An Interview with Mark Farner

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Wag the Dog on Steroids:

An Interview with Mark Farner

by Robert E. Martin

Mark Farner is an individual that can be safely categorized as a true 'Rock 'n Roll hero'. As founding member, lead guitarist-vocalist, songwriter, and primary creative force behind the Michigan born rock band Grand Funk Railroad, Farner rode his musical vision to international acclaim.

Grand Funk Railroad sold over 25 million records and were the biggest selling American group of 1970. They earned eleven consecutive RIAA Gold Record Awards, six of which went platinum.

They were the only group besides The Beatles to sellout New York's Shea Stadium, and they did it in even faster time. By the mid-1970s they became known as "the American Band" with such notable classic rocks hits as I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home), Some Kind of Wonderful, and Rock & Roll Soul.

With the release of his new biography, From Grand Funk to Grace, we

recently had the opportunity to speak with Mark Farner about aspects of his

illustrious career, his feelings about manager Terry Knight, who pocketed a

fortune from the success of the band, and Farner's profound and

controversial views about Christianity.

Review:  Mark, what was it like to actually sit down and go over the entire

process of examining your life?

Farner:  Actually, I started it with Joe Gavlick. He compiled a lot of

information over a 3-year period and went through old magazines like

Billboard, Cashbox, Creem  and all of the online information available and

documented a lot of material.

Joe was going to write the book, but he's more of an exploratorian - he

digs deep.  This information was invaluable to Kris Englehardt, whom I

selected to author the book.

I hooked up with Kris through David Fishof.  Even though Kris is from my

home state, I didn't know him personally. But Kris took over the telling of

my story because I felt due to his relationship to the music, and

especially to our area geographically, he could set the scene better and

speak the language. I think our understanding came out in a spiritual sense

without recognizing it - and because of that Kris could unfold the story in

the right way.

Review:  When you think of that period that Grand Funk emerged from in the

1970's, it was an incredible decade. Looking back, was there a defining

moment that crystallized what the music & politics of that time meant to

you?

Farner:  It wasn't during the '70s that I realized what they meant to me.

It was during the 1st Vietnam Veterans Benefit at Harpo's called Guitar

Army in the early 1980s.

The Nam vets I didn't know and had just met them, but they knew me. It was

that relationship that I saw and the spirit they represented. They were

hanging on to the hope in their hearts of returning home, and the song

Closer to Home was their anthem.

They told me stories about being in the bunker and everyone would shut up

and listen when that song came on.  Life was on a string. 58,000 of our

young men died in Nam over a very short period. The whole catastrophe was

monumental and the spiritual string that shined in that song held us

together like a tether.

Review: Speaking of that song, 'Closer to Home', it sounds like a 'road

song'.  Did you write it on the road, or how did it come about?

Farner:  I said my 'Now I lay me down to sleepŠ' prayer, and would always

pray back then because I thought I needed the fire insurance. I'd think,

'Man, if there's a God upstairs there must be a hell, and if he catches up

with me for all the crap I've done, look out!'

But in that prayer, I asked God to give me a song that would reach and

touch the hearts of the people God wanted me to touch. And he answered my

prayer and that song came to me in the middle of the night.

I'd never written lyrics first in any of my compositions, so it was a

monumental moment for me. I got up at 5 AM and wrote the words down and

went back to sleep. I got up the next day, watched the sun come up, grabbed

my flattop guitar, and then the music came to me. I brought the lyrics in

from the bedroom and started singing along. I took it to rehearsal the

following day and the guys loved it. They knew it was a hit.

Review:  Back in the sixties and seventies the media was always touting the

East and West coast, but that period that Grand Funk surfaced also

witnessed the emergence of a lot of great Michigan bands. What was it about

that period that allowed so much talent from Michigan to surface?

Farner:  It was the influx of talent around the country that migrated to

the auto factories for high paying jobs.  Michigan experienced a migration

from all over the country. A lot of southern people moved to Michigan. My

Mom was from Arkansas and all her family came here to work in the auto

factories. My grandfather had a tailor business and moved to Michigan to

work at Buick.

We had that Southern influence. Every Sunday we'd get together to sing

music and I would harmonize with women singing old standards. That was the

culture of our area, and because it was homogenized by so many tastes in

music, it was appealing to more people.

In the South people loved Grand Funk. The same with Texas and all over. We

had that R&B flavor, so the North also embraced it. There was a definitive

sound coming out of Michigan and a lot of bands were making it. We are the

products of our environment. You are what you eat and our mind is what it

eats. Michigan had the opportunity to step up to the plate.

Review: I've got to ask you about the Shea Stadium experience.  Grand Funk

surpassed the Beatles in terms of audience turnout. What was that

experience like?

Farner: To go over that stadium in a helicopter on the way in and watch the

entire stadium bounce and see all these heads rockin' to Humble Pie opening

the show on second base was unbelievable.  The place was packed and rocking

and the anticipation was immense. I felt both the energy and stomach acid

like nothing I had before.

Review:  Let's talk about your own spiritual development.  As a devout

Christian right now society seems to be embracing more humanist

philosophies and religions.  What do you think about that?

Farner:  I think there's been a misrepresentation of Jesus Christ. That's

the reason there is this departure to who we are and who we think we

currently are, and we don't know who we are.

There is no identity in this country when you have notions floating around

that are against common law and the God given rights we have.  I think

religion is responsible for a lot of this and the moving away from Judeo

Christian thought.

The Bible is right on, accurate, and true. The God I worship is the God of

the Bible, the God who gave us redemption through Jesus Christ, and the

only one who could ever do it was God's offspring.

Men are still trying to live up to the law in the churches. But the first

thing the churches do is collect money, and that is so anti-God.  Why not

just put a box in the foyer and if someone wants to give, let them - but

don't compel them to give. Some of these ministers hold up their wallets to

get the most out of the congregation, and that is pure manipulation. In

Corinthians it says do not give begrudgingly, yet too many churches compel

people to give because of their tax exempt status, and that is sickening.

Men can get themselves into so much credit debt just on their own and I

hate enumerating the value of a person with a passion. But I know, because

I've been in the Christian music business, that a lot of places will never

have me back because I speak my mind.

I believe what Jesus did was unconditional love. Man cannot even comprehend

it with the mind because that type of love is incomprehensible.  That love

was for everybody and we're all included.  God is in charge of our heart.

When truth links with faith in our heart, faith is expanded.

Review:  I realize that the subject of Terry Knight is a tender one because

of how much money he appropriated from the band, but was your relationship

with him a complex one?

Farner: I told Don Brewer before we went into this thing that Terry was a

con man, a rip-off artist and that we're gonna get screwed. Brewer said

that was better than sitting in Flint, Michigan.  And that's pretty much

it.

There was a big interview with Terry recently in Discoveries magazine and

his character comes out so much in that piece. I read a little of it and

had to vomit.

Review:  Are there any acts that grab you today musically that you listen to?

Farner:  Bob, I don't even listen to the radio anymore.  My 13-year old son

does, but I have no idea what he gets into.

It's all manipulation in the music business today.  Whoever controls the

media controls the mind - it's like Wag the Dog on Steroids.

Mark Farner and Kris Engelhardt will be at the Lantern in Bay City on

Saturday, February 23, to sign copies of the book 'From Grand Funk to

Grace: The Authorized Biography of Mark Farner'

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