9. Marcus and the Microdots

Although Marcus never officially split No.1 Station, he was forced to leave it on the shelf, only reviving the act when it was an affordable prospect. He decided that the only way he could continue his vocation of playing live gigs was to go out on his own as a solo artist, jamming around the festival circuit that he'd grown to love so much. 

His many years hanging out around the anarchic creative collectives of the Lost Vagueness, Shangri La and Small World fringe stage arenas had opened new doors of artistic expression for Marcus, and he had developed a penchant for performance art around the festival scene as a sideline to his musical endeavours, where, when he was not playing music, he'd occasionally take on personas of zany characters that he'd created for himself like 'Sir Real' 'Ska Man' 'Ossie the Mozzie' and 'The Doolally Llama' when he would walk around amusing the festival punters with his humorous antics. This festival fun carry on connected him with a new crew called 'Little Village' who had a mini solar powered stage that they set up at festivals and parties.

One night Marcus was sitting around the campfire when he picked up the guitar and started singing some of his songs - the crew were taken by surprise, as they hadn't known him as a musician, only as a madcap comic performance artist. Marcus enjoyed this anonymity as he'd always been used to meeting people through his musical artistry, but these new found friends had met him on an entirely different level. 

After one campfire session the guitarist from the Yorkshire based band 'Mental Block' - Mark Burden - came over to him and said "I didn't know you were a musician, you've got some great songs, do you fancy getting something together?" 

Burden was a fabulous guitarist, and Mental Block were a superb and quite psychedelic Reggae outfit, but Marcus didn't want his act to just be him singing with Mental Block, he wanted something to differentiate his sound from theirs, so he taught Mark Burden his bass lines, and invited Mental Block's bass player 'Clink' - who was also a top notch drummer - to play drums. They played a small gig on the Little Village stage and it went down a storm.

It was decided that they would start playing together more regularly at festivals. 

Marcus would generally make up random names for their group - one particularly muddy festival he called them 'Marcus and the Mudlarks' and at another gig he called them 'Marcus and the Mudslingers' among other such random names - they were only playing the gigs for fun so it didn't really matter. 

One evening at his girlfriend's house, Marcus was dozing off asleep, and when he awoke his girlfriend said to him "you were talking in your sleep." He asked what he'd been saying and she replied, "you were saying 'Marcus and the Microdots, Marcus and the Microdots' - that's my new band name" - So at their next gig that's what he called the band. Everyone thought it was a great name for a band, and so the name stuck. 

Another dream had - literally this time - come true.

This then became Marcus's regular festival band. 

Mental Block were from Yorkshire so it wasn't exactly a local band for Marcus, but they occasionally booked gigs at venues in London and they would be on a double bill of Marcus and the Microdots and Mental Block in a similar way that The Cosmics and the Agitators had worked together - two bands in one.

The Microdots gained a strong festival following over the next few years, and Marcus's songs became popular with the crowds, with audiences singing along with the choruses at their gigs. Marcus suggested that it was time for the band to record a new album.

At the time Mark Burden was doing a sound engineering degree at Leeds University, and he had a little studio set up in their musicians collective called 'Free The Spirit Enterprises' in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. 

When the band returned from their festival season that year, Marcus stayed in Wakefield and the band recorded the set that they'd been playing around the festival circuit. It was a fairly basic recording, with Clink on Drums, Burden on Bass and Marcus on rhythm guitar and vocals. They overdubbed Mark Burden playing lead guitar and Marcus playing keyboards and percussion, with Dian Merry, Karen Dean and Mark Burden doing harmonies. Marcus made the sleeve artwork, and the Earth Songs album was completed.

Marcus had it pressed onto a CD, and Burden entered it as his main project at Uni - he was given a first class honours degree for his efforts.

Marcus's musical career was getting back on track. From the glory days of the successes of No.1 Station to the lull period of the recession, he had managed to pull himself back into a position of running a band with some new potential on the festival circuit. 

From the band's rough beginnings on the Little Village Stage, they were now gaining ground and were soon invited to play a set on the main stage at the Small World Festival. 

It was a warm summer evening in August, it had been a calm and sunny day with not a cloud in the sky, now it was the darkness of the evening and the crowds were scattered around the outside of the Small World solar stage marquee as the band started playing. They performed their first number: Long Walk, and as they began their next tune - Create A Storm - as Marcus delivered the opening lyrics "Thunder and Lightning! Wind and Rain!" suddenly there was a loud thunderclap and a burst of lightning, the wind gusted and the heavens opened to a deluge of rain. the people outside the tent came crowding inside for shelter, It was like a mystical phenomenon had occurred, and everybody present felt the energy. 

Every time the band played that song afterwards there was an element of trepidation - the audience would shout "Don't play Create A Storm!"  and the song was even dropped from the set on some occasions when the weather was too good to disturb. Such great fun.

The band had achieved a level of festival fame that was very different from the success of No.1 Station and on a far more organic level: there were no big promotions or playing backing band to old time singers, no radio coverage or support slots for superstar bands. Just a free and natural energy created from grass roots campfire sessions and low key, no money gigs. Raw musical expression.

It was like a spontaneous musical vibration was blossoming. A new psychedelic live Reggae groove with these festival bands opening up new territory. Mental Block, Marcus and the Microdots - something new was occurring around the festival scene, and they were in the forefront of this new happening.

Marcus knew it was time to bring out the big guns. He arranged for Lee Scratch Perry to headline at the Equinox Festival, with Marcus and the Microdots as his support band. For this show they had Stuart Brennan on Bass and Mark Burden delivering his superb psychedelic lead guitar licks to bring the sound to another level. 

The gig was magnificent - the best the band had ever played, and with Lee Perry headlining it could not have been a more successful festival event. Lee Perry loved the vibes, and he loved the crazy atmosphere. The crowd loved him too.

It was approaching Marcus's sixtieth birthday and he wanted to make a special event of the occasion. He arranged for a reunion of No.1 Station, Marcus and the Microdots, and the South London All Ska's - a sort of Skatalites tribute band he played rhythm guitar with - and Mental Block drove all the way from Yorkshire to play a special 'Ska Festival' that he had organised to be held at the Hackney Empire Bar where he'd been organising some live events in recent months.

The event was hugely successful with a packed out crowd in the Hackney Empire Bar and a grand reunion of many of the musicians that Marcus had worked with over the years - both Jah Bunny and Sleepy shared the drum roles in the No.1 Station revival, and the All Ska's horn section were on the ball all night. Even Donna Hinds turned up to sing The Marvels hit song, and the fabulous Miss Megumi Mesaku made a guest appearance playing Alto Sax.

Marcus played in all the bands that night apart from Mental Block as well as DJing alongside his great friend, the top revival selector Tiny T, and this event opened another door when Marcus was offered a week in a new studio - That Sound Studio in Seven Sisters.