Texas, but I was raised in San Jose, California.

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Mark Bennett: and I got into music in fifth grade I went, was one of the only people that was accepted as a percussionist

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Mark Bennett: as a fifth grader. Everyone else had to play different instruments before they went to drums, but for whatever reason they let me

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Mark Bennett: play drums, and II went through the school program in middle school. Then I got the high school.

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Mark Bennett: and that's when I got into marching band, and that's when I first met you, which was 95. I think it was.

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Mark Bennett: You were just finished your first year with vanguard cadets, and you became my instructor. And that's when our relationship started, and we kind of grown from there. And and so for for people. Because this is not a marching band. Podcast the vanguard cadets are connected with a group out of Santa Clara, California, that it's like a professional marching band. But it's a youth program that's at a very high level. And I had been a part of it. And then you became a part of it. Yep, that's right, that's right. And then

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Mark Bennett: getting moving through that program as

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Mark Bennett: opened a lot of doors and created

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Mark Bennett: or help develop a work that a work ethic. I think that was already inside of me. Just help kind of develop my character and my work ethic. And I've basically have applied

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Mark Bennett: those skills and lessons that I've learned through that organization to everything I do in life now.

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Jeremy Van Wert: So there was a period of time. Where now you you graduated from high school, and you went directly into working for a local guitar store and tell me a little bit about how all of that worked.

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Mark Bennett: So when I was marching during the off season, you know, you would get a job and you'd work until the summertime, and then you'd quit your job and go. Do you know? Go on tour and compete around the Us.

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Mark Bennett: And I did various different jobs. Whether it was, you know, a warehouse position at a electronics company, or worked at a lumber yard that my grandfather used to work at. My uncle's worked at and then one of the times I just signed up to go work at Guitar Center in San Jose.

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Mark Bennett: I got a job in the warehouse and working for the Operations Department.

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Mark Bennett: And that was.

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Mark Bennett: it was cool. It was a cool job. I was learning a whole bunch of stuff because I only knew the merchant side of things. I didn't know anything else.

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Mark Bennett: But unfortunately I got I got injured working in the warehouse. I sustained a pretty substantial back injury. And that ended my marching career.

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Mark Bennett: That was this point. What's that? How old were you? I was?

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Mark Bennett: I just turned 21, I believe. Okay. And for for those of you who don't know at 21 that is your final hurrah. In this activity you can do this activity until you were 21. Then there's a big ceremony, and you are no longer able to do it, so that 20 that year of 21 is a very important year for people in this marching activity, and at that time you would sustain an injury that stopped you from being able to do that.

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Mark Bennett: It it pretty much stopped me from even just walking or standing up. There was no way in the world. I was carrying 50 pounds with the drums anymore and performing it was a very tough pill to swallow. It was

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Mark Bennett: probably at the time, probably one of the lowest points I think, that I was in, and one of the most difficult

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Mark Bennett: things to fight through, because not only was it a situation where, like, I had to learn how to tie my shoes and stand up and walk again.

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Mark Bennett: But I could no longer participate in the thing that I'm working for for the past. What

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Mark Bennett: 8, 9, 10 years.

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Mark Bennett: and dedicated my life to, and so II got robbed of my my last hoorah

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Mark Bennett: but little did I know that that injury would open up and give me a whole new opportunity.

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Mark Bennett: And basically the career that I have today kind of came from that derailment, you know, when one door closes and another one opens.

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Mark Bennett: And it. it's a a mantra that I tried to

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Mark Bennett: keep as as I'm moving through life. And things happen. It's like, okay, I'm no longer doing this anymore. But there's gotta be something else that's coming. There's a good reason why this is happening. And I think that was one of the biggest

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Mark Bennett: moments of my younger life where I've realized. and it took me took me several years to actually look back at it and go. Oh. that right! There was a pivotal moment where my live trajectory switched.

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Mark Bennett: and I really wanted to go this way, but it pushed me a different direction, and I wasn't sure why, but it turned out to be

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Mark Bennett: pretty incredible change.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Yeah. So so you're working at Guitar Center now, and it has to feel in some way a little bit like a let down. Here I am. All of my friends are out doing this fun activity thing that I really care for. And you're working at Guitar Center. And what happened? Did you start meeting people in the industry?

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Mark Bennett: Well, so

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Mark Bennett: because I couldn't go back to work in the warehouse anymore. They moved me to sales. You're like, Oh, you play drums. You can go sell drums. I had no idea what I was doing. I never played drum set. In fact, I remember you trying to teach me drum set back when you know in high school, and it was just a train rank, and I just you know what this isn't for me. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm good. Let's just play some paredles and so

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Mark Bennett: in. In fact, my department manager, once they moved me to sales was in my high school with me. He was a trombone player, Jeremy Grimes.

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Mark Bennett: He was my department manager. Incredible drum set drummer. And so I remember him saying, All right. Well, do me a favor. We gotta put a new drum set out on the floor. So go ahead and set it up. And I'm like, Oh, okay, yeah, not a problem. I know drums, whatever. I may put one of the rack Toms on upside down. I did the bass room backwards, and he came over. He's like.

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Mark Bennett: like, are you are you messing with me? And I'm like I don't know what's going on. And so I literally had to learn everything about drum set 2,000, and

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Mark Bennett: I got hurt in December of O. 2. So this is 2,003 like March

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Mark Bennett: roughly. And

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Mark Bennett: it was a crash. Course of here's how you put a drum set together. Here's how you tune a drum set. When I was in the drum line I was responsible for tuning everything.

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Mark Bennett: So now I had to learn how to tune drum sets, which is a whole other animal. But it's you know their skills that I picked up rather quickly. And and then, you know, you're playing with this stuff every single day, playing with the electronics. And now you have customers coming in. And next thing you know, you have a professional drummer coming in because they're on tour. They have a day off. They need something on my case.

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Mark Bennett: Has somebody moved to the area, who just so happened to be Pink Strummer.

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Mark Bennett: and I remember the first time he came into the shop I was working in the warehouse, and it was, you know. Oh, there's a famous person here. We would all come out and see who it is. and I remember seeing him the first time, and then I was in sales when he came back the second time.

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Mark Bennett: and I was like, Oh, yeah, you're you're Mila's Johnson. You're the drummer for pink. You sign the drum head up on the wall, and he's like, Yeah, well, and so we ended up becoming friends.

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Mark Bennett: And one thing led to another. You know I put a clinic on for him at the shop, cause I was running the drum shop at the time. Then we started doing some studio work, and he's gonna go do recording session. He liked the way I tuned, and I could set the drums up and everything. So it brought me to the studio.

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Mark Bennett: which is probably my point. You'd realized how to actually set up a drum set. Oh, yeah, yeah, no. I've I figured all of that out like I was the expert at this time. You know, this is going 40 years. So but but yeah, so you brought me to the studio, which is my probably one of my favorite places to work.

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Mark Bennett: and then that led to live shows and clinic tours. And then

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Mark Bennett: you know, I had been climbing the ranks of Guitar Center. At that time I was a sales training manager. So, working with all the sales team and teaching them sales, tactics and merchandising. And just, you know, basically a high level supervisor underneath the store manager.

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Mark Bennett: And then I moved to La and started working at the Hollywood guitar center and same thing. Climb the ranks there.

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Mark Bennett: and I was

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Mark Bennett: at corporate training to become the next door manager or the next door that opened up, and that was my trajectory. This is what I was working on. And then my phone rang out of the blue and it was my list, and he goes. Good news.

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Mark Bennett: I get to pick my drumtack, and you're coming on tour with me.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Oh, my gosh! And how old are you? At this point

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Mark Bennett: 25, maybe.

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Mark Bennett: Yeah, there's only one answer to that, and that's hell. Yeah, it was no.

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Mark Bennett: yeah, no, II don't know if I told you this. Yeah, no, I told him. No, I said, no.

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Mark Bennett: I want to become a store manager. We had multiple phone conversations. This wasn't one phone call. I was like, No, I'm I'm training to be like, I'm doing this corporate thing. And I'm gonna run my own store. Oh, dude! And it was basically back and forth. If I don't think you heard me, you're gonna come on. You're my drum tech. You're coming on tour with me with Pink.

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Mark Bennett: And I was like, Yeah, no, I'm I'm good. I'm doing this other thing. And we went back and forth several conversations.

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Mark Bennett: And then we started talking about money, and I was like, Oh, oh, yeah, okay, this is a whole different thing. Maybe we should go and investigate this but you know, at the time

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Mark Bennett: my store manager and district manager. The Hollywood store is so big it has its own district manager in House 2 store managers, multiple sales training managers underneath them. I mean, it's a massive, massive facility.

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Mark Bennett: And so a a few of the people, including my district manager. My district manager, was the front of house engineer for the cars.

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Mark Bennett: And so he had substantial touring experience. And we had multiple, really long conversations about this, because this is going to be a huge thing like, if I turn down this

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Mark Bennett: opportunity to be a store manager, probably not going to be welcome back to the company anymore, because they've invested a lot of time and energy into me.

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Mark Bennett: and I remember him saying.

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Mark Bennett: you know.

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Mark Bennett: would I go back and do it now? Absolutely not. I'll never go back to Tauren again, would I, if I had an opportunity to go back to the beginning and tour all over again? Yes, absolutely

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Mark Bennett: 1,000% now. No.

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Mark Bennett: And I fully understand today exactly where he's coming from. Hey? I got a question for you in the midst of all of this, because there's a hook that I'm missing in here.

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Jeremy Van Wert: and the the hook is. There was something about you, Mark. There was something about you that was really really interesting and attractive to this guy. He didn't just offer a job to you. He stayed on with you. He wanted your energy, your ambition, your whatever it was that you offered. You probably have more insight into what that is. Now. What was that?

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Mark Bennett: you know there's the professionalism aspect of it. There's the knowledge and execution aspect of it. But I I've really put a lot of thought into what my role is. As a drum tech.

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Mark Bennett: Ii often refer to it a lot as being a golf caddy.

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Mark Bennett: Right? What my mantra is as a drum tech is. It's it's my responsibility to create an environment that inspires the artist to take his performance to a level that he didn't know was obtainable.

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Mark Bennett: That's my job.

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Mark Bennett: My job is to have the drums look. sound, feel away that when they get up on that drum riser, despite anything that's going on in the background of their lives

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Mark Bennett: for that day, whatever it is, they sit down.

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Mark Bennett: Everything is perfect, it feels perfect. They hit whatever drum it is, and it's the best sounding

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Mark Bennett: that they've ever hit.

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Mark Bennett: and I sit behind him, and it's my job to keep them focused

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Mark Bennett: on having the best performance of their life.

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Mark Bennett: Not that, you know.

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Mark Bennett: When I see something start to get loose and wiggle. I try to fix the problems before they. you know. Notice it, you know. I listen to what they listen to, and if something sounds like the guitar is too loud today.

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Mark Bennett: I'm making those adjustments before they notice it. because I want them to stay here right? I don't want them to get distracted with anything else, because

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Mark Bennett: some kid, some parents, somebody.

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Mark Bennett: saved up a lot of money and drove several hours.

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Mark Bennett: and I've been looking forward to this day for a very long time to see their favorite artists play.

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Mark Bennett: and they deserve the absolute best.

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Mark Bennett: And so it's my job to help make sure that the artist is able to give them their absolute best.

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Mark Bennett: And that's how I've approached this job for such a long time. you know. so I think I think a lot of

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Mark Bennett: my relationship with him was that level of professionalism and excellence

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Mark Bennett: an execution. and those are some of the lessons

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Mark Bennett: that were cultivated. From the Santa Clara Vanguard.

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Mark Bennett: you know, always being your best

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Mark Bennett: every single day, despite the conditions, the environment, whatever's going on giving 110, not only for you, but the pro people you're performing with next to you.

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Mark Bennett: and always striving for excellence, because

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Mark Bennett: one day somebody's gonna take a picture, and that picture is gonna last forever. What do you want that picture to look like

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Mark Bennett: figured, you know, when we put our drums down on the field? Are they all stacked nice, and even in uniform and perfect? Or are they just thrown all over the place?

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Jeremy Van Wert: The excellence it was the. It was the attention to detail and the excellence. And and so you're you're in the midst of making this decision

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Jeremy Van Wert: about going on tour with Pink, and you know what eventually clicked you in? And what was that transition like in your life?

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Mark Bennett: The the final, this, the final factor, was the money. When we actually started talking about money, because it's it's working at a retail store and being on tour. 2 different payrolls. And I was like, All right. Well, that wins

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Mark Bennett: easy enough. Let's go. But it was terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying, because, although I knew everything that goes on with a drum set within

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Mark Bennett: that drum riser right?

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Mark Bennett: And I knew the microphone plugs on to the drum, and the cable goes.

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and that was the end of it, like, I just set the drums up, and I could tune the shit out of them

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Mark Bennett: the end

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Mark Bennett: and so it was. It was like, you know, a step into a world that I really had no business being in

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Mark Bennett: cause, I literally knew nothing. Thankfully the guitar tech that we had on tour, who's still one of my closest friends. His name's Tony Hanniman. He lives out in the Gold Coast, Australia.

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Mark Bennett: That man

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Mark Bennett: took all the time with me and taught me everything from. Here's how you wind a cable. Here's how you pack a semi truck to, you know. Here's how you deal with a hangover on the next day, when it's 110 degrees. But no, he's he's literally my best friend, and he's the reason why I was able to get through that and become

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Mark Bennett: the professional that I am today in this industry.

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Mark Bennett: He! He taught me so many, many things that just made me better, because, like I said, I could tune the drums. I could set the drums up, they'd be the same every single day. But everything after that. No clue. How do the risers lock together. How do you stack a semi-truck? How do you know? How do you

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Mark Bennett: like? I remember the first time I did when we did the Arena tour thing, because when I first started working with there, we were doing like House of blues, clubs and theaters, all small venues. It was a very small production.

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Mark Bennett: Then I remember, you know, we went over to Europe and we jumped into arenas.

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Mark Bennett: and I was like, What's an arena tour like like, How like, what are we doing now, you know, because everything was new every time we leveled up

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Mark Bennett: stuff I've never seen before. Stuff I've never interacted before. It's like, hey, we have a lighting package now, and we're carrying a semi truck worth of speakers.

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Mark Bennett: How do the speakers go up? Where does the like? What do you mean lighting? And you know he literally held my hand through the beginning of my career and helped me put help. Put me on a trajectory for success.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Well, you you learned, you learned many, many different things that are just the kind of have to know and the environmental things. I remember that one. At 1 point I came and spent a day with you when you were on tour with corn.

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Mark Bennett: and you set the drum set up in the middle of the room, and there were lighting people that were setting up the lights over the stage. And II asked him like, Well, why don't we take the drum set and just put it on the stage. Now, like, like I knew anything right.

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Jeremy Van Wert: And you said, No, it's it's incredibly dangerous up there. You don't. You don't wanna put anything up there right now until that lighting package is solid, and the moment you said that there was a person who dropped a chain from the ceiling accidentally, and you heard the whole thing go boom all the way to the ground, and you just point. And you said. That's why we're not up there.

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Jeremy Van Wert: And so you you you you have! You have the you you had to learn the knowledge and the dangers and everything like that. I know that you've been physically injured on the job, and and pretty seriously, actually. And we we can get to that. But so you're you're now on tour with Pink.

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Jeremy Van Wert: and you're learning everything. How long? Until it was not terrifying.

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Mark Bennett: Every day is terrifying like II I just took like a 5 year break. I had a little girl and II took some time off the road to be with her. And, you know, solidify

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Mark Bennett: our family dynamic and my relationship with her. I wanted to be there with her and be her dad. I want her to know who I am and everything like that. Now, if she's 5 and a half going on 6, I'm I'm comfortable

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Mark Bennett: being able to interact with her on facetime. And you know, hey? We're gonna do some school work now, and I can do this on facetime. I didn't want to do the beginning. Here's via facetime when she's just a loaf of bread sitting there staring, drooling back at me. I just

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Mark Bennett: it broke my heart trying to do that. So

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Mark Bennett: You know, I did take a little time off, and coming back to the road again.

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Mark Bennett: I'd be lying to you if I didn't say I was absolutely petrified.

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Mark Bennett: Remember showing up. I mean, I I'm on a 10 day break right now. We just finished. I think it's 4 and a half 5 week run so far I'm out with stained at the moment staying got smack are on tour together. I'm working for staying, doing drums and playback.

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Mark Bennett: and I was petrified. I was honestly leading up to it being my anxiety was through the roof. Nerves that are all time high, and I just had to keep reminding myself that

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Mark Bennett: I'm gonna be okay. This is gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine. You know. This is like, you got this. And man, I was that first show I was shooting myself. Oh, yeah, and you you you read every every word of the training manual for this, didn't you?

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Mark Bennett: Oh, yeah. So I had to learn new software. So like II literally had it like, start from scratch like, alright cool. I'm learning an entirely new playback program that I've never touched before.

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Mark Bennett: So the nerves were high on making that happen, because they, you know, synced together all of our video and lighting and everything like that, and so like it has to work, and if it doesn't work, I have to be able to fix it. So, you know, I had to dive in and learn a whole new program thankfully, I've worked with this drummer before, and he and I have a really good rapport.

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Mark Bennett: He is also a past drum tech turn drummer, which is incredible. He's got an incredible story himself. but he's the nicest guy. And and I was actually his artist relations manager when I was at Maypex.

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Mark Bennett: So you know, we we had a really good connection. And it was. It's nice to get back to work with him. But yeah, no. My nerves and anxiety were through the roof leading up to that first show. And and

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Mark Bennett: II

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Mark Bennett: probably every show up. I have nerve and anxiety at every show. That's never oh, yeah, this is gonna be like, no, they're they're always there. But I think that's a good thing, I think, for me.

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Mark Bennett: It's just like, Hey, I start thinking about all the things that can go wrong and like, oh, okay, you know, I've had the symbol fall off. And I've had that this break, and that's broken before. And okay, where's my screen? I start going through all my checklist of everything that could possibly go wrong.

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Mark Bennett: And what is my backup plan for that situation?

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Mark Bennett: And so I feel like I'm always prepared for an incident. and if something does happen, I'm able to mitigate it as quickly as possible. So the show keeps moving and keep that hardest focus on what he needs to do.

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Jeremy Van Wert: So there's an old trope about the rock and roll lifestyle and everything like that. And it's been really hyped up by television. And in the early days and stuff like that, and a lot of that stuff was very real.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Can you talk a little bit about how

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Jeremy Van Wert: you have seen people be very successful, and people not be very successful, based upon their habits, their ideas, their the way they conduct themselves on the road, the things that are preferable, the things that are not preferable. What? What are those characteristics? What's it really like on a professional rock band tour?

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Mark Bennett: well, I'll be honest, everyone's like, Oh, backstage party. Blah! Blah! This is what backstage looks like.

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Mark Bennett: That's literally it. It's just it's

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Mark Bennett: it's not a wild and crazy and out of control. You know, it's just

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Mark Bennett: just people on the road for those for those who are listening and not watching. He was just on his phone typing. So it's a bunch of people on on their phones typing backstage

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Mark Bennett: pretty much. But you know, the the workdays are very long

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Mark Bennett: the work. Conditions are often not very favorable. You know, we started this tour in the South. It's an outdoor tour. and every day has been 90% humidity. At 96 98 degrees.

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Mark Bennett: and you know you're drinking water as quickly as you can, and it's coming right out of you just as fast.

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Mark Bennett: So you know, it's really really hot days. It's you know, hey? That's snowing outside. It's minus 46. And we gotta go back to semi-truck.

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Mark Bennett: It's long flights straight into you know, 3 in a row of, you know, 3 really hard days with very little sleep.

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Mark Bennett: You know it's It's it's hard, it's demanding. It's it's a very high level of execution that's required from everybody.

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Mark Bennett: And then

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it's about being able to live

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Mark Bennett: with the rest of the crew. And coexist with everybody else, despite

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Mark Bennett: upbringings, background, religious beliefs, spiritual beliefs, political beliefs.

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Mark Bennett: You know, we're 12 people on a bus.

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Mark Bennett: and we sleep right next to each other in our bunks.

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Mark Bennett: and we wake up in the morning, and you're still on that bus, and then you get out, and there's the stage. Go unload a truck and set to show up cause we're gonna do this.

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Mark Bennett: So you know, people look at the 1 h performance and the professionalism necessary to execute that 1 h performance, but in reality it's the other 23 h

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Mark Bennett: that determine whether or not you are hireable. Right? They will take somebody who can get along better with everybody else who might not be as good as their job.

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Mark Bennett: But they can coexist

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Mark Bennett: over somebody who's really good, but they're a dickhead.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Well, sure, sure. And and I was. I've been really impressed the handful of times that I've come to visit you at one of your shows. I saw a corn a couple of times and shine down. May, perhaps a few other ones, but the artists themselves. What, gentlemen, what professional people they are, and the backstage scene was very much of.

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Jeremy Van Wert: It was. It was professional. People were kind, super humble.

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Jeremy Van Wert: all of them, and it was. It was really it was really neat to see the actual backstage thing, because it is. It is a workplace, and it's a high performance workplace. And you specifically were selected

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Jeremy Van Wert: as somebody who is a perfect fit for this sort of thing and this this pink gig. It ended up getting you referrals to go to all of these other artists, and do a version of the same thing

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Jeremy Van Wert: behind the biggest names in the world. And so you do a great job with with pink. and then your name starts getting shared as somebody in the industry. That is the the to go pur, the go to person.

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Mark Bennett: It's it's a very small world. It's there. Everybody knows everybody, and it's a very small world. And you know, people want somebody who's reliable and dependable.

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Mark Bennett: and your name starts getting shared around him, looking for somebody I know Mark just got off a tour, or, Hey, this person's looking for work, or whatever the case may be

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Mark Bennett: it's it's a small world, and and we all kind of look after each other and help each other out. And for people like

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Mark Bennett: I get really good, for instance, on this God smack staying tour. For whatever reason the guitar tech quit 45 min before the show for God smack.

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Mark Bennett: and we had to do a big scramble and and their bass tech covered guitars. Our guitar tech covered their bass. and A good friend of mine guitar former guitar deck of shin down was gonna come see me 2 shows down the road

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Mark Bennett: just hang out, and I was talking with your dump deck. And I was like, Hey, yeah, you know, Sparky is gonna come visit on this day, and he goes. Oh, man, I haven't seen a while. I'm looking forward to

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Mark Bennett: like what he goes. He points over to the guitar tech. He's like, we still don't have anybody I'm like, yeah. And it's like

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Mark Bennett: sparky, and I was like. Oh, my God! I never even thought about it. Hey, you looking for work right now because we need a guy. And so we pass through town we picked him up, and now he's out on the road with Gots, Mac.

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Mark Bennett: and so we get to work together again, which is great. But it's literally, you know.

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Mark Bennett: that's. you know, could be a reference from anybody in the tour that gets somebody a job. III love this because of how much that I've known you. You you grew up in San Jose.

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Jeremy Van Wert: solidly working class.

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Jeremy Van Wert: You, you graduate from high school, and your your next vocation is to find a job. Any job. That's that's what the mindset was on your street. You get, you get out of high school, you go to work.

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Mark Bennett: Yeah, there was a.

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Mark Bennett: It was funny college was never

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Mark Bennett: I always had a really hard time with college.

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Mark Bennett: I felt like I didn't know where or what or like II didn't know tomorrow. and I had a really hard time going alright. I'm gonna go to college to do this.

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Mark Bennett: Some people know exactly what they wanna do. I was not that kid. I didn't know where I wanted to go. My grades were terrible

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Mark Bennett: but I excelled in music I was. I loved music. I loved

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Mark Bennett: what it does to people.

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Mark Bennett: And I just kinda just bounced around aimlessly like the guitar center thing was just supposed to be a few month job

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Mark Bennett: and turned into one thing and to another thing, and I was around music. I was around musicians, and I was passionate about what I was doing, and it as just kind of snowballed, and somehow I created a career for myself. II it was never my intention to go down this pathway.

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Mark Bennett: but I didn't know where I wanted to go. And I you know my dad was in construction, you know. He just retired from the carpentry union.

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Mark Bennett: My mom is bounced around doing all sorts different things. Primarily sales.

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Mark Bennett: Worked in the computer industry. Doing like computer chips and stuff like that. So my grandfather, after he got out of the Navy, started, you know, working at a lumber yard at a very young age, and

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Mark Bennett: grew that lumber yard, and you know my uncle's worked there. I worked there. You know I am forklift certified.

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Da.

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Mark Bennett: But yeah, I just II really didn't know

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Mark Bennett: what I wanted to. Do. You know, I went out on the job sites and worked my dad in construction. My uncle's, you know, did dry wall, and

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Mark Bennett: we came. You know. It was a blue collar family. We worked our asses off, and we didn't have a whole lot, but we were thankful for what we had, and my parents worked really hard to give us as many opportunities as possible.

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Mark Bennett: Despite, you know. being in, you know, the the middle class, and not having.

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Mark Bennett: you know, money to go do everything like marching. Vanguard was a huge sacrifice, just from the financial aspect alone.

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Mark Bennett: In order for me to even just pay my member fees. You know I first you have to have the talent, then you have to have the money. and my family worked really hard to make sure that opportunity was there. But college was never

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Jeremy Van Wert: a pathway that I saw myself going down because I just had no clue. Well, you you made such a beautiful life for yourself here, because so you do what's expected of what was around you. You go to work, and when this opportunity came knocking at your door with pink

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Jeremy Van Wert: that was way out of your comfort zone. That was not a corporate career. That was not something. You didn't know how dental work. You didn't know how a 400 and k factored into this thing. You had a job with a company that people knew. And then there's this thing that didn't have any familiarity with your life. That was this door that would open up and create this unbelievable

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Jeremy Van Wert: opportunity after opportunity after opportunity for you. And that moment for you was really really hard, and I suspect, and you can talk about this, that the doors after that got a little bit easier, because when you walk through that door and realize what's on the other side of a huge opportunity.

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Jeremy Van Wert: You were less intimidated by doors in front of you.

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Mark Bennett: So getting into some deep personal stuff now.

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Mark Bennett: You're welcome

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Mark Bennett: I was married before, and I moved to La with with my wife at the time, and she was going. She knew exactly what she wanted to do. She was in fashion school. She wanted to be a fashion designer, and so I was there.

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Mark Bennett: supporting the 2 of us at the Carson, and then this opportunity came along, and it was a big risk. Because there isn't insurance. There isn't a 401. There isn't a guarantee that anything

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Mark Bennett: is ever gonna happen.

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Mark Bennett: You know, hey? The artist could slip a break or leg and tour is cancelled and everybody goes home. There is no work.

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Mark Bennett: So.

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Mark Bennett: I was petrified to make that decision, but once I got out there and started doing it.

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Mark Bennett: it was the first time where I truly felt like this is where I'm supposed to be

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Mark Bennett: like this. This is this, is it the people who are in high school who are like, I wanna be zoologist. This is what I wanted. I finally had that feeling

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Mark Bennett: of like, this is where I belong. And

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Mark Bennett: it kinda got to a point in our relationship where it's like, well, I don't want you to do this anymore.

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Mark Bennett: And I'm like I.

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Mark Bennett: But this is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to be doing like I found it. I finally found it. I finally feel like I'm

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Mark Bennett: where I'm where I belong. This is like

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Mark Bennett: my purpose in life. It's kinda shallow, but like

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Mark Bennett: here's my direction.

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Mark Bennett: and you know it ended up leading to us, you know, getting a divorce

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Mark Bennett: and going our separate ways.

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Mark Bennett: that, you know. And that was a very difficult time, because

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Mark Bennett: it was right onto the next band and right onto the next tour and right onto the next tour. And so, you know, you don't have the opportunity to deal with your personal issues while you're out there. And so it, you know it was. It was tough.

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Mark Bennett: but you know it was. This is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm really, really good at.

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Mark Bennett: And I'm nomad.

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Mark Bennett: you know, I more than comfortable living out of a suitcase out of a tour bus. I've been doing it since.

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Mark Bennett: you know, high school marching band shows, and then in Drumcore it just kind of led into the next thing into the next thing, and it's waking up in a different city every single day, and walking around and and experiencing life in Europe or South Africa or Australia, and really getting an opportunity to see the world. And

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Mark Bennett: you know, experience all of these different cultures everywhere.

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Mark Bennett: and it's was a really tough decision to make at the time

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very difficult, emotionally, mentally.

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Mark Bennett: but I'm I'm where I'm supposed to be.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Yeah, II remember your your your first wife, really really, sweet young lady, and

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Jeremy Van Wert: it it it cause she was your high school sweetheart and so you kind of walk out of high school, and you get into the life

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Jeremy Van Wert: that was there for you after high school, the the high school sweetheart, the the the job that you got into where you were starting to be successful and starting to climb. And then this other thing comes knocking that really speaks to your soul.

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Jeremy Van Wert: and then you had more than one tie to break from the life that you had before, and there were many things like this that were really gut wrenching for you. I remember you going through that, and it was

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Jeremy Van Wert: a real time where you were questioning. I don't know really what to do here. I don't know if I'm making the right decision. I don't know if I should give up on what I'm doing out on the road here and go get a job that

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Mark Bennett: I can stay in one place. There's a huge huge doorway for you to walk through

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Mark Bennett: it. It was but I'm thankful.

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Mark Bennett: you know. Again, doors and windows, man, one closes, another, one opens, and I really feel like.

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Mark Bennett: I'm very spiritual, and I have my belief system set up, and I know that I have some guardian angels around me.

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Mark Bennett: and people who are help guiding me and bump me and keep me going in the right path and help me make the right decisions. And I feel like I am today, exactly where I'm supposed to be where my feet are right now

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Mark Bennett: is exactly where I'm supposed to be, and I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel very confident in that

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Mark Bennett: through all of my life's decision. Some of them were crazy, some of them, you know.

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Mark Bennett: some of my look back and go. What the hell was I thinking? But they've all put me to where I am right now, and I'm I'm very thankful and happy and satisfied with where my life is today.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Well, so so let's talk about that spiritual piece, because that it's such an inricable part of a meaningful life.

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Jeremy Van Wert: And I know that that for you with all of the kind of dramatic turns, and so forth, that you've taken a in your career. And you've gone from like this band. And this situation, working for this company and then working for this band.

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Jeremy Van Wert: and you know, through a number of high highs and low lows. what is your kind of spiritual foundation, and how you stay

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Jeremy Van Wert: resilient and moving forward in your life. What carries you?

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Mark Bennett: you know

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Mark Bennett: that's of this will be a long discussion, because even today, with with the way things are in the world, I've I I'm still questioning even my own belief system. Sometimes.

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Mark Bennett: Ii

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Mark Bennett: I'm at the point now where I don't even know what's real anymore.

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Mark Bennett: But I do know. or myself, like I do believe in past lives. Ii definitely think that

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Mark Bennett: I've actually worked with that a psychic and medium that looked into one of my past lives and

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Mark Bennett: they identified that I was in the Civil War as a drummer, as a snare drummer. which was why, the first time I saw a drumline my heart exploded.

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Mark Bennett: And not drumline the movie, but a physical drumline. And why I was so passionate about drums.

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Mark Bennett: Was because of of my past life experiences, and I was actually killed on the battlefield playing the drum.

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Mark Bennett: So

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Mark Bennett: you know, I do believe that a lot of those past life experiences

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Mark Bennett: exist and help. You know why you make decisions and end up where you are. But I do believe that I do have some guardian angels, whether it's

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Mark Bennett: You know the guardian angel that was assigned to me when I was born, and or whether it's like my great grandmother. I know my great grandmother watches over me. She's been identified by many people over the years.

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Mark Bennett: Who have never met her, barely know me. They always talk about her, and II know that my great grandmother is always with me, watching over me my grandfather past few years ago, and I feel and see him all the time.

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Mark Bennett: I I kind of

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Mark Bennett: this is the part where I start to question things like, I do believe that everything is alive.

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Mark Bennett: And II really do think, like you know the native Americans. When it comes to spirituality. we're definitely correct. And this this other version.

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Mark Bennett: of of religion.

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Mark Bennett: I I've always questioned. I was never forced to go to church.

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Mark Bennett: And I had my my hesitations about it. I have become more accepting of it now.

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Mark Bennett: I have a problem with organized religions. And I feel like there's always a scam

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Mark Bennett: being played.

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Mark Bennett: There's always like, no matter how perfect everything seems. Somebody's doing something bad.

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Mark Bennett: whether it's you know.

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Mark Bennett: I'm gonna get extreme, and this isn't the case for every place. And I know this. But you know, hey, are you molesting kids? Are you embezzling money. Are you like? If this is about spirituality.

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Mark Bennett: you know. and let it be about spirituality? But there's so much bad evil happening around it that it makes it really difficult. So I have my own personal relationships. I don't need to go to a church.

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Mark Bennett: You know my family. We do say grace, and we do bless our food and bless our life, and bless each other and our friends and our neighbors.

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Mark Bennett: But I don't need to go every Sunday to be part of something organized to solidify it, because it's between me and

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Mark Bennett: the energies around me. I believe, more like energy as opposed to. like, I believe that we we are God. I believe that we can create the realities around us.

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Mark Bennett: and you can and make the change. And you know.

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Mark Bennett: II heard something interesting the other day, and and we kind of briefly talked about it. But like the discussion of, Is the world flat, or is the world round? It's whatever you want it to be. and you can prove either

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Mark Bennett: right is this President or this President, good or bad. Well, however, you look at it.

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Mark Bennett: you're gonna create that reality. Is this a good job or a bad job? However, you perceive it is what you're going to create so

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Mark Bennett: much like with religion. It's up to you, you know you. You have the power and energy within you

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Mark Bennett: to create the environment around you.

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Mark Bennett: And I do believe and know that the trees are alive and grass is alive, and that you have a

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Mark Bennett: a relationship spiritually, or even just energy.

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Mark Bennett: With everything around you.

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Mark Bennett: I know that like when I was on tour with Pink, we did a lot of arenas.

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Mark Bennett: and we were inside, and it was winter. It was like a perpetual winter tour, you know, when it when it started to get warm in northern hemisphere we jumped to the southern hemisphere and

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Mark Bennett: started touring arenas there. When you're doing arena work, you're inside 1820 HA day. and you don't get a lot of outside.

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Mark Bennett: And I felt the impact like on my soul, my body, my energy, just because I wasn't touching grass

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Mark Bennett: or ground. Everything was concrete. and I'm inside. And I wasn't getting sunlight, and I was feeling

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Mark Bennett: the the effects of not being connected to nature.

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Mark Bennett: So I know it's a very real thing, because, you know, like we just got done doing this outside tour, and it's so nice. We were at this venue in Detroit

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Mark Bennett: called Pine Pine Creek or Pine Knob outdoor amphitheater, and I went walking through like the public area before it was open to doors, and it's a beautiful venue cutting through the trees on the side of the mountain.

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Mark Bennett: and it's just it was just so nice being out there and so re-energize and revitalize it.

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Mark Bennett: to be part of it like it is alive.

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Mark Bennett: it's all we are all the same energy we all give and take from each other.

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Mark Bennett: We'll give them take from each other personally and with with nature. You know, it's it's

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Mark Bennett: you know, it's we are. We are all one.

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Jeremy Van Wert: That's that's really beautiful. I also recall that you do have native American heritage.

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Mark Bennett: Yes, in fact. We just we just one of my great aunts just passed away. And in going through all of their stuff. We are actually on the Cherokee scrolls.

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Mark Bennett: and we're in the middle. Our family is going back in

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Mark Bennett: getting registered and getting all of the information

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Mark Bennett: necessary. But I have Cherokee and Apache

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Mark Bennett: but I'm also Spanish and

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Mark Bennett: all the different versions of white.

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Mark Bennett: But yeah.

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Jeremy Van Wert: very, very interesting, and thank you for sharing all of that. And

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Jeremy Van Wert: you know so the way the way that you speak about it with such eloquence it's

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Jeremy Van Wert: it's not only inspiring, but it's very present for you. In the moment. As you go about your work, you feel more connected when you're in these open arenas.

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Jeremy Van Wert: And so these beliefs they have informed your decision making on what you should and should not do. Decisions that you have made. And

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Jeremy Van Wert: you probably I'm assuming now have come to a point where your foundational values are very well known to you, and that decisions for your future. Not only do you have a solid guide for how it is that you make decisions about your career and your life and these sorts of things, but

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Jeremy Van Wert: that you're much more in tune with what those values are than say when you were 25. And you're going. Oh, my gosh! Like I don't. I don't know how to break through this big door here. I don't. I don't know if I have the courage to do it. So where are you now? With how your your spirit informs your decision making and how you go, how you handle stress like, oh, my, gosh, I had a job yesterday. I don't have a job today. What am I gonna do?

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Jeremy Van Wert: How? How does that all fit together for you.

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Mark Bennett: Mike?

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Mark Bennett: It's some so my wife. is very spiritual as well. She leads meditation. She has a wonderful program. The mind, body, spirit reset

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Mark Bennett: and and it's very, you know, based in meditation and

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Mark Bennett: manifestation. And you know, looking in and finding your you know

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Mark Bennett: the trauma, whether it's childhood trauma, or whatever it is, and

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Mark Bennett: dealing with it, and growing from it, and getting past those blocks, whether it's a financial block or a love life block, or whatever it is, addressing all those things to move forward. One of the mantras that I

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Mark Bennett: live in is everything's gonna be okay. like, it's all gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine.

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Mark Bennett: like, we'll be okay. I know that we're going to be okay. I believe that we are going to be okay. So

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Mark Bennett: when one door closes, it's right there.

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Mark Bennett: It's

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Mark Bennett: might feel a little stressful right now. But we're going to be okay, and it's something that I constantly, you know. I'll I'll tell her it's like, you know, hey? I know money's tight right now. But it's going to be okay.

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Mark Bennett: Or I know you know, this situation is what it is, but it's gonna be okay.

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Mark Bennett: So you know, as far as like what helps inform my decision making with the belief, a everything's gonna be okay. I'm right where I'm supposed to be right here and now, and I believe that.

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Mark Bennett: And

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Mark Bennett: I have it like 0 tolerance for negativity, stupidity. any sort of thing like that. I just you know I'm in the situation in this.

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Mark Bennett: This isn't right. I'm not gonna sacrifice

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Mark Bennett: me mentally, physically, to be in this negative environment.

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Mark Bennett: Despite the financial advantage of being in this environment, I'm more than happy to walk away with nothing to figure it out. and and somehow I've always landed on my feet.

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Mark Bennett: Don't ask me how, but I've I've really. I've made some

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Mark Bennett: crazy decisions in my life and walked away from a lot of money and stable careers.

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Mark Bennett: Because it wasn't right. And I've always

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Mark Bennett: ended up like I said, like, today, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be today.

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Mark Bennett: and I know I am. And

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Mark Bennett: I've made some hard decisions to be here, but everything is working out, and everything's going to be fine.

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Jeremy Van Wert: So

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Jeremy Van Wert: through your career, and I don't know what it's like right now, but certainly early on in your career, and none of us are immune from this. What are the voices in your head that tell you negative things? And how do you handle that

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Mark Bennett: I've got a lot of them. I've I've had a I've had a lot of struggles.

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Mark Bennett: you know.

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Mark Bennett: My my father was never there in my life. The last time I remember him being around I was probably 5 or 6, maybe.

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Mark Bennett: and I didn't meet him again until God, 2,001,

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Mark Bennett: and I took a year off at Drum Cord to go out and live with him and reconnect with him, and then tires out of the family that I knew nothing about

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Mark Bennett: and as a parent

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Mark Bennett: the the damage that was caused by not having a father in my life.

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Mark Bennett: was substantial. and that's why for me it was so, and I didn't realize what I was going through when I was going through it. But I had to stop touring to be with my daughter.

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Mark Bennett: and I've

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Mark Bennett: strived to be

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Mark Bennett: a good husband to my wife and a good parent to our child.

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Mark Bennett: Because I've watched my mom. You know she's on her third marriage right now.

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Mark Bennett: and he's a wonderful.

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Mark Bennett: wonderful dad. He, you know he took me as his own

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Mark Bennett: and

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Mark Bennett: that was

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Mark Bennett: living with the you're not good enough. You don't deserve anything. That's why you don't have a dad was always really tough

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Mark Bennett: looking at all my friends, families that have these, you know. mother, father, institutions that were really solid and looking at mine, of going like.

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Mark Bennett: you know my first step. Dad used to abuse the living shit out of me, and my little brother was really tough

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Mark Bennett: and feeling like you don't deserve anything. You're not good enough.

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Mark Bennett: was was always really, really difficult. And then

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Mark Bennett: coming from, you know, being a Blue collar family and having to work really hard for everything

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Mark Bennett: and not having the newest things.

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Mark Bennett: Or, you know.

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Mark Bennett: clothes, video games, bicycles, whatever it was, you know, like we had things. My parents worked their ass off Forum, but I looked at everybody else like, Oh, I got a brand new car when I turned 16. It's like

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Mark Bennett: I got a 1961 Dotson.

380

but I fuck. I loved the shit out of it. I was very thankful for that vehicle.

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Mark Bennett: but I always had this. You don't deserve it. You're not good enough.

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Mark Bennett: and

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Mark Bennett: I'm trying

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Mark Bennett: to create a better environment and change

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Mark Bennett: my my

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Mark Bennett: family names. Trajectory

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Mark Bennett: it doesn't like today.

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Mark Bennett: then it is going to be

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Mark Bennett: elevated.

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Mark Bennett: My family lineage will be elevated here at my generation. I'm going to make the change for my daughter, and I'm going to create an environment where she can thrive and grow and be successful.

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Mark Bennett: and have the confidence that I didn't have when I was younger.

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Mark Bennett: to not be afraid to not have those scars and pains of of

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Mark Bennett: watching your mom, your brother, or yourself be abused

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Mark Bennett: whether it's mentally or physically like she will be loved, she will be supported, and I'm doing everything that I can to to position ourself for success

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Mark Bennett: and for my grandkids, my great grandkids like I want.

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Mark Bennett: I'm pushing to change the narrative and the lineage of my family's history.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Those voices that are from so long ago, particularly with regard to Father wound. and the stepfather, who was abusive to you and everything.

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Jeremy Van Wert: Do those things still come up in in stressful moments for you?

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Mark Bennett: They they show up in really weird moments. You know, my wife knows everything.

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Mark Bennett: and you know, we'll be watching the movie. And something will happen in the movie that brings it right back.

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Mark Bennett: and it's like I felt like I've dealt with it. I've addressed it. and I've moved on from it.

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Mark Bennett: but it's still there. It keeps coming up. She'll look at me, and I'll have tears in my eyes, and she knows she understands why they're there.

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Mark Bennett: and it's it's I'm to a point now where it's like, okay.

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Mark Bennett: yes, this is happening right now. I'm experiencing this right now. I remember the hurt, but I'm not hurt.

405

and I just let it pass through

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Mark Bennett: and and let it go, because that's not who I am today. That's what made me who I am today. But I am not that hurt little boy anymore. And but that took

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Mark Bennett: that took years of of dealing with. I mean, I went through. I won't do a lot.

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Mark Bennett: not realizing what the root cause of all of it was. and never really fully addressing it.

409

But I mean

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Mark Bennett: a

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Mark Bennett: whether it was substance, abuse, or I mean, yeah, there was.

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Mark Bennett: I've even attempted suicide in my younger days and spent some time in a mental hospital

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Mark Bennett: over it, and had to go through therapy.

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Mark Bennett: and you know

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Mark Bennett: it was. It was not an easy road.

416

Mark Bennett: and it took me a long time to overcome and to manage and deal with all of it.

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Mark Bennett: And those are all things that have. I sit back now and look at things completely differently, having those experiences. And I see these younger. I see younger kids

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Mark Bennett: who are either dealing with the same sort of trauma.

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Mark Bennett: and I try to lend

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Mark Bennett: some experience or some guidance.

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Mark Bennett: or I see people who have got substance, abuse problems.

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Mark Bennett: and like, Hey, trust me, II have that same t-shirt.

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Mark Bennett: you know. I've been through it. I've I've done it.

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Mark Bennett: Let me help you try to make some better decisions.

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Mark Bennett: or at least give you some an opportunity to make a change in your life. So you don't go through things. I went through

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Mark Bennett: but it would took it took a lot. It took a lot to deal with it all to actually sit down and look inward and and let go of a lot of pain and a lot of trauma

427

Mark Bennett: even while I was being successful, even while I was out on these massive tours, and.

428

Mark Bennett: you know, living this incredible life. I was still dealing with a lot of trauma, and then you throw a divorce in the middle of all of that. and it took a lot to keep by professionalism

429

Mark Bennett: at a certain standard while emotionally I was falling apart.

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Mark Bennett: It's it's not been an easy journey.

431

Mark Bennett: but it has been a journey.

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Mark Bennett: you know.

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Jeremy Van Wert: No, what you're talking about is that the the bruises and the bones end up healing after time. But the emotional wounds leave memories that last a lifetime and

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Jeremy Van Wert: can be a movie. It can be watching a child be yelled at, or something like that that can really bring back stuff

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Jeremy Van Wert: from from long ago. And so I imagine that you're 25 years old. You're facing this big doorway. You pass through it. Now you've got

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Jeremy Van Wert: this huge set of responsibilities. An arena full of people staring back at Ya. and the imposter syndrome must have been just absolutely overwhelming.

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Mark Bennett: You know what II don't feel that I ever

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Mark Bennett: I was so arrogant and cocky

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Mark Bennett: that I never felt that I would be completely honest, I'm not saying it's a good thing, by any means. But I was. I was really confident, arrogant of what I was doing.

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Mark Bennett: whether I was actually good at what I was doing, or I was convincing myself. Cause a lot of it is, you know, you create the reality you want. I am the fucking best at what I do.

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Mark Bennett: I am the best now. I do know there's better out there 100, but I try to be the best every single day when I show up, and I but I believe that I am one of the best out there.

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Mark Bennett: And I never felt the imposter syndrome until much later. and especially trying to come back to it like, am I even good enough like III stopped touring for a short while I was working for a big tech company out of Palo Alto.

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Mark Bennett: and I wasn't in the right place. I was faking it all the way through.

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Mark Bennett: I had a great career there. I was making incredible money there.

445

Mark Bennett: I just I was faking it, and I wasn't. I was. I'm with these people who were, you know, some of the world's best programmers programming, doing stuff for the military and high government, you know, agencies and law enforcement and bank corporations. And like.

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Mark Bennett: here I am like I have no idea how why I'm here right now, but now I do. Now I understand what that was for.

447

Mark Bennett: but I mean, I had some serious, imposure syndromes there when I would show it to work.

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Mark Bennett: And then II had to to step out of that environment. And I went back out on tour again.

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Mark Bennett: you know.

450

Mark Bennett: even when I when I started working at Jhs America, working for maypex and sonar drums step it in into a marketing department. I

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Mark Bennett: terrified. Why, what am I doing here? Like what

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Mark Bennett: you know? I'm looking at all these people in suits, and you know, dress clothes and stuff like that, and I wear shorts and T-shirts every day, you know, and II remember, like not having a lot of money

453

Mark Bennett: and going to my wife going like I need to buy some dress shoes

454

Mark Bennett: like, because I'm moving to this corporate thing.

455

Mark Bennett: and I'm making this move for our family, because I got a little loaf of bread now that you know needs me here every day. So we spent the last little bit of money. So I'd ask you. So I could blend in and be one of us, Google Gobble, Google Gobble, you know, and and try to fit in, and and that environment only to realize that

456

Mark Bennett: I had what it took to be there and be successful in it.

457

Mark Bennett: But it took me a while to build that confidence in myself in that place, to feel comfortable

458

Mark Bennett: and successful and and lose that imposter syndrome.

459

Mark Bennett: But yeah, no, II I do

460

Mark Bennett: feel feel confident.

461

Mark Bennett: And I and it's it's only those those times when I'm not on the stage and corporate settings. Where

462

Mark Bennett: am I actually supposed to be doing this right now, am I? Where, like I?

463

Mark Bennett: You know, I talked myself into this position. Now I have to do it. What am I doing those times? I felt like an imposter on the stage with these artists and stuff like that. I

464

Mark Bennett: I'm in my skin. I'm where I'm supposed to be.

465

Jeremy Van Wert: What are some of the high points that you recall working with these various different bands, the the things that were the most meaningful, the things that

466

Jeremy Van Wert: maybe some specific instances that happened that really made you in awe of what it was that you were doing with your life.

467

Mark Bennett: Music to me is the universal language.

468

Mark Bennett: and I and I have seen that time and time and time again.

469

Mark Bennett: Whether I was in Russia. South Africa. Japan.

470

Mark Bennett: I've been to some absolutely incredible places.

471

Mark Bennett: and despite language barriers.

472

Mark Bennett: financial gaps, whatever it is. music has been the one thing that I have seen over and over and over again.

473

Mark Bennett: that can unite society.

474

Mark Bennett: And one of the reasons I continue to do this is, I really truly believe, in the importance of that. and the importance of the music, whether it's for healing, whether it's, you know, somebody else has that same scar. And this song is the thing that helps them.

475

Mark Bennett: You know, shine down. Did an incredible album. Attention! Attention! Where they addressed

476

Mark Bennett: Mental mental health! And it's it's a beautiful album from beginning to end. It's one consecutive story. Every song is part of this one story.

477

Mark Bennett: and they addressed stuff like that. And I've seen people in the front row completely breakdown and lose it. Because of their struggles that they're going through. But it's very therapeutic

478

Mark Bennett: and I remember sometimes with pink She? She had a particular song.

479

Mark Bennett: that that really helped unite and make people think

480

Mark Bennett: and and look at political situations.

481

Mark Bennett: And like Hey, it's not a red verse blue. It's like we are all humans here. like, let's have a real sit down. Talk as humans

482

Mark Bennett: right like. If this was your kid, would you be sending them to war? You're okay sending my kid to war. But would you send your kid to war? Let's sit down, person to person, not president, citizen.

483

Mark Bennett: not, you know

484

Mark Bennett: Russian versus America.

485

Mark Bennett: Like, let's let's be people.

486

Mark Bennett: and there's some like countless times where I've seen music be music unite

487

Mark Bennett: music help be therapeutic.

488

Mark Bennett: Ii truly believe in in

489

Mark Bennett: you know that, and and tried to like cause. That's why I said.

490

Mark Bennett: I try to make sure that the performer is able to give a hundred 10%

491

Mark Bennett: right? Because it it. It matters. It matters more than just the money and the 2 h drive and the, you know, 3 month wait since they bought the tickets and and all of that stuff. It matters on on a mental and physical and spiritual level as well.

492

Mark Bennett: you know, cause it. It is that important. I remember being on tour being addressed or approached

493

Mark Bennett: in shopping malls. It's like, Hey, we have a day off and

494

Mark Bennett: Cincinnati today, like, all right, there's a shopping mall across the street, because we're actually in the suburb of Cincinnati. And so it's like, well, let's kill 6 h walking up and down the Mall, and then there'd be military recruiters in there who come up and you know. Hey? Join the military blah! Blah! Blah! It's like.

495

Mark Bennett: you know the the line was, oh, you get to see the world, and I'm like

496

Mark Bennett: II have so much love and respect and appreciation for our military or for our veterans. I come from a long live long line of of military marines, army navy, my grandfather, my father.

497

Mark Bennett: aunts and uncles. My my grandmother, like so many people in my family, have served. I was like kind of stopped at me. but they always use the line you get to travel the world, see everything, and I'm like I.

498

Mark Bennett: I do get to travel the world. But the difference is, I'm I'm uniting and and bonding with these people through music

499

Mark Bennett: as opposed to a pressing and and defending or protecting with bullets.

500

Mark Bennett: And II just you know, I felt like my mission was more important on the music side of things.

501

Mark Bennett: to to help unite and fix. And and yeah, you're a bringer. You're a bringer of peace. You support

502

Jeremy Van Wert: messages of hope and peace and celebration and unity

503

Jeremy Van Wert: with what you do and how you support these musicians who are bringing this. And I think it's really incredible. I'm just trying to visualize it in my head from the vantage point of the stage. You can really see those people out there. You can really see their reactions. You can see what they're doing. You can see their their emotional displays and everything like that. That's something that's very easily visible from up there.

504

Mark Bennett: You get to see like the first 5 rows or so. Then you you lose it in the lights.

505

Mark Bennett: you know whether you're playing a theater or a stadium. It's only those first handful of rows that you get to see. But yeah, you see it. You see it there. You'll see the signs people bring to concerts and hold up.

506

Mark Bennett: The people that you meet after the show the people you meet on a day off at the restaurant. you know, it's really funny. Just a couple of days ago I was in Pittsburgh.

507

Mark Bennett: and we went to go see the Mister Rogers statue, which is right next to Hinds Field, right on the river. We went to the museum first, and we went to go see the statue.

508

Mark Bennett: and I saw a lady walk by. She's wearing a pink t-shirt, I was like, oh, that's that's awesome. That's so so cool to see. And so I just said, Hey, I love your shirt. and she turns around she goes. Oh, thanks so much! We're so excited to see her, you know we traveled from blah blah blah blah, and we can't wait to see her, and I'm like.

509

Mark Bennett: what do you mean? She's like, oh, they're playing tomorrow, right here at the baseball stadium.

510

Mark Bennett: and I was right next to the stadium. And so you know, I ended up, walking over and and connecting with some of the crew guys that I've toured with with pink and other bands. And ended up, you know, catching up with the guitar player and stuff like that. But

511

Mark Bennett: you, you never know when you're gonna run into somebody a fan somewhere and everyone has a different story of that, their connection to the music.

512

Mark Bennett: And you know

513

Mark Bennett: whether it's their favorite band the first time seeing it. Their one hundredth concert

514

Mark Bennett: there, you know this is my dad's favorite song, and he died this year, and I miss him.

515

Mark Bennett: Wh. Whatever it is, like you here, and get to to witness all of these stories

516

Mark Bennett: every day on the road.

517

Jeremy Van Wert: So through this career, you've had

518

Jeremy Van Wert: relationships with different bands, different artists, different tours, and these sorts of things.

519

Jeremy Van Wert: doors, open, doors close. And right now you're starting to build your own business. Can you talk about

520

Jeremy Van Wert: specifically? You walked away from one thing into

521

Jeremy Van Wert: being self employed and setting up your own company. Was it scary? Is it scary? Where are you at with all of this?

522

Mark Bennett: Well,

523

Mark Bennett: it was kind of happened on accident. It goes back to when I was touring with shine down. I do these

524

Mark Bennett: you know custom drum heads.

525

Mark Bennett: you know, we'd figure something out. And

526

Mark Bennett: we really wanna Perl, actually, it started with ink. I actually have the the drum head where it all started.

527

Mark Bennett: Gretch.

528

Mark Bennett: Gretch would have their logo, and it was just like a big clear sticker with the word Gretch on it. and when you stick it on a drum head. It looks terrible.

529

Mark Bennett: And then it's like, Okay, well, how can I do this? Better cause I hate the way it looks right?

530

Mark Bennett: And so I started talking to a friend who owns a a sign shop, and they cut Vinyl.

531

Mark Bennett: and so they would just make me the Gretch logo. But out of vinyl. So it was just the letters, and then that evolved into alright. Can we color match this logo to match the artwork?

532

Mark Bennett: And

533

Mark Bennett: that's how it all started. So I have, like, you know, a shined down drum head where it was a red sparkle, pearl logo, not the standard white lobe.

534

Mark Bennett: and we just kind of evolved. And so it started with that. And then.

535

Mark Bennett: you know, when I was working with Barry from shine down, it's like, let's do a different color, Kit, for this. Let's change this. Let's change that, and we would, you know, take a drum set back to Pearl and have them recover it. Well, we got to a point where it's like he wanted to do an all white drum set.

536

Mark Bennett: And actually, before we got to go away. We we wanted to do something different. So I was like, Hey, guys.

537

Mark Bennett: can we do this? They said, No, I'm like, but you can. Okay, fine. How about this? You have this right here. Can we do this over here like? No, no, we don't have the bandwidth. We're doing so many things right now. No, I'm like, Well, dude, this really sucks.

538

Mark Bennett: And then it was like, All right. Well, you guys have powder coating in house. Can we powder coat, the kit.

539

Mark Bennett: and they're like, no, no, no, we're not. We're only powder coat, such and such pro product, and we only do black.

540

Mark Bennett: but I'm like, but you can, you won't.

541

Mark Bennett: So then I was like, you know what I'm gonna do? I'll figure out how to do it. And so we decided to go with this all white drums. It was white, and like a nickel sparkle. and so I literally broke down every nut and bolt and whatever. And there's a powder coat company out of San Jose, California, Rc. Finishing

542

Mark Bennett: that I've worked with who are like on the cutting edge of all of that sort of stuff, and I was like, Hey, look, this is what I want to do. Blah blah blah! And they knocked it out.

543

Mark Bennett: and it's like, All right cool. And now let me do let me customize this thing, this thing. I'll make one of these and all Co. Whatever, and turn it into this whole thing, and it's like, Look, it's doable you just

544

Mark Bennett: they're not gonna do it. So I should do it.

545

Mark Bennett: And then when I became the I started working from apex and sonar. I was a Us. Artist relations manager. Now, these tours, these artistic people, and or the artists themselves who hire the band. These aren't band members like guns, noses where it's, you know, slash and duff and axle. Now it's here's a Pop star who is hired a band, and I want everything to look like this.

546

Mark Bennett: And so they come back to the artist relations manager going, hey? I need this like, I have to have it otherwise. I'm getting fired.

547

Mark Bennett: and the company goes. Sorry we don't do that.

548

Mark Bennett: and I got so sick and tired of of that response as a drum tech of going going, hey? Alright! Well, here's your 3 options, black, white, or blue. you know we want pink. Sorry we don't do pink, black, light, or blue.

549

Jeremy Van Wert: Is is this a function of

550

Jeremy Van Wert: giant corporations being too large to do custom jobs and that sort of thing?

551

Mark Bennett: I can't speak for every company. Sometimes it's just, you know, hey? The production is overseas and or the lead time is 12 months. or we don't have the bandwidth, or I mean, there's so many variables.

552

Mark Bennett: So I started finding workarounds. and I was like, All right. I'll tell you what I'm taking off my corporate hat right now and putting on the dude who lives over here in Springhill, Tennessee.

553

Mark Bennett: I can do it for you. And so I started doing stuff for the artists. I want pink hardware, alright cool. Oh.

554

Mark Bennett: as your artist relations manager, here's the gear that you need, and then switch hats alright. I'm gonna pick up this gear and take it, and then execute this for you. You have to pay everybody, but I'll make it happen.

555

Mark Bennett: And one thing led to another thing led to another thing, I'm doing stuff for John. Legend. I'm doing stuff for with Kalifa. I'm doing stuff for Chris Jansen. And

556

Mark Bennett: you know, powder coding stuff and doing custom drum heads that match the pattern on the drums, or you know, I just recently did while I was there. Circus delay has a new show out in New York, New York, called Matt Apple.

557

Mark Bennett: and they wanted a hot pink drumline and a hot pink drum set to match it.

558

Mark Bennett: So I found a way to make everything hot pink, and they wanted words on every single drum of the main drum set. So I figured out how to make that happen for them. and was able to deliver a product that the company wasn't able to execute, due to their bandwidth, restrictions, and abilities to do something

559

Mark Bennett: in a very short period of time. and

560

Mark Bennett: I was like, you know, what I should just do this

561

Mark Bennett: like I, I'm just going to do this. And I. So I started my company backbeat, chop shop and

562

Mark Bennett: That's what I'm doing now. So everything, from custom, drum heads to power, coding drums to

563

Mark Bennett: you know, if you electronic programming like anything music based like, I just finished

564

Mark Bennett: working with beyonce's production. And I made Beyonce's drum set all chrome, because everything on her stage right now is chrome.

565

Mark Bennett: and the drum company didn't offer chrome, and we had a very short time window to execute this I literally had 36 h

566

Mark Bennett: from the second I had the drums in my hand to one I had to ship them.

567

Mark Bennett: and so we turned her entire drum set. Chrome got it overnighted out to France for rehearsal. So wow, yeah, it's it's

568

Mark Bennett: It's was terrifying to to get everything set up and and to actually walk away from the job I was doing at the time. I was working for an AV company.

569

Mark Bennett: and I was like, you know what I'm gonna bet on myself. I was sick to my stomach.

570

Mark Bennett: Petrified. I'm still shitting myself every day.

571

Mark Bennett: But I've been able to like, even while I'm away on tour, still make custom drum heads for people and execute stuff in the background.

572

Mark Bennett: So it's it's

573

Mark Bennett: been a lot of fun, but it's absolutely terrifying.

574

Mark Bennett: But I love working for myself. I love being my boss. I love waking up and doing what I want to do. and

575

Mark Bennett: than accomplishing the things that people say they can't. Do.

576

Mark Bennett: you know, and I love seeing

577

Mark Bennett: I love seeing the the artist when like they get it like

578

Mark Bennett: this is exactly what I wanted. In fact, like

579

Mark Bennett: this drum key, right? Here was one of the first really cool things I did. I had an artist.

580

Mark Bennett: who got a sneaker. He had a custom high top.

581

Mark Bennett: and I was like, man. I got a really cool idea. I got these drum sets that nobody wants particular color. Why don't we make a matching drum kit

582

Mark Bennett: to your shoe.

583

Mark Bennett: and we'll do even a matching drum key with it. So we did this whole campaign, and I remember when the artist showed up he was like, Wow, like, this is way more than I could ever conceptualize.

584

Mark Bennett: And and again, like with with this one. We did a, you know, for every custom drum kit. I do a custom drum key to match it, so I save all the different drum keys.

585

Mark Bennett: But you know it's so awesome to to see somebody who was just like they like. Yes.

586

Mark Bennett: this right here, and then they take it up on stage, and they play with a different level of execution because of what they're sitting behind makes them feel a certain way

587

Jeremy Van Wert: your trajectory in life, where you have gone.

588

Jeremy Van Wert: you have taken so many things and just put them at the next level. It was many years ago that I was speaking with you, and you were talking about making drum sets that were literal pieces of art that people would pay $60,000 to have in their living room, and not even play them, because somebody would say I wanted. I don't know a drum set that looks like a dragon or or something like this, and

589

Jeremy Van Wert: it's yours to kind of figure out how to do that. And it's it's it's relatively something that you've done a lot of with these big name artists. I know that I've and I've come and visited you.

590

Jeremy Van Wert: The drum set is on a riser. It has fasteners and things on it that I, as a lifelong drummer, have never seen. And I go. What is this? Where do you get this? And you say I made this? I did this I invented this. This whole thing is me. So you

591

Jeremy Van Wert: take

592

Jeremy Van Wert: things and you just launch them, and you make them happen. And you've been so tremendously successful

593

Jeremy Van Wert: endeavor, after endeavor, after endeavor. What is it for what you? What you've seen in

594

Jeremy Van Wert: from big 25 to now? 45, that you have taken things and gone. I think I'm gonna try this, and then you launch it and you go with it, and it becomes successful.

595

Jeremy Van Wert: What is that key of energy, of expertise, of excellence that you put into things that consistently spells overall success in these things.

596

Mark Bennett: I think

597

Mark Bennett: I got so sick and tired of the word. No, we can't do something.

598

Mark Bennett: I

599

Mark Bennett: I'm gonna go back to again, Drumcore, and marching again.

600

Mark Bennett: And you know we can't do this move.

601

Mark Bennett: You're going to do this move. You're gonna run across this field carrying these 50 pounds worth of drums, and you will get to your spot.

602

Mark Bennett: You just haven't figured out how to do it yet. But you will. You're gonna do it

603

Mark Bennett: some hell or high water, because this is what's required.

604

Mark Bennett: and I hate when people just say no, I feel like that's the easy way out. like, yes, you can do anything if you have

605

Mark Bennett: the time, energy resources, the want to. You can do anything, and I got so sick and tired of of like. Hey, let's try this. No.

606

Mark Bennett: but why not?

607

Mark Bennett: But why. there's like you just don't want to

608

Mark Bennett: like you can do this. You can't come up with things. You can create product X to do this. You just don't want to

609

Mark Bennett: or you don't want to put the time and effort in, or does it meet your marketing initiative? So you're like, whatever it is. I'm like, you know what I don't need you to do it.

610

Mark Bennett: I can do it like I want to machine something. Hey, look, there's a machine shop. Hey? Can you make this for me? Awesome. Here you go.

611

Mark Bennett: hey? I want to pattern something. Well, how do you do that? Well, there's a powder code company over here. Let me figure it out. And then, okay, well, what tools do you use? So now I can do it myself.

612

Mark Bennett: You know, there's so much information available to the world

613

Mark Bennett: right here on your phone.

614

Mark Bennett: on your computer. You can learn to do anything. You can accomplish anything. You just gotta fucking. Try.

615

Mark Bennett: You just have to want to do it. And I got so sick and tired of knows

616

Mark Bennett: and like, you know what, I'm just gonna do it myself. I'll figure it out. I don't know how I'm gonna do it. But I'm gonna figure it out. And or I'm gonna find the person who knows everything about this. And I'm gonna work with them to make the thing that I need

617

Mark Bennett: to do. X, whether it's be, you know, write software. make me a website create a piece of hardware. Whatever it is, like somebody out there can do it.

618

Mark Bennett: I'm not gonna just sit here and say, Oh, yeah, that's a cool idea. But no, I'm not gonna do it. Now I'm gonna figure out how to do it.

619

Mark Bennett: And I've I've always, I mean from the beginning.

620

Mark Bennett: like, go set up a drum set. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna figure it out. you know, and away we go from there. So it's it's I. Just

621

Mark Bennett: II feel like it's such a cop out in life.

622

Mark Bennett: It's the easy way out to just go. Yeah, no, we're not going to. No, no.

623

Mark Bennett: you know, it's like, hey? Well, you can. You just don't want to.

624

Mark Bennett: And I understand, you know a lot of times that don't want to, because you've got so much things going on over here that you literally just want to bandwidth do it. But it's doable. You just don't want to commit any time and energy and effort to make it happen

625

Jeremy Van Wert: and tell me you're you're you're you're totally right about that. It's about

626

Jeremy Van Wert: the gumption to actually make something real. Make it possible. You see the opportunities that are there. Nobody's doing it. You fill the space in the market for that, and you start being successful. There's also this other thing that we haven't really touched on, because you've had such a

627

Jeremy Van Wert: such an impact in your career on

628

Jeremy Van Wert: big names and small names, and to do that, to do a performance to do the work that you have done through a period of time. It takes a mastermind coalition, and that is, that's the band that's the support people. That's the office people that's the whole team working together to make

629

Jeremy Van Wert: prints. Pink, shine down, stained, actually function and go on the road. And you had talked earlier on about how they look for somebody with a certain kind of mindset. And that's the person who can get along isn't gonna cause problems, isn't it? Some of these substance abuse issues isn't going to get in the way. And these sorts of things, because these traveling ecosystems rely heavily upon people's ability to adapt

630

Jeremy Van Wert: to think through problems, to work together. What

631

Jeremy Van Wert: are a couple of teams or a team that you have worked on through your career that you remember specifically having a wonderful mindset where it was just effortless, everything

632

Jeremy Van Wert: fell together and everybody could had a had. A let's solve this problem together. Mindset. The ego was sitting over there. And the let's get today's work done is sitting right here. What were the elements of that? Where did you experience that. And how did it impact where you go?

633

Mark Bennett: I I'll start with my very first world tour with pink

634

Mark Bennett: our our immediate department, our backline department. So the keyboard tech guitar tech drum tech

635

Mark Bennett: people who look after the musicians directly. We were a very, very tight knit unit. and we went from small theaters to playing, you know, 180,000 people.

636

Mark Bennett: we

637

Mark Bennett: in those early years

638

Mark Bennett: we're playing a lot of small venues. They were.

639

Mark Bennett: Nothing was easy. Every day was hard.

640

Mark Bennett: every day was brutal. Webster Hall, where you have to, you know summertime New York City. and you have to go up 2 flights of stairs with everything.

641

Mark Bennett: No elevator. Just sweat these.

642

Mark Bennett: and you're there with the local crew, and you're carrying up every single piece of gear, the consoles, the amps, the

643

Mark Bennett: everything. Everything's gotta get carried up 2 flights of stairs to get to the venue, and then you gotta ramp everything up to get it up on the stage

644

Mark Bennett: to, hey, we have a we're in Boston today, and we're gonna record something for the Nfl. And so we're switching to recording studio mode with a bunch of tour stuff. So now we have to amp the entire semi truck in this parking lot to get to the musical gear and set up for a recording session.

645

Mark Bennett: And it's like this is completely out of the norm. But let's just figure it out.

646

Mark Bennett: And one way or the other. The show is always going to go on whether you're there or not. The show's gonna happen. Somebody's gonna figure out a way to make whatever it is happen.

647

Mark Bennett: And those early years with Pink, that crew that we had. you know, we would dissect every problem that we ran into as a team.

648

Mark Bennett: There was no well, screw you. It's your problem. not my problem. It was an hour problem. and that was really impactful. I don't always necessarily necessarily experience that on every tour.

649

Mark Bennett: Sometimes it's very. You're just out there by yourself.

650

Mark Bennett: and you're just dealing with your thing by yourself. Sometimes you might have one other person who's on that same wavelength as you. And it's like, All right, cool. Well, it's 2 of us versus problems.

651

Mark Bennett: But that first one was was what really set my tone.

652

Mark Bennett: because that was my first experience into the ministry. I mean, we would sit there. It's like. All right, we're in production rehearsals in East France. and we gotta figure out how to get all of our gear

653

Mark Bennett: to fit within certain amount of square footage in a truck. and so we sat there as a team and taped it out on the floor. And all right, let's get all of our cases together, and start stacking and flipping and playing tetris.

654

Mark Bennett: and see if we can fit it within this space. And we work together. And we, you know, alright cool. We got it down, wrote it all down, and you know we were. Our truck was

655

Mark Bennett: gone, driving away in 20 min after the show.

656

Mark Bennett: You know the campsite that I'm in right this very second, this group of people that I'm working with

657

Mark Bennett: same mindset, same mentality of how can you know who's having a problem, who needs help, who has experience to help try to solve that problem?

658

Mark Bennett: And

659

Mark Bennett: how can we perform better to get out of the way quicker, because we're in an opening position. We have 15 min

660

Mark Bennett: to get all of our stuff out of the way.

661

Mark Bennett: So the next band has 15 full minutes to get all of their stuff set up before they can start their show. And right now we've got it where all of our stuff is off the stage anywhere between 4 to 7 min.

662

Mark Bennett: and our trucks are packed within about

663

Mark Bennett: 12 min. 15 min. Our doors are closed on our trucks.

664

Mark Bennett: because we sit down and solve problems together and and figure out like, all right, cool. If we do this first and then hold that, and then then we can do this

665

Mark Bennett: will be faster will be better. How can we work, you know? And and hey, there's no room backstage today. All right, we're gonna do things completely different, because

666

Mark Bennett: we just don't have the space. So

667

Mark Bennett: XY and Z. But we talk about it. We have a plan coming into the morning, and the morning's plan benefits loading the trucks at the end of the night. And so we talk about things. We work through it all.

668

Mark Bennett: I've been on some, some teams or some crews where it's you just there by yourself.

669

Mark Bennett: And those are really, really difficult. They're really really hard. When I first started working for corn. It was kind of that environment where it's just like you're there packing a truck by yourself.

670

Mark Bennett: And it's it's really hard. But when you have a really great team like I said that first pink crew.

671

Mark Bennett: We were so tight, and it was such a pleasurable experience working along those people working alongside with those guys?

672

Jeremy Van Wert: You have you have

673

Jeremy Van Wert: had some experiences, and you know, would be be careful with names here. Obviously that have been really tough.

674

Jeremy Van Wert: and these really tough experiences all seem to revolve around. How an ego, even a single one, affects

675

Jeremy Van Wert: the room.

676

Jeremy Van Wert: and how the energy from that specific ego can affect a whole team, instilling fear, instilling shame.

677

Jeremy Van Wert: and heightening the level of stress. That's in the room

678

Jeremy Van Wert: with an already difficult set of tasks to do? What has been your experience there with

679

Jeremy Van Wert: that sort of thing? And how do you work to avoid that now?

680

Mark Bennett: I've been very fortunate that I would say every single drummer I've worked with have been exceptional.

681

Mark Bennett: have been the nicest, kindest, most down to earth. I've been very, very fortunate there I have one bad apple that I worked with. and right from day one

682

Mark Bennett: it was a hostile work environment day one.

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Mark Bennett: and it was a great crew. It was a fantastic crew of people.

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Mark Bennett: Even the artist himself. We're we're wonderful to work with.

685

Mark Bennett: But that one person I mean his very first interaction with me was, I was changing this Neardrim head.

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Mark Bennett: and when I'm changing a lot of drum heads I will use a drill.

687

Mark Bennett: But I'm very careful when you know when you use a drill, because you can damage this. But having built drums myself in the past and have having cut varying edges and hammered out shells that were dented round like I understand what's going on, and

688

Mark Bennett: but I'm very careful when I use a drone. This guy came in

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Mark Bennett: and saw me changing the drum head, using a drill, and started screaming at me from across the room. All the way up into my face.

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Mark Bennett: you know, just

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Mark Bennett: I was so taken back. I'm like, I really hey can't believe you're addressing me this way.

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Mark Bennett: like I would never speak to you this way. You don't get to speak to me this way. Period

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Mark Bennett: like that's it like this is unacceptable.

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Mark Bennett: And it was at that point right there.

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Mark Bennett: That you know I was like. Hey, whatever that's fine!

696

Mark Bennett: And his his ego and attitude continued to be at that level.

697

Mark Bennett: and within like a day or 2 of being rehearsals I got called. I actually got called by Sheila E.

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Mark Bennett: To go work for her, and I had worked with her before when I worked with Prince she'd come out and Guestbot and play a couple of songs, and I would take care of all of her equipment when I was on pencil. So when she called, I was like, you know, what

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Mark Bennett: absolutely went into production office and said, Listen. I'm going to do this first Us. Leg. But I'm done. After that. I'm I'm not going to be in this environment anymore, because this

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Mark Bennett: is not acceptable. You don't speak to me this way. You don't act like this, and I'm not doing so, despite me, loving that crew and the rest of the band members and everything like the person I directly report to and work with was hostile. And I was like, II don't want this, and I'm not going to do this.

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Mark Bennett: And funny enough that person has had similar responses with other bands and organizations he's been in because I've had friends in those campsites who report back the same sort of behavior.

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Mark Bennett: And

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Mark Bennett: you know, I've been very fortunate, but that was my only one ever literally, everywhere else has been incredible. I've been very fortunate, very lucky. But I just I won't tolerate

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Mark Bennett: that behavior like if you expect a certain level of professionalism out of me. I expect it out of you. You don't no disrespect this way, no disrespect that way.

705

Mark Bennett: and I just will leave. I you know I don't need this. I'm not gonna put myself through this for financial gain.

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Mark Bennett: because my mental health is more important than money in the bank account cause. If I'm not here, then I can't make money and continue to pay bills.

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Mark Bennett: So, taking care of myself is the main priority and being in a in a environment that is

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Mark Bennett: beneficial

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Mark Bennett: and supports this part of it is is the main thing. So. But that was that was my one bad apple. And yeah, II like, I said I did that first part of the tour, and then, soon as they went to Europe, I went to go work for Sheila E. And had a absolute, delightful time working with it.

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Mark Bennett: Oh, and you're frozen.

711

Mark Bennett: are you? There?