Mark McLay at the Mystic Theatre
photo by Michael Morris

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January 19, 2011

  Listen to us on Myspace! Watch us on YouTube! Purchase cds/Download songs!!

Check out our myspace page! It includes some cuts to listen to from our latest album, "Love and Barbwire."
http://www.myspace.com/markmclayandthedustdevils

Watch us on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEME_Vyffv8

Buy the CD or download songs from the web at
http://cdbaby.com/cd/mmdustdevils


Listen to and learn more with our press kit! http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=164443

The CD is also available at The Last Record Store in Santa Rosa.



April 04, 2009

  New Dustdevils Album!

The sparkling 2008 CD “Love and Barbwire” offers eleven songs of sincerity, introspection, hope, fun and infectious enthusiasm, including the uplifting marriage equality anthem, “True Love.”

"This CD is fantastic!" --Johnny Bazzano, "Your Average Abalone"
KRCB-FM Sonoma County CA

"A great band!" --Mary Tilson, "America's Back Forty" KPFA-FM Berkeley,
CA

"There's something unique and somewhat familiar happening when McLay
and his fine group of 'Devils' pound out their outstanding, solid
original tunes." ---Bill Bowker KRSH-FM Santa Rosa, CA

"Love, exuberance, grief, passion and rebellious opposition mix as watercolor." ---Rootstime Belgium/The Netherlands

“McLay navigates the dark rivers of the heart. Honesty and melancholy rings true, tinged with hopefulness for something better to come.” --Northbay Bohemian

"The dude can sing! And the songs keep getting better with time, like left-over chili!" ---Doug Jayne KRCB-FM, The Last Record Store



November 15, 2008

  Listen/Purchase Our First Album!

You can listen to snippits of songs from our first album "Just Glad to be Here," and purchase cd's and downloads at Songpeddler.com. Just click on this link! http://songpeddler.com/sp_search_results.asp?txtsearchParamSrchType=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&txtsearchParamTxt=mclay



August 15, 2008

  Kelly Liles

It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of our dear friend and member of the Dustdevil family. Our former drummer Kelly Liles has passed away. She was instrumental in creating our sound. Kelly had an angelic voice, killer chops and knew how to rock. It's her maniacal scream on 3-Day Weekend from our first album!

We will always cherish her and fondly remember how she has touched our lives.




  Bohemian Review

Here's a review of "Love and Barbwire" from the Northbay Bohemian July 23, 2008:

bohemian.com/bohemian/07.23.08/music-mclay-0830.html



June 03, 2008

  Full Bohemian Interview

Here's the full interview with Mark and The Northbay Bohemian's Matt Pamatmat that his Critic's Choice featurette was based on in the 7/23/2008 issue.

Q- I’m curious about your influences. I’m definitely hearing some sadness in the songs on ‘Love & Barbwire’ akin to, say, Townes Van Zandt. But there are also hopeful songs, and ones with more levity and playfulness. Besides the somewhat vague descriptors like “Americana”, “roots”, “alt country”, tell me about your
(and the band’s) specific influences, heroes, heroines.

A- The band members have been playing classic rock, country, blues, gospel and jazz leading up to this unit.

As a writer/singer what I do has been hugely influenced by those who play a fairly wide range of styles with a grittyness and a pop sense of hummable melody. Hard, soft and in-between. Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw and John Hiatt are big for me. Also country and soul music and 70's punk and new wave. I think the variety of the a.m. radio station in Boise in the 1970's that I grew up listening to helped form my taste. I would hear The Spinners, The Temptations, Rolling Stones, a country song by Creedence, The Beach Boys, The Eagles and Neil Sedaka back-to-back. Country music radio was prevalent too and my Dad played stand-up bass in bands.

Q- Though I haven’t had the pleasure, it seems like you guys’d be good live. Any interesting road stories, live stories?

A- The most interesting gigs are usually in tiny places like Manton, CA or Point Arena. One time when we were done with a gig at the Arena theatre in Pt.Arena, we were just hanging out and a funky artistic marching band (with dancers and mimes) called the "Extra-action marching band" came marching in and did an impromptu performance at midnite. They were just in town, passing through on their way somewhere else and took the opportunity!

Q- Tell me a little about the recording process of Love & Barbwire. I sensed that below the production & group effort of this album, these are songs essentially written alone an acoustic guitar, especially the more tender ones.

A- Very astute! They were all written on an acoustic usually in my bedroom. I do the music first and then pick a subject matter that I've been jotting down notes on and try to plug in lines that rhyme. I mainly have the arrangement in mind to bring to the band and they contribute their talents and things often change a bit. We recorded live in the studio, vocals included, to try to get a live feel and the overdubbing we did was fairly minimal.

Of course the sounds we made were certainly enhanced by the able
hands of engineers Darryl Webb and Warren Dennis Khan at Banquet Studios in Sebastapol.


Q- Tell me a little about living & gigging in the North Bay. Other bands, politics, venues, culture wars, scenes, crowds, etc.

A- The Dustdevils have been doing this for 14 years and I'm impressed how live music perseveres. Places close, but new places open and people keep trying to have live music in their clubs or house concert or wherever they can cobble something together. Especially now, with so many entertainment options it's
heartening that the live music spark lives on.

Q- You’re the namesake of the band. Tell me a little about yourself. Something I might not find on the Internet or official press releases.

A- I grew up on a farm in eastern Oregon and I and my late brother played country and top 40 rock. Me and my brother's musical lives changed the day I went to a used record store in Boise and came home with Graham Parker's "Heat Treatment" and "Rocket To Russia" by The Ramones. Smart, simple, high energy music with memorable melodies.

When the "Do It Yourself" ethic of late 70's Punk and New Wave
hit, we got the guts to start writing our own songs and to play something in addition to country and top 40. Started our own band in college at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

I lost my brother when he was 25. We had a band together in Orange County at that time.

Q- Anything else you’d like to say about you & your band?

A- Though all the band members have relationships with members of the opposite sex, we were inspired by the noteworthy San Franciso weddings a few years ago and have been playing our equality of marraige anthem "True Love” for the past three years. We are excited that our album is releasing just when same-sex marraige is legal in California. Love is breaking out all up and down the state!