Mark Volman (1997)

[@substance1]

The Turtles made some of the greatest music of the 60's. Even today if you listen to their music you will see they made some of the best pop music of all time.

[@johnscialfa7391]

Agree

[@patriciawilson9666]

100%

[@larryboyle1249]

My best friend back in the 70s was a guy who looked like Mark Volman. He was hysterically funny. His soul touched many people including me. He was a very good drummer and I had the privilege of watching him and other guys turn into incredibly talented musicians when they rehearsed in our garage when we became roommates. I can’t see Mark Volman without still seeing my good friend who died of alcoholism on 9/11/2001.

[@dcore64]

That's crazy! My brother in law, also a drummer and also a Flo doppelganger. Lives with my wife and I currently and just like your story every time I see the Turtles, Mark reminds me of him. Super nice guy and great laugh. They also remind me of my late Uncle that was friends with them before they broke out. Basically when they were all high school age. He gave me my first guitar when I turned 8. Old Sears Silvertone that I still own. Sorry you lost your friend, and on 9/11. Double drag. Cheers!

[@dianacrow7509]

Mr. Volman, I wish to thank you...1970, Boulder, Colorado - Lee High Rd.? You lent a 3-volume album to an 18 year old girl.. She idolized Lady Billie Holiday, while she read "Lady SINGS the Blues" she listened closely to your album. You changed my life. I will always be grateful 🙏. I thank you

[@johnkinser9691]

Mark Volman is an amazing musician and I’m sure he’s a fascinating teacher! He’s had an amazing career.

[@groverbaker6404]

The turtles are still my favorite American band! Since 1966..love those lps!!

[@humclarge]

I can see why he would be a popular teacher.Such a rich history.Makes one wonder if at some point in his teaching career he ponders ,why didn't I think of doing this sooner! Thank you for sharing your genious on stage and off!

[@haroldkreye8770]

Thanks for a wonderful interview, and I enjoy The Turtles music.

[@57highland]

Mark is absolutely right about the nature of Top 40 radio in the the late 1960s. In 1969, every possible style of music was heard on one AM station: Pop, later Rock n Roll (Steppenwolf, Bob Seger, the Doors), the Jazz side of Rock (Blood Swear and Tears); Motown, Country (Johnny Cash, Roy Clark), vocal music (Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Bobby Vinton, the Lettermen), Bubble Gum (the Archies), the continuing British Invasion: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Hollies, Cream; instrumental music (theme from "Romeo & Juliet" by Henry Mancini), a little novelty (comedy) music, as Mark did mention: "Gitarzan" by Ray Stevens; a little bit of Gospel ("Oh Happy Day" by the Edwin Hawkins Singers), even a bit of Reggae ("Israelites" by Desmond Dekker), and all the Pop One-Hit wonders that completed the picture. You got a complete cultural music education without turning the dial.

[@Kartracer95]

I love The Turtles and I was born in 1979. Even better, my daughter was born in 2013 and her favorite band is.....The Turtles!!! Her favorite songs are Happy Together, Eleanor and You Showed Me. 💓

[@57highland]

I'm old enough (6th grade at the time) to remember when "You Showed Me" was a new song on the radio and I loved it, it had that mystery and spookiness about it. 1968 and '69 were fantastic years in Top 40 music.

[@richardrobertson1331]

Great interview! I always thought Mark Volman was like a happy puppy and just wanted to simply go thru life having fun every day and I had no idea he is so intelligent. I'm very impressed with his grasp of the music business.This interview should be promoted to every current and aspiring musician.

[@blueskye6372]

@Richard......Agree. 🤟🤞

[@ChasBeauregarde]

He graduated Suma Cum Laude from the "School of Hard Knocks"

[@barryanderson3910]

First time I've seen anything on this channel. Great interviewer. Asks great questions then gets out of the way of the guest. Excellent job.

[@scottburton9701]

Mark is a great conversationalist!

[@conuregirl007]

Mark cut his hair, his glorious hair! I love Mark Volman ❤️ Been a fan for a long time!❤️

[@martinklein3785]

Ponytail.

[@flemingcourt]

A worldly and well spoken man. Thanks for all the toons, especially "She's My Girl".

[@JoePadovano]

Sat at a table front stage at their Bottom Line show. He grabbed my beer bottle and played slide with it while the beer sprayed all over us. Met him after the show. What a wonderful guy.

[@johnscialfa7391]

I was there

[@maryk446]

I can top both of you. I was at one of their Bottom Line concerts in 1989 and he (accidentally) hit me with a tambourine. Knocked my friggin glasses off. He barely acknowledged it. But Howard was terrified that I might have been really hurt. After the incident was over Howard mouthed to me "Are you OK?" I was. As an aspiring Flo and Eddie groupie this is the closest I would ever come to the kind of "contact" I really wanted from Volman. I was tempted to tell him "A tambourine? Really, man? Now if you'd hit me with some whips and chains, maybe, but ........!"

[@dianaspy6733]

Great interview! Thanks for sharing!

[@jameslopez4742]

I love this guy , Mark Volman of the turtles. He was a pleasure to watch perform and his backup vocals really made most of the great songs the Turtles made. listen to the song "Eleanor" and you'll see what I mean. A true great classic band the Turtles. pure ear candy, what a fun time it was to be alive then during their hey day.

[@zeeman3684]

Completely, completely agree

[@TonysMusic1974]

ELENORE

[@marcusescovedo2905]

He went to the School of Hard Knocks !

[@Dan_Frechette_Songwriter]

A guy died on the mountain where I live and left behind 900 vinyl records. I collected the 350 or so that weren't full of mold or warped or damaged and in there was a double album of the Turtles. I'm a very picky listener and am listening more to unload vs. keep all these records. This double album BLEW MY MIND and I agree with anyone's assessment that this band is one of the very top creative pop rock groups of all time.

[@Less1leg2]

great interview, especially the business side of how musicians were treated.

[@julierauthshaw8556]

Great interview. I would take his class.

[@larryb8022]

Zone great band, the Turtles were one of the top bands in the 60s & 70s ❤️❤️❤️👍🏻👍🏻✌🏻️✌🏻👍🏻✌🏻👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@bonscott602]

Very intelligent guy. Very impressive. Good guy, too.

[@jegglemmerdet]

If you watch "Live" TV performances of Happy Together, you will see Mark playing on hedge cutters and tape rolls - Cracks me up :D

[@tosinoparinde9563]

Mark VOLMAN very good at singer

[@sardu55]

Been awhile since this interview. Wonder how his project has gone to teach young people about the business and thru education at LMU. Imagine he can relate a lot of first-hand experience to the field and offer some solid advice or tips. Haven't really heard much of anything about Volman, so this interview was new to me. Hope he has success with his project.

[@bluescruise-q7r]

Check his book "Happy Forever". He went on to be a professor at Belmont University in Nashville.

[@dcore64]

Huge Turtles fan. The vocals are unbelievable! They are just a really fun group that as a bonus have some of the very best songs of that time. Which is really saying something considering the level of talent they were competing with. Beatles, Stones, Small Faces, just an incredible era. There is a bit that he does with Eddie (Howard) where they illustrate on a grease board the 8 different signing scenarios they went through when they were younger, in the sixties, that is absolutely hilarious. It is at the end of one of their documentary videos. Really glad i stumbled on to this. Expect a call from me Danny. I am very interested in either contacting Mark or yourself to get some biz schooling and contacts.Thank you so much for this great interview. Cheers Danny.

[@wiredranchvideo]

Flo & Eddie were GREAT! Saw them at the Roxy circa 1976 - Grace Slick threw ice cubes at them as they gently mocked her. Fun times!

[@ericdreizen1463]

The drum pattern in "You Baby" changed the lexicon in contemporary drumming. It's a staple in every drummer's vocabulary now in both rock & jazz, but that was the first time I ever heard it, played by a guy named Don Murray, who was succeeded by Johnny Barbata. I remember practicing it for hours when I was 16 in my bedroom until I got it down.

[@KimSpicka]

Very first concert ever went to in the 60's. Still love seeing them.

[@eternalise]

I will never get over how insane their contracts and lawsuits were, no matter how many times I hear about it. Always loved the Turtles, and apparently my parents did, too, as they had nearly every Turtles 45 in their collection that I grew up loving in the 80's, especially the later ones with their quirky B-sides. We covered "Happy Together" in my first band and it was one of my favorites to sing, especially the verse with the tight dual-lead vocal harmony, so much fun. The Flo and Eddie albums were cool, too, especially "Moving Targets." On an unrelated note, Mark reminds me of Brett "Hitman" Hart here. P.S. - just finished the whole interview and man, what a class act Mr. Volman is. He really seems like a genuine down to earth guy (feels weird to say that about Flo and Eddie considering their crazy image but it's true in both cases) and I wish there were more in depth videos/interviews with both of them. One of my favorite Volman vids was a clip of him play-testing a vinyl box set of the Turtles' singles and talking a little about each one. Great video.

[@whitsundaydreaming]

Bret Hitman?! If Mark was wearing pink spandex maybe.

[@jude2005386]

Thank You for Posting this Volman interview!!!

[@DeanUSAman]

I would so love to have a conversation (Me listening and an occasional question!) with Mark Volman! Excellent interview and so well prepped for 1997... so much info on artists is on the Web now, that background data is very easy... not so much in 1997~!

[@geoffreylove6233]

Loved the Flo and Eddie shows when you came to Australia ( Melbourne)

[@jduff59]

Amazing vocalist and he was proficient on double tambourines, power tools and other bizarre "musical Instruments". Glad he's teaching the business, because it's ground so many of us up and spat us back out.

[@clemsontoby]

Flo and Eddie's albums got airplay in Detroit on WABX and WWWW in the mid 1970's. I always thought Keep it Warm got played all over the country. I was wrong.

[@The2ramses]

Bin total beeindruckt, sein Wissen... vorallem die Stimme .. nin hin und weg.... bin leider zu spät geboren und im falschen Land 😉👍🙋‍♀️ jeden Tag höre ich Turtles 👍

[@garyrunnalls7714]

Love Mark, very funny and smart.

[@ColinStuart]

I've a friend who has written over 100 million selling records, and has yet to be paid even partial royalties. This covers his writing for movies and television, totaling over 44 years! Both before and after he played with Little Feat!

[@lucasoheyze4597]

Don't be daft

[@anthonyloftis9975]

Way back a long time ago, when the universe consisted of nothing more elaborate than Mark Volman. Thank you Frank, and don't misspell it, it's Mark Volman not Marc Bolan. Good stuff.

[@kathyhayward2228]

Mark has a great voice

[@johnmitchelljr]

Thank you.

[@tosin123food9]

Mark he is a really good singer

[@CAdams6398]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned his work with Zappa, as Flo and Eddie!

[@tosinoparinde9563]

Mark very good at singer

[@andrewcutts7416]

A fascinating documentary.

[@dannyschneidershowofmusic4834]

Thank you, Andrew!

[@ARIZJOE]

All things considered, Mark looks to be in pretty good health, with a heck of a career. I see photos of him playing the guitar. I wonder why he mostly did the tambourine with the Turtles. Both he and Howard seem like interesting guys. Yes, they belong in the Hall of Fame.

[@rocketrose2165]

There's a great documentary on the Turtles and in it Howard said he brought in Mark because they were good friends. Mark couldn't play anything but the blend of their voices was something special. Mark tried saxophone and eventually learned guitar. But his real contribution was that voice God gave him. Zappa suffered no fools and you had to be good and flexible to be a part of his show.

[@RATCLIFFE-LISTENS]

I WORKED FOR CBS IN THE 70’s COLUMBIA OUR LABEL RELEASED A FLO AND EDDIE ALBUM. THE TREAT FOR FANS WAS AN INCREDIBLE VERSION OF ELENOR.

[@ColinStuart]

If ever this could get back to Mark, We met one night at the Troubadour was upstairs, when out of the dressing room, came Flo & Eddie! Mark had a hand rolled cigarette in his mouth, so I said in a cartoon style voice, "you're doing something your not supposed to do!". I had to duck to miss the smoke he spit out at me!

[@rickferguson2004]

A great group

[@hansvandermeulen5515]

Their time with Zappa was about 19 months long and produced 4 albums and a movie at the time.

[@TalonVisions]

Danny reminds me of Marty Balin from The Jefferson Airplane

[@JoeyArmstrong2800]

I thought that the host was Marty Balin just for a second.

[@randycochrane7248]

Love ya Mark. Big t imeMiss ya

[@neep8836]

Surprised to see no dirty duck fans here, I can't hear him talk without thinking of that movie

[@paulklee]

Nice to hear him talking without Howard interrupting constantly

[@martinklein3785]

Ironically … in the Turtles’ documentary, he is continually interrupting Howard.

[@2000Cowboys]

This is Good

[@beckyholl3867]

I never knew he sang lead that much

[@gerrydooley951]

Howard sand lead on all the hits, Mark was more of a high harmony singer

[@JoeRivermanSongwriter]

Speaking as a Brit the invasion was great but don't forget we were inundated with American music ten years before and apart from a few honourable exceptions British music was pretty shit in the 50s. So don't be bitter about us getting our own back. We just repackaged what you gave us. Here's to more cross-pollinations. 🙏

[@proudfootz]

Everyone who loves music loves musicians wherever they might hail from.

[@debbieedwards711]

Nobody's bitter, it all great music

[@whitsundaydreaming]

We gave you Elvis, you gave us the Beatles. No ones complaining!

[@mellotronage7073]

Rance Muhammitz: You are Volman ?... psst- 200 Motels reference.

[@mnpd3]

Same old story; greedy managers and record executives, and kids just wanting to record music. So, the deal is you make all the music you want - so long as it sells, or we'll drop you. If it does sell, we keep all the money, the name, the rights and royalties and you get shit other than the satisfaction of being heard.

[@gerrydooley951]

Young people ( early twenties) are simply not equipped to deal with the record business. The Beatles got screwed as well.

[@TheFoolintherainn]

Try beingvs 14 year-old Britney Spears, put in a Catholic school uniform in front of a MTV camera, rolling around on a bed...

[@jackiehaber4066]

💿🐸🐸🐸🐸

[@altdelet3778]

*Do you really have a hit record with a bullet?*

[@petercrowl9467]

Sadly most of this is moot in a world of revenue free streaming music

[@ilovefilmmaking3490]

The White Wale guys ripped my band off too - pretty much ended our career.

[@gavinthorburn5385]

Turtle business

[@randybackgammon890]

Course on the music business?....is there one anymore?

[@levigarrett8674]

I wish he would have told the world exactly what a Mud Shark is ,or the Jack in the Box Ring Job lmao.

[@neilphelan145]

What's a girl like you, doing in a place like this? 😜

[@levigarrett8674]

@@neilphelan145 I hear ya, My dick is a Harley ,you kick it to start lol,f-ing genius ,i would give anything to have been a guest fishing at the Edgewater Hotel when the Mud Shark chick took a freshly caught fish up her dirt chute 😆

[@neilphelan145]

@@levigarrett8674 Let's not forget about Studebaker Hawk, Billy, or his wife Ethel.

[@levigarrett8674]

@@neilphelan145 Awesome ! Studabaker Hawk,the Cosmic superhero with the phone in his Secret Briefcase ,I've always been able to envision Studabaker Hawk all covered with flys in my minds eye while listening,Franks sense of humor & his ability to bring dark humor to the people i believe will never be equalled by another ,i miss him alot,i attended every Zappa plays Zappa tour from 2006 up until 2014 when my wife got hurt in the crowd,sadly at 76 yrs old i can no longer risk going to concerts Dweezil does a good job presenting franks music genius but the humor is non existent .

[@neilphelan145]

@@levigarrett8674 Sad to hear about your wife. I was very fortunate to be in the audience at the UCLA Pauly Pavillion that the album Just Another Band From L.A. was recorded. I saw Frank several times back in the 70's. One of the shows I attended was in a very small auditorium in Claremont Ca. It was the Harvey Mudd auditorium at the Claremont Colleges. I sat no more than 25 feet from the stage. The highlight of the show was when Frank got so pissed off at Captain Beefheart for showing up drunk, falling down, on stage. Frank had his stage hands physically pick him up and carry him off stage. 😜 Frank basically rolled his eyes, paused for a few moments, then continued on as though nothing had happened. I have seen FZ, I'm my memory serves me, 6 maybe 7 times. Most of the people I knew never got him or his genius.

[@gerrydooley951]

I don't know why artists can't be more honest: all of the Turtles hits with the exception of "Elenore" were written by professional songwriters. The guys did write a lot of songs that were good but were considered filler for the albums.

[@will2741]

That's literally what he said in the interview, + as a Turtles obsessive, *all* my favourite songs of theirs are ones they wrote. Love in the city is a masterpiece

[@tomcooley3778]

I heard Eleanore G was written about Eleanore Mondale ?

[@alisonwunderland9900]

Turtles does not have an apostrophe 's'

[@cgolden3621]

29:15 ... word!

[@NerdNation4Ever]

You should AT LEAST spell Mark's name correctly. It's VOLMAN not VOMAN.

[@dannyschneidershowofmusic4834]

Thanks, Ron...fixed!

[@johnl1468]

Early on why didn’t the turtles seek parental advice which could’ve lead to legal assistance BEFORE signing 1st deal ?

[@SenorZorrozzz]

Get a music lawyer. Though his book might be helpful.

[@gost4995]

He played the tambourine. And not very well, either.

[@charleswinokoor6023]

Not a good interview. But fortunately Volman has plenty to say without much prompting and is very articulate.

[@mns8732]

To many Jewish influence in the music business that hurt artists, but it's good that Volman is helping out.

[@jasonrusso9808]

As I understand it Mr. Howard Kaylan and Mr. Mark Volman are Jewish. I don't believe in antisemitism or this idea that the industry is controlled by anything or anyone specifically other than greed. Please don't blame Jewish people.

[@vincentrezende7690]

Love Mark! This guy not so much....,.

[@orbitsun]

Mark gets waaaaaay too much credit for The Turtles' success. Howard was the man.

[@theresabraddock9310]

They were pretty nerdy guys with an intelligent band and great lead singer but Mark was the ENTERTAINER they needed and had a great voice and was a well rounded individual. What a life he's led!

[@petermaxwell2965]

Still bitter about the British invasion !

[@vincentrezende7690]

5 year run.... Not bad!

[@finylvinyl66]

Nah. Without it there probably would never have been the Turtles.

[@mikeodonnell6799]

youtube "my dinner with Jimi" it do be on youtube for free man.