Interview with MARCIE FREE

Marcie Free is probably one of the best voices in the melodic hard rock scene. Marcie Free (born as Mark  Free ) is a vocalist, who has been the lead singer of rock bands King Kobra, Signal, and Unruly Child. With the above mentioned bands, Free has released some classic albums. Unruly Child's debut effort, "Ready To Strike" with King Kobra, the one and only Signal album ("Loud And Clear") but, also, Free's solo album, "Long Way From Love" in 1993, are all classic melodic hard rock releases!

After a long time, Marcie Free is back in the music scene with Unruly Child to rock our worlds for good! "Worlds Collide" was released last year and was welcomed pleasently from the melodic fans around the world. Marcie's voice is on top form and the band seems that is tighter than ever. It's a great pleasure that Marcie accepted my invitation for this interview to talk about everything. From King Kobra's days to the new Unruly Child and Free's future plans.......enjoy!!!

heavy paradise : Hello Marcie! I would like to welcome you here in Heavy Paradise for this interview and to congratulate you for the new Unruly Child album! It really is a superb piece of melodic rock album. I guess that you must be very proud of the final result of "Worlds Collide". All the net welcomed your new album with great pleasure. How so and you decided, after all those years, to come back with a new Unruly Child album?

Marcie :  Over two years ago I got sober. One of the many miracles that happen as a result of simply getting drugs and alcohol out of your life is developing a close personal relationship with God, or as some people refer to as their "higher power." That all seems to be a simple concept for some, but for me it was a long hard journey. For so long I had hated myself and everything about me that I found it hard to believe there could be a God that could love me. That couldn't be farther from the truth. After I started letting God come into my heart more and more miracles started to happen.
One of which is Bruce and I started talking again after many years of not talking with each other. About every other month or two we would have long phone conversations. We would talk about the possibility of putting the band back together. Two weeks before Bruce called to ask me if I would be interested in signing with Frontiers, I was doing my morning prayer. I was deep in meditation when I came upon my daily affirmation book.

The passage for that day talked about how we are all given special gifts from God when we were born, and how it's very important for each of us to discover those gifts and to give back what God has given us. To make life more enjoyable for all mankind and for ourselves at the same time. I suddenly realized how incredibly gifted I was, and how much I had taken it for granted. I affirmed to God and to myself that morning that if ever another musical opportunity were to come to me, I would gladly accept it to show God I was ready to be of service. The day Bruce called I knew what he was going to ask me before the words came out of his mouth. I just laughed. It was divine providence as far as I was concerned. After I agreed, Jay and Larry were on board immediately. As I said many times before, I love these guys like my own family and would do anything for them. I am honored to be in a gang with them. I think we must all be star crossed or something.

 heavy paradise : How long did it take you to record the new album?

Marcie : We started writing and recording the record in December 2009 and were finished mixing it and everything the end of April 2010. So a little over four months. Which is the fastest I had ever written and recorded any record I have done before.

heavy paradise : Allow me to go back to your stunning Unruly Child debut. "Unruly Child" is a classic melodic rock release. After all those years how do you feel about this album?

Marcie : I love that album. We made a great record. It's funny how things stand the test of time and come out being like a classic or something. I feel that record will go down in history.

heavy paradise : My opinion is that if you have stayed with Unruly Child, you could have become a huge name back then. What went wrong and you didn't continued as the band's lead singer?

Marcie : Well it was because of a lot of things but mostly a new music trend started to form out of Seattle, Washington four months before we came out with our record.
Then Beau lost his deal with the record company and we got dropped. Everyone was needing to make money and Guy went out on tour and Bruce had to go out too so it became even harder to keep the band together. My gender issues were becoming too hard to hide any more and I was killing myself with drugs and alcohol to try and cope. Something had to give so or I was going to wind up dead.
I chose to face my issues head on and deal with it after forty years. It was really hard for us to have to split up the way we did but we really didn't have all that much choice back then. Looking back now it seems to be it was God's plan for us. We all needed this time out to find our true selves and kick old habits

heavy paradise : Let's talk about King Kobra. Another great band with some strong releases but unfotunately didn't last too long. Do you have nice memories from your King Kobra days?

Marcie : Well yes there are some but being that I was so unhappy with who I was on such a basic level, alot of it is hard for me to look back on.

heavy paradise : Do you keep in touch with any member of King Kobra?

Marcie :  Dave and I have been in touch recently over the internet a few times. Carmine and I used to talk but we really don't have that much in common any more so we have kind of parted ways.

heavy paradise : Is there any chance to see a reunion with King Kobra one day?

Marcie:  No probably not.

heavy paradise: Another big chapter in your career was the Signal's album. I just love this album !!! By the way, "Loud And Clear" is another classic but again no further work with Signal! Was it your decision not to continue Signal or there was no interest from the rest of Signal's members?

Marcie:  Signal was almost three years in the making before we split up. Danny was always on the road with Cher, or Sheena Easton or someone so again it was hard to keep the band together. After we lost our deal with the label I tried to talk everyone into taking it on the road but couldn't get any cooperation. 
I had to leave because it was getting to the point I was going to go down with the ship if I didn't start looking else where. Bruce and Guy came along right on schedule and offered a way out. To me it was a matter of following my gut instinct and going where I felt God was leading me.
Looking back now everything happened according to the big guy's plan as it was supposed to and I was simply following directions.

heavy paradise : After all those years, with such a great songs, which are your favourite tracks Marcie?

Marcie : The Last Time, Someday You'll Come Running To Me, Arms Of A Stranger, Who Cries Now, Love Is Gone, On The Rise. And of course all the songs on our new record Worlds Collide

heavy paradise : You have collaborated with many bands as a singer but, also, as a songwritter. Which is the one that will always have a special place in your heart?

Marcie : Unruly Child is my home. And the guys in the band are my brothers in rock. We are a family.

heavy paradise : Is there anything that you have regreted and if you had a second chance would you change it?

Marcie: No. No regrets. I would have sought out a good therapist sooner had I known but again, things always happen according to God's plan. I truly believe that.

heavy paradise : Can you tell me the first thing that comes into your mind for these words?

FAITH: My loving God in heaven.
LOVE: My dog Astro.
LIES: The Devils tool.
SUCCESS: Over rated.
FAILURE: Part of life. It's where you learn the best lessons in life.

FRIENDSHIP: Hard to find. When you do... hang onto it.
UNRULY CHILD: My family in rock

heavy paradise : What are Marcie Free's influences?

Marcie : Soul music. The sixties. The seventies. I tried to list everyone I could think of on my Myspace page. The list grows with each experience in life.

heavy paradise : If you had to pick your five top releases, which would that be?

Marcie : The Beatles "Meet The Beatles". Led Zeppelin's second record. Jimi Hendrix "Are You Experienced". King Crimson "In The Court Of The Crimson King". Deep Purple "Burn".

heavy paradise : For many years, you stayed away from music. Was there any particular reason for staying away as a recording artist?

Marcie : I was deeply hurt after coming out with my gender issues in L.A.. I was shunned and lost a lot of friends back then. I needed to take this time out in order to find myself, learn to love myself, and most importantly find my faith in God. It took me that long as I have a very hard head. I am a slow learner. But once I finally get something, I hang onto it for dear life. But I'm back now and everything's good! You'll see.

heavy paradise : How is Marcie Free's ordinary day?

Marcie : I get up around a quarter to six every morning. I am at my desk at work about 7:45 a.m. and work till five o'clock p.m. Monday through Friday. In bed by nine p.m.. On weekends I do the house work, laundry, grocery shopping and try and catch up on my sleep and cuddle with my dog. That is if I am not at my computer doing interviews or writing my book and screen play. Today I took Astro out for a walk in the 8 degree weather. It was nice. I started to sweat. HA

heavy paradise : How do you see the fact that many 'old' bands are coming back with comeback albums?

Marcie : I don't keep up with all that so I am not aware of what other groups are doing. I really don't have time to, and it really doesn't interest me all that much.

heavy paradise : Unruly Child, Nelson, Y&T...just to name a few, are back with great comeback albums. Do you see that the 80's, early 90's scene has more to offer?

Marcie : Sure. I always thought that melodic rock music would stand the test of time where the fads and trends tend to have songs that maybe hooky today but really don't have any classic sensibility and therefore won't be around all that long. As you can see we (Unruly Child) kind of picked up right where we left off and plan to keep it going from here.

 heavy paradise : I guess that a band like Unruly Child had no problem to get a good contract deal. But do you think that nowadays is hard for a new band to get a good record contract?

Marcie : Not if the band has really great material. That is the most important thing. The songs and the ability to write and be prolific as a writer. If you've got the goods eventually you'll rise, like cream... right to the top.

heavy paradise : "Worlds Collide" left me hungry for more :-) I know that it's too early for this queastion but I have to ask΄ whether we should expect more releases from Unruly Child in the near future?

Marcie : Absolultely. We're here to stay. I've got no where else to go except to take us on the road which we are planning on doing.

heavy paradise : Is there any chance to see Unruly Child performing live in 2011?

Marcie: Yes. For sure.

heavy paradise : Any message to your fans Marcie?

Marcie : Thank you all so much. I have been made aware of your presense through the internet all these years and it's truly warmed my heart to know you all have stuck in there with me. Unruly is back to stay and we are planning on coming out to tour or to at least do some shows where the public can come to see us. I hope to see all of you there and can't wait to meet you all someday. God bless you all.

heavy paradise : I would like to thank you for this interview Marcie. It was a great pleasure. I wish you all the best for 2011!

Marcie : Thank you my friend. All the best to you and the readers.