By the early nineties Marcus had now found regular work as a stagehand, rigger and scaffolder working on rock and pop shows at all the major London venues and stadium events around the country. This secured a decent regular income and kept him in touch with the music business at the same time.

He still ventured into the recording studio and tried to form bands, although at this time the scene had changed and new styles of dance music were prevalent in the clubs and pubs around town. It was a difficult time to release anything new in the Reggae field, but Marcus was undeterred in his passion for Jamaican music.

His work on the show circuit had introduced him to a new friend and colleague: Carlton Brodin was from Coventry and he was involved in a 'Trad Ska' band based in Hackney called The Cosmics who were playing similar styles of traditional Jamaican music that Marcus aspired to in his own creative endeavours. The two became close friends, and Marcus would sit in with The Cosmics playing percussion, sound engineering, or generally lending help and support.

Marcus also struck up a working friendship with a Jamaican entrepreneur named Bunny Scott (not the singer of that name) who was starting a new studio that he called Music Tec in Cricklewood West London.

Marcus became the in-house engineer/producer at the studio, initially working on four tracks, but soon upgrading to eight and sixteen track facilities.

Marcus recorded prolifically at Music Tec, and although most of the early recordings were only of demo standard, his work began improving enormously. Marcus laid down the basis of an entire album with Tony Owen (who went by the stage name Tony J) and he recorded demos for a series of other singers as well as writing and recording many tracks of his own that would form the foundation of his Agitators set.

As soon as the studio upgraded to sixteen tracks and the quality was good enough, Marcus invited The Cosmics in, giving them free studio time to record some tracks with him in the producer's seat. They recorded three tracks with all-live musicians playing which were released on an independent 12" single funded by the band, for which Marcus also designed the record label. 'More Love,' 'Stand firm,' and 'His Name Is Dirt' were all original compositions by the band, and Marcus added some of his own quirky touches to the recordings.

It was Music Tec's first release, and heralded the beginning of a great potential for the studio.

The studio's other engineer/producer - Gabbi D - also released a 12" single shortly afterwards. Marcus designed the Music Tec record label that the track was released under, and the studio looked set for success.

The studio owner Bunny Scott then decided to take a holiday visiting family in Jamaica. Whilst he was there he fell ill and developed complications.

He tragically passed away in a Kingston hospital and never returned.

Music Tec was finished.

Despite this further setback, Marcus continued to work on getting his act together. He found a new studio where a friend was starting out and was happy to allow Marcus to use the studio and experiment for the first time with the newly emerging computer recording technology. Marcus laid a few tracks at Nick Abadjian's 'Dujian' studio, and he brought in Carlton and Tony Owen to voice some of the tracks.

Tony also invited Marcus to Ariwa studios to play session guitar and Melodica on two tracks by a singer named T-Cus that Tony was producing. They were Lovers rock tracks titled Money Honey, and Values Of Love and were released on 12" single on the Cherry Tree label, produced by Tony J.

One of the tracks Marcus recorded at Nick Abadjian's studio was a song he'd written after the Lee Perry project was finished entitled 'Unity Rock' which he laid down using the new technology. He programmed keyboards, drum and bass, and played live guitar and vocals over the digital rhythm track. He arranged for The Cosmics horn section to add the horns riffs, and his old friend Errol John offered to release the track on his H.E.I.G.H.T.S label (which stood for Help Each Individual Get His/Her True Share).

Marcus also designed the artwork for that record label.

Marcus credited the track to The Agitators, and it was released on a 12" single, the B side was a dub version with added samples taken from the records 'Bucky Skank' by Lee Perry and 'Love In The Arena' by Jah Buzz.

Marcus had pretty conclusively teamed up with The Cosmics by now and they organised gigs together sometimes collectively billing themselves as 'The Cosmics and The Agitators' - two different bands on the same bill, but using virtually the same musicians in both bands - only the singers were different- Carlton fronting The Cosmics, and Marcus The Agitators. They had much fun working as a team in this way, and organised several shows along those lines.

Chat's Palace in Hackney was a favourite venue for organising these events, and one night The Cosmics were joined on stage by the legendary Rico Rodriguez - stalwart Jamaican trombone pioneer who had recently found renewed fame working with The Specials. This fortuitous meeting led to Marcus being offered work as rhythm guitarist in Rico's all Star Ska Band, in which he played quite a few gigs over the years and developed a great friendship with the legendary trombonist.

The Cosmics grew in stature and were offered several tours in Europe, and Marcus accompanied them on several occasions, playing percussion.

By this time Marcus was also running the live music promotions at a bar in Harrow, where he hosted Rico and his band for two highly successful shows.

As is the nature of the music game, some conflicts eventually developed in The Cosmics line up, which led to a split in the band.

Carlton and a few of the members then moved on to a new venture called 'Bud Alzir' (Rizla Dub in reverse) - Marcus was studying video technology during this time, and he documented several of their gigs, but it was to be a short-lived venture and the group swiftly fell apart.

Marcus suggested that they keep the foundations of the band on the road to fulfil some of the bookings that were still pending, so he took up playing the bass with the new outfit and they went on the road renamed as a new conception of The Agitators.

Also during this time frame Marcus was involved in other ventures that would lead him into working with another of his teenage musical influences and heroes - Prince Buster, and a reunion with Lee Perry, who had now moved to live in Switzerland, finding new love with Mirielle Campbell.

These developments will be documented in the following chapters.