This interview took place march 7th 1999. After more than 6 years collecting dust it finally sees the light of day.
This was a sunday when I reached Mark by phone in Nashville, the home of the country music. As always it was a true pleasure talking with the God of songwriting - a true favourite to AOR.NU!

-Hello Mark!
"Hey Stefan!"

How are you?
"Doing good. You doing good?"

-Yes, I'm doing fine.
"Yeah."

-Mark, it seems as you have a big storage with some great music.
"(Laughs) I have a lot!"
 
-I think that "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" is yet another disc with high quality songs.
"You think so?"
 
-I do.
"Good. The next record I get to pick my own."
 
-So it will be full control from you?
"I think so, pretty close. I'll ask his (Magnus Söderkvist, A&R at MTM Music) opinion a little bit, but you know (Laughs) I'd like the next record just to be stuff that I really still have a lot of feeling for. Because a lot of the stuff that's on "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" is kinda "rock". It's stuff that's kind of written for other people and they were demos that I did for other people, although a couple of them I like."
 
-What about talking around some of the songs on "The Stuff..."?
"I'm sitting here trying to think of I guess of one song that's even on there. I don't even remember which one's are on there."
 
-"I'll Be There", written with Jim Vallance, musically a bit traditional maybe?
"I don't think the lyrics are so traditional. It is a little history behind that. At that time I had been signed, I had a record deal with Interscope, and it just wasn't going too well and I had written a whole bunch of songs and so they suggested why don't you go and write with somebody like Jim Vallance. I went up to Canada for let's say, I stayed up there just for 2 nights and we wrote that song. Jim had heard my other stuff, the stuff I'd done before I came up there, and he also preferred my other stuff. But I liked the imaginary in that song."
 
-"Love In A Western World", by yourself.
"That song, believe it or not, I wrote that for Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart and they really liked it and let's see, it just didn't make it for some reason. I think they said they wanted to do it on the Lovemongers, their little pet project they had, obviously never did it. But I ended up writing a different song called "Cruel Tears" that was on the "Brigade"-record instead of that one (fetaured as a B-side only of "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You"). I like the melody on that one. It's a Mark Spiro song for sure. It's melodically definitely a Mark Spiro song and the way that the lyrics, the melody, I sing over the bar. Different way of doing things."
 
-"Can You Hear The Night" has some great rhythms.
"Ooh.... I know the song well. I know them all well because I remember writing them. I remember everything about them when you tell me. Every song has its own world. I can remember recording it, I remember singing it."
 
-How can you remember them all when you have done so many songs?
"They're all like little books that I've read. When someone says did you read this and this, oh yeah I read that or did you see this movie, oh yeah I saw that movie. Then you remember who you were with. It's the same thing. I wrote that with a guy named Jamey Jaz and at the time I think he was 21 years old. He's a black guy and he also co-produced the "Care Of My Soul"-record. He's the one who comes up with some great rhythms and stuff. Like the "Fisherman 3" is his rhythms too."
 
-Was it written for anyone in particular?
"No it was just written actually at the same time period. The same span of me trying to do my record."
 
-"Fire & Water"...
"Same thing, same guy, same week. Same session we wrote those two songs."
 
-I noticed you have written with him before.
"In fact those two songs we did exactly the same time and he doesn't write any lyrics, I just do the music with him. Then I take the tracks home to my studio and then I put the vocals on. That's kinda how that works. With everybody I write, on that record on all my other records, I'm usually the guy that writes all the lyrics. Did you know that?"
 
-I wasn't 100% sure.
"Usually every song on all those records."
 
-Any specific reason why it is like that?
"I think at that time, first off music inspires me. Music inspires my lyrics and people come to me for lyrics a lot. You know like Giant and Bad English and those kinda things. And I'm really good at it (laughs). My lyrics are different and I usually don't say that, but I think that's what makes me different."
 
-Maybe you write them from some other perspective than others?
"Exactly. They are more introspective, maybe a little more intelligent. Sometimes the imageries are different. Sometimes even the words themselves are words that necessarily you don't put in a song."
 
-"Half Light", written with Michael Dan Ehmig.
"Sort of."
 
-Sort of?
"(Laughs) That's another one of those that, that's pretty much me I have to say. There were two songs I wrote with Michael Dan and that was "If Love Was On Your Mind" and "Half Light". Usually when I sit with him he's so full of ideas, but usually he makes me come up with my ideas. It's sort of weird. He says something and then I say something completely different. Then it writes itself, but I love the rhythm of "Half Light" and I love the key change in the chorus. I love the melody. That's one of my favourites on there."
 
-"Rhythm Of Your Soul", written with Michael Thompson. You have written a lot with him!
"Between Michael Thompson and Tim Pierce usually, those are the most. I think the next record you will probably hear more songs I wrote with Tim. But what can I say, do you like it? (Laughs)"
 
-I like it, but the next song, "Rain In Her Heart" is amazing!
"Oooh, I really like that one too."
 
-You wrote that one with Martin Briley and Don Barnes (38 Special).
"Mostly Martin Briley I'd say. Don was there, I think... I'm just trying to remember the process that came about. The bridge is great, "She used to believe in him, now she doesn't try...", oh I like that! That's almost a country lyric don't you think!?"
 
-Great!
"And then you know, talking about somebody's childhood. Trying to be tough, trying to be, you know, never let them see you cry. And then telling her to merry for the money and it didn't work out."
 
-Listening to your songs almost always starts a movie running in my head.
"That's the best compliment you could give me."
 
-On "Devotion" there is this one song  that always...
"..."Cambell River Road". Oh yeah! That song was written just out of love. I had gone fishing with Mike Reno (vocalist in Loverboy) to a place called Cambell River. And it was just really cool up there and it reminded me of, I'm always homesick for Seattle so sometimes the imagery that I have in my songs is because of that. I left Seattle when I was 24 and I've always wanted to go back to the lakes and fishing and the ocean and all that. So it provides me with inspiration to write about being homesick."
 
-Was it written for someone special?
"I think it was written for 38 Special, or I think maybe Don Barnes had just left 38 Special and then he was going to do his own thing and it just never came about."
 
-"Vendetta".
"I fucking hate that song. You can print that (laugh). Written for Heart. It was at the same time I was pitching songs to Richie Zito. There was another song that I was pitching to him called "Love Can't Help You Now", I don't think you have that, and he wanted to do it really bad. And then Dan Huff wouldn't let me do it because he wanted it for Giant and he never put it on the Giant record. I could kill him, I could kill him till today. "Vendetta" I wrote with Thompson. It's a cool guitar rhythm though. The chorus is stupid, it's nothing."
 
-Speaking of Dan Huff, you wrote "Back To The Promised Land" with him.
"Actually that one was written because I was going to be in Giant. And that was part of the beginning, rumbling to that band. I was going to be the lead singer so we wrote that song together. I remember Dan Huff thought the lyrics was too "heavy". He wanted to go with "Hey baby, baby, you're hot tonite" kinda stuff. And you know that's not me. I trust Magnus because it's his thing, but I would never put "Rain In Her Heart", "Half Light" and "Vendetta" on the same damn record. It doesn't make sense to me, they're so far apart. One's just this rocked up thing and then you have this great introspective stuff."

-Then you also have the original version of "You Can't Take That Away", that was on "Care Of My Soul".
"Can you guess which one I like better?"

-The one on "Care Of My Soul"?
"No, not that one.

-How come prefer this version?
"Because I love the chorus melody. I think it just kicks off so much better. I like this one a lot better."

-Was it written for "Care Of My Soul"?
"That was just written I think. Sometimes Tim Pierce and I would just get together just to write at that time. When I got around to doing "Care Of My Soul" I was just picking through songs and I wanted to do it the same way as the demo. And Jamey Jaz, we just started tracking it and stuff and it just wasn't working. He said, well how about something like this, and we changed it all around and I kindish went with it. But I still like that one better. I don't know what you can write about, you know any of the stuff, but you'll have to figure it out."

-There's a song that was meant for the Japanese release called "Sex In The Sand", what about it?
"Well, I call that song "Love On The Rocks". The reason it's called "Sex In The Sand" is because Neil Diamond had that big song called "Love On The Rocks" and my publisher told me to change the title, but I prefer "Love On The Rocks" to "Sex In The Sand". I love that song. What I like about "Love On The Rocks" is that lost innocence of a guy being totally in love and the girl, probably an older girl, just kind of more into the experience rather than wanting something real. Do you know what I mean? I know that's the feeling of it."

-Real life experience?
"Oh, I can tell you her name! No, that's really direct. I mean there was a girl that was like three years older than me. Everybody wanted her. Her name was Shelley and oh my god she was gorgeous! I just had the biggest crush on her but she was just playing around. I had the crush. It was in my younger days but I wrote about it in my older days."

-"Pray For Rain, written with Thompson. From the same period as you had the band named Pray For Rain?
"Yeah. I didn't write "Pray For Rain" because we had a band called Pray For Rain. We wrote " Pray For Rain" before we came up with Pray For Rain, but then of course we couldn't use the name, you don't know that, but we couldn't use it. It has that little bit of a spiritual reference to it."

-A rockier feel to it.
"Yeah, I'm not really thrilled about that song. I mean it's certainly not bad. I think it's just probably that I sometimes respond to the time period that I wrote it. I'm just remembering what I was going through at the time so sometimes I don't like the song because it reminds me of the bullshit I was going through."

-"The Palm Of Your Hand".
"It's great. You have this minor chords for verses and then it just takes a total left turn for the chorus. I really like that song a lot, I've always liked that."

-How much material to do have?
"About three more albums at least."

-Which album do you consider being the best release so far? "In Stereo" maybe?
""In Stereo"??? That doesn't count."

-Do you consider any of these three latest compilations better than the other?
"No. But there are definitely songs I like better. I like "All The Love We Kill", I like "Cambell River Road". I can't remember them all. I think "In The Dark" is great. I like that production. "The Palm Of Your Hand", "English Channel" is cool. "Mid Western Sky", you've got to like that. I think you probably like the same thing I do. "Son With The Walking Shoes" is a great song. "Dancing With Einstein is a good one. "Light In The Darkness" is pretty amazing to me. I wish they'd sell more (laughs).

-It's a shame!
"You know I just kind of missed the beat I think. And I think that if back in the Interscope days they'd let me do whatever I wanted to do and put those songs on a real record with a real release who knows what would've happened."

-What about the solo album you're doing for Elektra?
"I don't know. Elektra changed, they've changed all the staff. The person that gave me the deal is gone. I may never finish it, I don't know. You know what's happened to me is I've made a shift in my career to producing. I'm here in Nashville right now and I'm producing. I guess I'm more, I'm just doing more producing so I can stay alive, put my children through college. Occasionally I have the time to write that enjoyable writing, the stuff that I love."

-You're saying to stay alive. One would think that a guy like you that has written songs for records that has sold so many units would be a multi millionaire?
"You know here's what happens. Records sell a lot in the beginning and then you make a whole bag of money and then they don't sell after that. You kinda have to keep on going. Plus I fell on hard times for a while. I was audited by the IRS. That was really damaging to my financial world. The whole big story."

-Have that affected you in your creating of music?
"Yes, quite a bit. What happened was on the "Care Of My Soul"-record I financed that whole record. It's different than the other records in that it's done with all of the hi-tech stuff with a lot of money. What happened was the tax agency here in America came in and told me that I couldn't deduct that from my income because I did it on myself. So what happened was I had to pay the government about 200 000 dollars that year. It's a lot of money when you also have that same years taxes. You know you're making a bunch of money plus you have to pay 200 000 dollars, it was an awful year. It's kinda hard to explain."

-So it's less writing and more producing now?
"Well, actually I'm writing just as much. But I'm kinda writing for the artist I'm producing and it's really not in the rock vein, it's more country."

-The next record for MTM, you sound happy about it?
"I'm really happy I'll get to get the songs that I really relate to on the record. I'll betcha people like it better too."

-How will it be?
"It'll be more like "Care Of My Soul".

-Any stuff in particular that might be on there, stuff you've written with other artists or writers?
"There's a couple of thing I wrote for Julian Lennon and maybe a couple of things I wrote for John Waite on there."

-The difference between let's say you and writers like Diane Warren and Desmond Child?
"It's really commercial."

-Your songs might not be as direct, or maybe they'll last longer?
"Well, I hope so. Thanks to Magnus, it's what I love about him is that he's been able to do this. Really, otherwise nobody would hear them because there's nobody out there that, unless I was a huge artist. That's the only way you could hear them. And you know that time is probably passed me by a little you know. Who knows what can happen, but I don't actively go after being an artist anymore. I mean if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't. Hey, I'm 40 years old for gods sakes."

-Still, doing what you do and making a living on it sounds like a dream?
"Well, it has its up and downs. Trust me. There are a lot of sacrifices too. Like you say I have so many songs. Well, while other people were at the beach and other were out on their sailboats or going bowling or going to the movies I sit in the studio. So there are a lot of sacrifices."

-I'm guessing that the records you write and or produce have to sell some units before you actually make any real money?
"It's really funny because I listen to Shawn Mullins, you hear Shawn Mullins, you hear Sara McLachlan, you hear Alanis Morissette and what I was doing, you know I'm not trying to sound cocky, but what I was doing six years ago is what they're doing now. Just in its composition may not sound the same but I mean like way ahead of its time. It's a business that takes a lot of luck too."

-I'm hoping there'll be more from you?
"I promise you the next one will blow your mind."

-Any re-recordings?
"Yeah, some of that stuff will be really fresh. I'll do whatever I have to do. It'll probably be a big hit and then I'll have to be an artist."

-Mark, I have to say you seem very down to earth.
"Well, you know it's when people take themselves so seriously I think it gets ridiculous. I like what I do, I love what I do and think I'm really good at it and that's enough for me. As long as I think I'm able to keep doing it."

-Never running out of ideas?
"Oh, I've been frustrated, but only probably last year for the first time. But I think it's because I was doing these country records. I was just limiting myself to what I could do and so I just got really frustrated cause whenever I went back to do what I wanted to do I think I was just too tired. But lately it's been just really going good. A lot of great new songs, which you will hear."

Stefan Edström