As part of our “catching up” series, Real Gone caught up with Mark Bacino, last seen in our columns in 2011.

Bacino gained some positive notices in the power pop community with his third full-length release ‘Queen’s English’, a mature album that moved away from his previous bubblegum styles and bought more Billy Joel and Randy Newman influences to the fore.  It was a concept album of sorts about growth and family, the album shared Bacino’s love of New York.  We hoped for a similarly classy follow-up, but the years passed and nothing appeared.  

We spoke to Mark about recording and his other activities since then, and despite a lack of new album, he’s had a full schedule.

“I guess I’ve been keeping pretty busy since the release of my last album”, he says, optimistically. “I’ve continued to produce other artists and compose for TV/advertising and I’ve also moved shop to a new studio space that was custom built from the ground up.  it was a bit of a daunting experience at the time but now that the dust has settled, I’m happy I did it.”

Beyond my musical work-for-hire adventures, I’ve also taken to a bit of moonlighting as a music “journalist” of sorts. Over the past couple of years  I’ve penned a songwriting column (“Songcraft”) for Guitar World.com and I’ve contributed articles to both the 2014 and 2015 editions of the “Songwriter’s Market” publication. It’s been a fun left turn.”

Are we going to be hearing new music from Mark somewhere in the future?

…We absolutely are!

“As for my own personal music, I probably have 90% of a new album written with a few songs already recorded and in the can. Given my somewhat full schedule though, I’ve been toying with the idea of maybe releasing the new songs as singles as I finish them rather than keeping them on the shelf until the album is complete. We’ll see.”

[Visit Mark Bacino’s official website here.]