Mark Wellington Embraces Chaos

© Gabrielle Sierra / RumBum.com

Mark Wellington moonlights with his band, Embracing Chaos.

"Dr. Jekyll" Mark Wellington warmly greets friends while sitting in the back booth of a Brooklyn dive bar. He shakes hands and pays for drinks, laughing freely and often. Less than ten minutes later "Mr. Hyde" Mark Wellington is on stage gripping a microphone. The music begins and Mark growls into the microphone like some sort of a machine, kick-starting the movements of several audience members who begin to slam and jump and twitch around like some sort of possessed rag-doll having a seizure.

And so thrives the dual lives and personalities of Mark Wellington. The Clark Kent and Bizarro Superman. The Dayman and Nightman. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The respected citizen and the misunderstood death metal rocker.

Mark began playing music nine years ago. He pursued this passion with full force for six years before he realized that his art would have to share its time-slot with a "real" job. “There was a point in time where I thought I would be doing music full time. But there is that realization, that fight between your dreams and your goals and the reality.” Instead of choosing to embark on a series of day jobs (like many other struggling New York artists), Mark chose to begin a career. He took a position as a graphic designer with the Brooklyn-based firm, A Stitch Above. “Honestly I needed to fund my lifestyle. And graphic design allows me to continue pursuing art while doing that."

In fact, designing and silk-screening band logos is a large part of Mark’s daily responsibilities, as well as creating designs for schools, businesses, and NYC colleges. This career also allows Mark to do all of the graphics for his own death-metal band, Embracing Chaos. “I would love to do music and get paid for it. It’s natural. But it’s just not realistic right now. Death metal isn’t really in a huge demand to be signed by a label. I’m a single male in New York City – I need to be able to support my lifestyle while also being creative.”

Besides battling the trials of pursuing a music career in this tumultuous and competitive economy, Mark faces the added obstacle of trying to win fans with a very aggressive and easily dismissed style of music. “Melodic death metal is a very aggressive and brutal form of song. I have always been a fan of metal and hard rock, and throughout my life it just got more aggressive. But people don’t realize that it can offer an average person a bit of contained aggression or violence or rage – an emotion they may not get to experience themselves in their regular lives.”

Mark is responsible for writing most of Embracing Chaos’ songs, a task he takes very seriously. “The lyrics are not always about anger; sometimes they are introspective and about hope. There is a balance and that is important. Fans get a taste of this fantasy.” He is also quick to dismiss the stereotypes about death-metal fans. “A death metal fan is usually only aggressive when they are listening to the music. If you talk to them in their regular lives they are usually the most meek and shy people. They are not aggressive at all in their daily comings and goings. The dancing is violent, but it’s a controlled violence. There is an understanding between each fan about what is happening. It’s an experience. It’s a thrill. It just explodes.”  

One would think that being a part of the New York and Brooklyn music scene could be a big help in gathering new and open fans, but surprisingly Mark has found an added level of judgement and adversity in regards to the death metal. “Back in the 80s and early 90s there was really a place in Brooklyn for hard metal bands. It has virtually disappeared. It’s very hard to convince people to book us in bars. Brooklyn is more infamous for their hard core scene and that’s not us; we are metal guys, we aren't there to cause any trouble.

Mark even goes so far as to claim that Embracing Chaos would be better off in a small town in Middle America. “This genre of music thrives in Europe and the Midwest. In Brooklyn and New York City the demand just isn't there in the same way. It’s a constant battle for us. But we put on a good show. Within the last few months we have played about 22 shows. We are on a kick, and we practice until perfect. We are gathering more and more opportunities to play with signed acts, and this means a lot to us.”

So which is the real Mark Wellington, the Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? “The way you see me at work is me. I dress up for the show, but it’s a show. It’s a stage persona. I yell and I scream and I curse, and that’s not my daytime personality at all. At my shows I want the kids to appreciate me for this sort of entity. So the real me is more like the graphic designer me. But I am a musician at heart and will always be. I’ll never stop playing music. Life makes no sense without it.”