Episode 42 Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad, Mark Farner's American Band)

The Riff Raff with Shane Theriot

My guest today is Mr. Mark Farner. Best known as the frontman guitarist/songwriter and lead singer for one of the biggest bands in 1970’s rock- Grand Funk Railroad. From the game changing Atlanta Pop Festival performance to the legendary Shea Stadium performance that they sold out in 72 hours (breaking the Beatles record many times over) Mark has seen and done it all. These days he’s still rocking with his Mark Farner’s American Band and tours constantly.

One of his best known songs is the 1970 classic I’m your Captain (Closer to Home) which by now has reached legendary rock anthem status. In this interview he tells me about how a prayer inspired him to write the song, We also talk about his early influences, how Grand Funk blew Led Zeppelin off stage one night in Ohio, how he learned to sing by reading a newspaper upside down, his Musicraft Messenger guitar and much much more. There was so much I wanted to ask but we just ran out of time- (Hendrix, Zappa, working with Ringo etc…)but we still got a lot of good stuff in!

At 72 years of age he still plays and sings his ass off. If you need proof of this just check out the new DVD by Mark and his band- “From Chile with Love” which was released in April. Mark does a lot for Veterans and is donating 20% of all proceeds from each sale of the DVD to help Veterans. You guys all need to go and check this out! Mark is such a great guy and a class act. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.

MARK's WEBSITE- https://markfarner.com/

BUY MUSIC AND "FROM CHILE WITH LOVE" CLICK HERE

Veterans Support Foundation number- 1-800-882-1316

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