Biography

Contact: Mark Lightcap
mlightcap3@gmail.com
530-801-1216


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Mark Lightcap is an award-winning songwriter with credits in television and film.

Mark Lightcap has a huge following on N1M with over 270,000 streams, growing exponentially. HERE


Here is what people are saying about his music:

"Keep on singing Mark, that's all we need..." ~ Thank you, Heath

"i wanna let you know that i started my day with How Long, your music is always with me!" ~ Genaro

"Mark, your voice delivers amazing songs. Your music is full of inspiration and meaning. you are the best! Your number one fan." ~ Dustin

"About the tunes: they are really good, I love the sounds... I've been really captured by this one which is called Blue kiss. I really like it!!!" ~ Caroline :-)

"I love your music! You have an amazing talent. Thank you for sharing!" ~ Hilda



Tingle Release Date: August 26, 2023

What does a musician/artist do after he’s been in bands for several decades and those bands are no longer together? That was the question I answered when I decided to go SOLO and write and produce my own album, TINGLE. I chose that name, because that’s what I felt when I wrote the 14 songs that ended up making the cut.

I also wanted to share the chills and goosebumps I got when I assembled the best musicians in Northern California, and we brought these 14 songs to life. Guitar virtuoso and Bay Area legend Mark Wilson left his indelible touch in shaping the sounds on most of the Americana and Alternative Rock songs on this album. His harmony guitar licks on featured track "Do Me Tonight" are mesmerizing. He is featured yet again on "Where Are We Going" playing an instrument called The Stick. Invented by Emmett Chapman in 1969, Wilson was one of the first to master this unique instrument.

My long-time multi-talented band buddy and best friend Bruce Marelich helped give birth to featured track “How Long”, a "rock your socks off" blistering "rock em, sock em" song. We were noodling around in the Bad Daddy Studio one day when he played a really cool guitar part. I instantly fell in love with it and immediately thought, “song!” Although it doesn’t happen very often, we finished writing that song in one day and a very late night.

Assembling these songs and recordings helps fulfill a calling I’ve had since early childhood when songs first started filling my head and heart. This is a life-long dream come true. Tingle was recorded at Bad Daddy Studios, Northern California. All songs were produced, engineered and mastered by Mark Lightcap.


SONGS IN ORDER OF RELEASE:

1. DO ME TONIGHT (Featured Track)(3:00)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300011

“Do Me Tonight” was recorded in my studio and living room when I was residing in San Carlos in the SF Bay Area. I had a baby grand piano upstairs in the living room and the recording studio was down a steep flight of stairs in the basement. I wrote this song on that baby grand, the same piano I learned to play on as a child.

Because it would have been very difficult to move the baby grand downstairs into the studio, I ran some high-quality Belden cable from the studio up to the living room. I positioned microphones to get the best piano sound possible and recorded the lead vocal at the same time using a Neumann U87 and an Avalon VT-737 channel strip. The rest of the musicians (guitar, drums, bass) played in the studio. I had a headphone line run downstairs so we could communicate and count off the song. By some divine miracle (and some great musicians) this unique recording process worked to perfection. We overdubbed some additional guitar parts and backing vocals to complete the recording.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Lead guitar: Wilson Rhythm guitar overdub: Lightcap Drums: Boomba Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie Bass guitar: Hilke


2. HOW LONG (Featured Track)(4:23)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap - ASCAP Bruce Marelich - ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300001

"How Long" was born the day the greatly talented guitarist Bruce Marelich (formerly a founding member of the iconic band Bad Daddy) said, "Hey Mark, I've got an interesting guitar part for a song!" What he had come up with was rare yet strangely familiar. His genius had conjured up a part upon which a song can be built. A part which will be remembered. Like the great Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones song, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Marelich's guitar delivered a unique musical foundation for a song yet to be written.

We worked on this idea day and night with an enthusiasm only obsessed musician/songwriters seem to possess. It was a trance-like, in the zone kind of mania. We buried ourselves in the writing process, barred the Recording Studio door, and didn't come out until the song was complete. Although Bad Daddy broke up before they had a chance to record it, I was motivated to finish what we started, went back in the studio, and came out with a really cool record.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Acoustic Guitar: Lightcap Drums: Vinny Carini Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie Bass Guitar: Lightcap


3. I CONFESS (2:23)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap - ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300007

Recently I was in a Traditional Country, whimsical kind of mood. I’ve always loved this genre and have great respect for Country Western artists like Jimmy Rogers, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings. The simplistic genius of their music captivated me from my early years and continues to this day. I would study their clever lyrics that always seemed to include an unexpected twist. “I Confess” made its way to my conscious mind when I was in such a mood. Although a good portion of the lyric is “tongue in cheek” I meant every word in the lines that say, “But I defy you to find someone who loves you as much as me.”

After writing the song I wanted to keep the recording bare bones. Going into the studio my thoughts were to make the acoustic guitar the main instrument, with embellishment by the piano. Drums and bass held down the bottom. It was a fun song to write and was equally fun to record.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Acoustic guitar: Lightcap Piano: Bones Johnson Drums: Carini Bass guitar: Hilke Backing vocals: Carini


4. KOKOMO JOE'S (3:11)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap - ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300003

I'm pretty sure I'll never grow all the way up, and I don't want to. For a songwriter, growing up is highly overrated. My imagination, which is the key to my songwriting success, is as active now as it was when I was a child. The Kokomo Joe’s lyric came from that young boy’s imagination. I remember being not only curious, but excited to explore the adult world and find out what this attraction to women was all about. I wanted to peek inside that grimy window at Kokomo Joe’s where Bobby claimed, “the girls dance all night and day!”

My childhood imagination was a thing to be treasured, nurtured, and appreciated. It could take me places and do things that were not possible in my "real life." Coming from a bitter, badly broken home I needed to escape to survive so that’s exactly what I did. One day I was a star half back on the Forty Niners scoring the winning touchdown. The next I was Willy Mays playing center field for the Giants making a spectacular catch for the final out in the World Series. My sofa became a gigantic battleship, the cushions were islands I could stand on to keep me safe from the lava flowing from an erupting volcano. I soared in wooden boxes that became my airplane. I also stared out the window at school a lot which was not appreciated by my teachers. My mind was always “dreaming” of things to do and places to go.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Acoustic guitar: Lightcap Pedal Steel: Steve Valine Drums: Carini Bass Guitar: Hilke Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie


5. HOW'D I END UP IN YOUR BED (1:57)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300013

This song is about being so infatuated and sexually attracted to someone that despite the other person’s transgressions somehow you continue to end up in their bed. You swear to yourself that you’ll never let it happen again, yet it does. Can’t say I’ve ever actually experienced that but that’s the beauty of songwriting; you don’t have to experience something to write about it. You just call upon your mind, imagine it, and out pops a song.

It’s a major up-tempo tune that challenges my prowess on the piano. My fingers go about as fast as my fingers can go, but what a blast to play. Mark Wilson again creates and plays a blistering electric guitar part that fits the song perfectly. We worked on this one into the night when we recorded it, finally getting what we hoped was a finished take around 3 o’clock in the morning. Being at it that long we weren’t sure if we had done any good until we heard it the next day. We dragged our tired butts into the studio around noon to listen. We were all smiles when the tracks blasted out of the monitors and we knew we had a keeper!

Lead vocal: Lightcap Lead guitar: Wilson Piano: Lightcap Drums: Boomba Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie Bass guitar: Hilke


6. BLACKJACK WOMAN (4:17)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300005

Sometimes I write songs on guitar, sometimes on piano. It depends on my mood. I had just purchased a Roland electric piano that produced some great sounds and while experimenting with them I came up with Blackjack Woman. The Blackjack Woman premise was purely a figment of my imagination. I was never much of a gambler but if I had been I couldn’t think of a better scenario then where the beautiful woman dealing Blackjack decides to come up to my hotel room with me. What happens after that is left up to the listener to imagine . . .

The recording features the SF Bay Area legend Mark Wilson on electric guitar. He absolutely shredded his part elevating the song from nice to WOW!. To get his Strat sounding so crunchy and full we stayed up until the wee hours trying different settings until I was happy with the sound. Then we stayed up even later to make sure Mark W. was happy. Mark has the rare gift of being both spontaneous and a perfectionist. It shows up on every track he recorded on this album.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Keyboards: Lightcap Electric guitar: Wilson Drums: Boomba Backing vocals: Carini Bass guitar: Wilson


7. WHERE ARE WE GOING (3:08)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300006

I had just been gifted a very large bodied 12-string acoustic guitar made of all places, in Vietnam. It had a deep resonant sound that tickled my ears. I was experimenting with some open tunings on this guitar when I came up with “Where Are We Going.” At some point in time I think everyone wonders where their relationship is going. “Where Are We Going” explores how a couple can be both romantic yet feel some doubt as to the direction they are heading.

Accompanying me on my open tuned acoustic 12-string, the Great Mark Wilson is featured yet again. However, this time he is playing an instrument called The Stick. Invented by Emmett Chapman in 1969, Wilson was one of the first to master this incredible instrument. Using a two-handed tapping technique, Mark played both the bass part and melody simultaneously. The sound Wilson produced on the recording is not only unique; it complements the song with its beauty. I was awe struck as he weaved his fills around the vocals. The part he came up with was exactly what the song needed.

Lead vocal: Lightcap 12-string acoustic guitar: Lightcap Chapman Stick: Wilson Drums: Thaddeus Backing vocals: Carini/Darlene Marie


8. POPS (3:25)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300008

“Pops” was one of a couple songs on this album that I wrote about a real person. The person they called Pops made the front-page headlines of the Enterprise Record around 2004 when a judge released him from prison and provided him with cab fare. The 92-year-old Pops had spent most of his life incarcerated at the Butte County Jail and was well respected by inmates and jailers alike. He begged the judge not to release him because he had nowhere else to go, claiming that the Butte County Jail was his home. His plea fell on deaf ears, so Pops had the cabby drive him straight to the bridge over Lake Oroville. It was there he jumped off the bridge, taking his own life.

It didn’t take long for my Country Western musician buddies and I to develop the song’s instrumentation. I wrote the song on acoustic guitar and that remained the instrument around which all the others played. Adding Steve Valine’s pedal steel was the frosting on the cake. I think we got the finished tracks done in one or two takes. Although the song’s story was a tragedy, it was an honor bringing Pop’s story to life through music.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Acoustic guitar: Lightcap Pedal steel: Valine Piano: Bones Johnson Fiddle: Renee Drums: Carini Bass guitar: Hilke Backing vocals: Carini/Darlene Marie


9. BLUE KISS (3:45)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP Larry Curtis Lynum - ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300002

I had the honor of co-writing “Blue Kiss” with Columbia Recording Artist/Songwriter Larry Lynum. Our original versions didn’t quite have the magic that I knew lay dormant in this song. So I recently re-wrote it and made it more up-tempo and danceable.

I wanted the new version to live on the edge of the Americana and Alt Rock genres, so I recorded bass guitar and kick drum tracks that really bump. I also came up with a synth part that fit the new rewrite perfectly. If the bass guitar/kick drum is the bottom of Blue Kiss, then the synth part is the glue that holds the song together. Blue Kiss delivers a lyric that speaks to the listener with power, passion and hope. It reminds us that “even a Blue Kiss can turn true.”

Lead vocal: Lightcap Keyboards: Lightcap Drums: Carini Bass Guitar: Hilke Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie


10. SEND ME AN ANGEL (3:17)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300012

A while ago I got the urge to write a good old-fashioned Country Western cheating song. After messing around with several ideas, “Send Me An Angel” bubbled to the surface. There was nothing going on in my personal life to bring this on other than I just felt like writing one. There have been some great cheating songs written throughout the years; Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and Garth Brooks’ “The Thunder Rolls” are two of my favorites.

I wrote this one on piano and unlike “Do Me Tonight” where I played a baby grand, this time I played a Steinway Grand Piano. The instrumentation was bare bones simple, and my musician friends had a lot of fun with it. It’s always a challenge to make “simple” sound great, but when it does it sounds like “Send Me An Angel”.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Grand Piano: Lightcap Telecaster electric guitar: Marelich Drums: Carini Bass guitar: Hilke Backing vocals: Carini/Darlene Marie


11. MY KIND OF COMPANY (2:40)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300009

I’ve always liked to write songs about a chance meeting with an attractive (hot) person of the opposite sex. “My Kind of Company” is just such a song. The lyric in the first 4 lines sets the tone for the rest of the song:
“There you were just sittin’ all alone
Lookin’ kind of lost
New in town but never new in love
Fakin’ shy as the party rages on”

Mark Wilson is once again instrumental in bringing this rockin’ dance song to life. His Strat weaves its magic in and out of the tune, then brings it home with some great octave licks during the tag. Boomba and Hilke, drums/bass respectively, leave their egos at home and hold down the bottom playing exactly what the song needs, no more no less. Also, I brought in a whole bunch of female vocalists to sing on the chorus. It gave the song a kind of party feel.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Lead guitar: Wilson Rhythm guitar: Lightcap Drums: Boomba Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie


12. RESURRECT JOHN LENNON (3:48)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap - ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300004

The United States of America is divided politically in a way not seen since the Civil War. I’m a firm believer in the famous quote: “United we stand, divided we fall.”

I was reminiscing one day about the insightful, introspective, and sometimes whimsical musical genius that was John Lennon. I was wondering what he would think about the state of our Country if he could magically be brought back to life and witness the emotional upheaval that has us in its grip. My guess was that John, who became a US citizen in October of 1976, would be incredulous, flabbergasted, astounded, blown away - name your own adjective. It wasn’t long before I turned my thoughts into “Resurrect John Lennon.”

Lead vocal: Lightcap Keyboards: Lightcap Electric guitar: Spohr Drums: Carini Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie Bass (keyboard): Lightcap


13. BARNEY (2:55)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300014

“Barney” is another song, like “Pops”, written about a real person. Barney Clark was the first person on Earth to receive a permanent artificial heart. He understood going in that his chance of long-term survival was virtually nonexistent but agreed to undergo the surgery in the interest of advancing science. When I heard about him and how brave he was to allow this experimental surgery I knew there was a song in me that had to be written. Although doctors expected Barney to only live a few days, he survived 112 days before he passed.

Recording this song was a real challenge because I wanted it to sound huge to match the courage of Barney himself. To get a gigantic drum sound we double tracked them. Boomba is a great drummer and was up to this extraordinary request. Although it took a bunch of takes, he nailed it after about an hour. The rest of the song is held down by that very cool, crunchy Roland Electric Piano sound. Long live Barney Clark.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Electric Piano: Lightcap Drums: Boomba Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie Bass guitar: Wilson


14. I FEEL SUCH PAIN (4:18)

Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP

ISRC: QZYFK2300010

“I Feel Such Pain” is a true story; it was an event in my life that I never want to experience again. It happened when a 3 year non-married/living together relationship with the love of my life ended abruptly. We had a BIG argument and I remember telling her, “If you don’t like it, why don’t you just leave!” She started throwing her things in a suitcase and I said, “What are you doing?” She said, “I’m leaving.” I said, “But I didn’t mean it.” Didn’t matter, she’d had all she could take and left. Later that night I woke up in our bed holding nothing but air. And I felt pain like never before. It took a few years before I recovered from this awful experience and a song emerged.

After writing “I Feel Such Pain” I played it for my long-time friend, Bad Daddy’s lead guitarist Bruce Marelich. Bruce flipped over it. He said, let’s get the band together and record it, like right now! We did just that and after the band learned the song, we had it down on tape in a couple takes. After a few overdubs, backing vocals, etc. it was complete and ready to mix and master.

The best part of all is that after “she” left we patched things up (I got down on my knees and begged her forgiveness) and we were married a few months later. We’ve been happily married ever since.

Lead vocal: Lightcap Rhythm guitar: Lightcap Lead guitar: Marelich Drums: Carini Backing vocals: Carini, Darlene Marie Bass Guitar: Hilke


Mark R Lightcap is a loner who since early childhood hears songs inside his head he’s never heard before and tries like a dog worrying a bone to get those songs out of his head and onto paper, into the recording studio, and eventually in front of his fans.

Lightcap is prolific in several genres, the most recent being Indie Rock. However when the urge strikes him, he will write a good ole Country classic. Throughout his career he has also explored Rock, Country Rock, Americana, Rhythm & Blues, and Pop. He plays the guitar, keyboards, and bass.

Mark R. learned to play piano when just a youngster, on his mother’s baby grand. Although taught to site read, even back then he would color outside-the-lines and make stuff up.

High school introduced him not only to girls, but to the electric guitar which in his mind would help him meet girls. To that end, he joined a band called Uther Pendragon. The 4 band members lived and played music together for over 11 years. Guerssen Records released a triple vinyl LP of their songs, and it was written up in “It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine.” HERE

Lightcap and former fellow Uther Pendragon bandmate Bruce Marelich formed another band around 2008. That band, Bad Daddy, was going strong until the Pandemic hit. Since then Mark R Lightcap has been busy building a solo career and working like crazy to get those “songs he’s never heard before” out of his head. He is extremely excited to have released his first effort as a solo artist on Chester Street Records. Airplay Direct is the perfect vehicle to get his music to radio stations throughout the world and ultimately to his listeners.

Mark R Lightcap is an award-winning songwriter with credits in television and film.