Marc Pattison
Encyclopedia
Marc Pattison was born on March 4, 1968 in Frankfurt, Germany. He is a California
based guitarist
and was one of the first guitarists endorsed by several companies such as ESP Guitars
, DiMarzio
pickups, Morley pedals
and Steinberg
software based on internet visibility alone. He is also endorsed by M-Audio
/Digidesign
, Line 6 amplifiers and Dean Markley strings Sabine
tuners
, German law dictates that a child take on the citizenship of the father, who in his case was American
. Pattison spent his first 5 years in Germany
when his parents moved to the United States. German was his first language and he did not learn to speak English until age 5 when he arrived in the U.S.
Marc Pattison started playing guitar
at age 13. He took lessons for less than 3 months when he quit because he was tired of learning single note passages/melodies for songs such as "House of the Rising Sun", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat
" or "Swan Lake
". He could not find anyone to teach him rock
songs by bands such as AC/DC
, Led Zeppelin
and Deep Purple
so he decided to teach himself. After this brief period of lessons Pattison was mostly self-taught and never took lessons again.
Marc Pattison first made a name for himself on the now re-structured site mp3.com
. He heard about the site on CNN
and decided to upload some material and quickly rose to the top of his genre: instrumental guitar. During the next two to three years, Pattison topped the charts both in instrumental rock
as well as the more broad genres of rock
and pop
and was being downloaded thousands of times a day by guitar enthusiasts. MP3.com decided to promote him as a success story and placed a statement and picture in an advertisement in Guitar Center
's buyers guide that went out to over 2 million homes and stores.
Back in 1999 mp3.com
was the number one site for unsigned
musicians to upload their music and be heard by a huge audience. The site was acquired by the major record labels due to a copyright infringement
lawsuit
and then shut down until it was bought and re-opened by download.com
/CNET
and turned into a place for signed artists to sell MP3s.
Marc Pattison was one of the first artists to mix guitar and electronic music
in the genre of instrumental rock guitar. He released such material on mp3.com with great success and managed to stay in the top 40 of over 30,000 bands for most of 1999. His music has been played on the now defunct KSJO
radio in San Jose, California
and also on the syndicated "Mikey" (DJ Mikey Esparza currently on KIOZ
) show and has also performed live on Mikey's show three times and has had music on MTV
's Undressed
in several of their episodes that are still running in reruns as of 2007, Fox
sports as well as many video games, DVDs and webpages.
Later, Pattison went on to compose electronic music without many guitars, and currently produces music in such genres as rock
, metal
, pop
and RnB
as well.
Marc Pattison has now been playing guitar for 26 years, has been mentioned in magazine articles in Recording and Guitar Player
magazines, has music in the video game Stunt GP, was featured on Clear Channel
's website as a hot new artist because of a high chart status at GarageBand.com, has appeared on different compilation albums, including a double album of shredders released on liquid Note records in England and two Morley
compilations, one where he was one of five artists including Steve Vai
.
His music has been downloaded over 3 million times since 1999 and he continues to have his music played or downloaded thousands of times a week on various sites.
Since early 2007, Marc has been composing music for television and has had placements on The History Channel, The E channel, The Bravo Network and Fox on such programs as Cities of the Underworld, Sunset Tan and Millionaire Matchmaker.
Marc also recently wrote and recorded the theme song for the Oakland Athletics's Baseball TV broadcast aired for the first time on April 6, 2008.
In addition, Marc Pattison's song "SpaceJam" was used for the online game "Homerun in Berzerk Land", which was created by Marc-Antoine Jean and Simon Lachance.
He is also currently in a new band called Futures End
with former Zero Hour
singer Fred Marshall
and Steve Digiorgio
on bass of Sadus
, Death
and Testament
. Futures End have released the album Memoirs of a Broken Man
in October 2009 on Nightmare Records. Futures End's album was declared one of the top metal albums in a recent
issue of Greek Metal Hammer
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
based guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and was one of the first guitarists endorsed by several companies such as ESP Guitars
ESP Guitars
, located in North Hollywood, California, is an American-based, Japanese-owned manufacturer of electric guitars and basses.- History :In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products in Tokyo. It provided custom replacement parts for guitars. In 1976, ESP gained a reputation...
, DiMarzio
DiMarzio
DiMarzio, Inc. is an United States manufacturer best known for its revolutionary direct-replacement guitar pickups. The company also produces miscellaneous guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after...
pickups, Morley pedals
Morley Pedals
Morley Pedals is the name of a guitar effects pedal company, famous for manufacturing wah-wah pedals and other treadle type effects for guitar. Morley pedals use electro-optical circuitry rather than a potentiometer to control the effect. The foot treadle controls a shutter inside the pedal that...
and Steinberg
Steinberg
Steinberg GmbH is a German musical software and equipment company based in Hamburg. It mainly produces music recording, arranging and editing software as used in digital audio workstations and VSTi software synthesizers.- History :...
software based on internet visibility alone. He is also endorsed by M-Audio
M-Audio
M-Audio is a business unit of Avid Technology that designs and markets digital audio and MIDI interfaces, keyboards and MIDI controllers, synthesizers, loudspeakers, studio monitors, digital DJ systems, microphones, and music software...
/Digidesign
Digidesign
Avid Audio is an American digital audio technology company. It was founded in 1984 by Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooks. The company began as a project to raise money for the founders' band, selling EPROM chips for drum machines. It is a subsidiary of Avid Technology, and during 2010 the Digidesign...
, Line 6 amplifiers and Dean Markley strings Sabine
Sabine
The Sabines were an Italic tribe that lived in the central Appennines of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome...
tuners
Biography and playing history
Even though Pattison was born in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, German law dictates that a child take on the citizenship of the father, who in his case was American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Pattison spent his first 5 years in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
when his parents moved to the United States. German was his first language and he did not learn to speak English until age 5 when he arrived in the U.S.
Marc Pattison started playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
at age 13. He took lessons for less than 3 months when he quit because he was tired of learning single note passages/melodies for songs such as "House of the Rising Sun", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is an English language nursery rhyme, and a popular children's song, often sung as a round. It can also be an 'action' nursery rhyme where singers sit opposite one another and 'row' forwards and backwards with joined hands...
" or "Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
". He could not find anyone to teach him rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
songs by bands such as AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
so he decided to teach himself. After this brief period of lessons Pattison was mostly self-taught and never took lessons again.
Marc Pattison first made a name for himself on the now re-structured site mp3.com
MP3.com
MP3.com is a web site operated by CNET Networks providing information about digital music and artists, songs, services, community, and technologies. It is probably better known for its original incarnation, as a legal, free music-sharing service, popular with independent musicians for promoting...
. He heard about the site on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and decided to upload some material and quickly rose to the top of his genre: instrumental guitar. During the next two to three years, Pattison topped the charts both in instrumental rock
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
as well as the more broad genres of rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and was being downloaded thousands of times a day by guitar enthusiasts. MP3.com decided to promote him as a success story and placed a statement and picture in an advertisement in Guitar Center
Guitar Center
Guitar Center is the largest chain of musical instrument retailers in the world with 223 locations throughout the United States. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California....
's buyers guide that went out to over 2 million homes and stores.
Back in 1999 mp3.com
MP3.com
MP3.com is a web site operated by CNET Networks providing information about digital music and artists, songs, services, community, and technologies. It is probably better known for its original incarnation, as a legal, free music-sharing service, popular with independent musicians for promoting...
was the number one site for unsigned
Unsigned artist
The term "unsigned artist" or "independent artist" is used in the music industry as a marketing technique.-History and current scene:Many unsigned artists used to sell their music and music-related merchandise without the financial support of a record label, while often seeking a recording contract...
musicians to upload their music and be heard by a huge audience. The site was acquired by the major record labels due to a copyright infringement
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
and then shut down until it was bought and re-opened by download.com
Download.com
Download.com is an Internet download directory website, launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Originally, the domain was download.com.com. The domain download.com attracted at least 113 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study....
/CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
and turned into a place for signed artists to sell MP3s.
Marc Pattison was one of the first artists to mix guitar and electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
in the genre of instrumental rock guitar. He released such material on mp3.com with great success and managed to stay in the top 40 of over 30,000 bands for most of 1999. His music has been played on the now defunct KSJO
KSJO
KSJO is a commercial radio station in San Jose, California, and broadcasts to the San Francisco Bay Area on 92.3 FM. KSJO currently airs a Chinese format branded as "92.3 KSJO".-History:...
radio in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
and also on the syndicated "Mikey" (DJ Mikey Esparza currently on KIOZ
KIOZ
KIOZ, also known as Rock 105.3, is a Rock station in San Diego, California. It is licensed in San Diego, California, and is owned by Clear Channel Communications.- History :...
) show and has also performed live on Mikey's show three times and has had music on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Undressed
Undressed (TV series)
Undressed is an American anthology series that aired on MTV from July 26, 1999 to September 5, 2002. The series was created and executive produced by British director Roland Joffé.-Synopsis:...
in several of their episodes that are still running in reruns as of 2007, Fox
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...
sports as well as many video games, DVDs and webpages.
Later, Pattison went on to compose electronic music without many guitars, and currently produces music in such genres as rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and RnB
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
as well.
Marc Pattison has now been playing guitar for 26 years, has been mentioned in magazine articles in Recording and Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
magazines, has music in the video game Stunt GP, was featured on Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
's website as a hot new artist because of a high chart status at GarageBand.com, has appeared on different compilation albums, including a double album of shredders released on liquid Note records in England and two Morley
Morley Pedals
Morley Pedals is the name of a guitar effects pedal company, famous for manufacturing wah-wah pedals and other treadle type effects for guitar. Morley pedals use electro-optical circuitry rather than a potentiometer to control the effect. The foot treadle controls a shutter inside the pedal that...
compilations, one where he was one of five artists including Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
.
His music has been downloaded over 3 million times since 1999 and he continues to have his music played or downloaded thousands of times a week on various sites.
Since early 2007, Marc has been composing music for television and has had placements on The History Channel, The E channel, The Bravo Network and Fox on such programs as Cities of the Underworld, Sunset Tan and Millionaire Matchmaker.
Marc also recently wrote and recorded the theme song for the Oakland Athletics's Baseball TV broadcast aired for the first time on April 6, 2008.
In addition, Marc Pattison's song "SpaceJam" was used for the online game "Homerun in Berzerk Land", which was created by Marc-Antoine Jean and Simon Lachance.
He is also currently in a new band called Futures End
Futures End
Futures End is a Californian progressive metal band formed by guitarists Christian Wentz and Marc Pattison.Once their first few demos were completed, Fred Marshall, formerly of progressive metal band Zero Hour, was chosen to be their vocalist for his powerful vocals and great melodic sense...
with former Zero Hour
Zero Hour (band)
Zero Hour is a progressive metal band formed by twin brothers Jasun Tipton and Troy Tipton in Pleasanton, California in 1993.The band is signed by Sensory Label....
singer Fred Marshall
Fred Marshall
Fred Marshall, , was a member of the United States House of Representatives from the U.S. state of Minnesota....
and Steve Digiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio is an American bassist and musician.DiGiorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Charred Walls of the Damned, Obituary, and is a founding member of Sadus. He is widely renowned for...
on bass of Sadus
Sadus
Sadus is an American thrash metal trio from Antioch, California.-History:Sadus was formed in 1984 in Antioch, California. While their very first efforts were influenced by early thrash metal bands, such as Slayer or Death, the band would later develop its own musical style by adding complicated...
, Death
Death (band)
Death was an American metal band founded in 1983. The band's founder, Chuck Schuldiner, is considered "a pioneering force in death metal and grindcore". The band ceased to exist after Schuldiner died of brain cancer in 2001, though remains an enduring heavy metal brand.Death is considered one of...
and Testament
Testament (band)
Testament is an American metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
. Futures End have released the album Memoirs of a Broken Man
Memoirs of a Broken Man
Memoirs Of A Broken Man is the 2009 debut album by Futures End. It is the band's first release, and features guest appearances from Nightmare Records president Lance King...
in October 2009 on Nightmare Records. Futures End's album was declared one of the top metal albums in a recent
issue of Greek Metal Hammer