Mighty Mark and Adam Holofcener Talk Their New Summer Jam by Jordannah Elizabeth
I like the story of the new Baltimore summer jam track, Dumb Love. It’s more than a little ironic because local musician and producer Mighty Mark and AGH (Adam Holofcener) met one another at a wedding. Before this, and, to be more specific, Holofcener sought out Mighty Mark after being a fan of his DJ skills from afar after Adam returned to his hometown of Baltimore a couple of years ago. MC Hello Rello, the third collaborator on the single, tends to work regularly with Mighty Mark, so when the track was nearly finished, he was invited to lay down a few bars to round out the song.
“Adam and I started writing the song over a year ago at my house,” Mark said, when asked about the concept behind Dumb Love. “I was trying to make a soulful song with a little bit of Bmore Club vibe. While I was working on it at my studio, I thought it might be better to make it into a song versus a regular [full] club track.”
“It was actually off the top of Adam’s head while he was playing guitar. Dumb Love is like that playful love, that playful, funny love you feel in the beginning [of a relationship],” he continued.
Since the conception of the album took place nearly 18 month ago, Adam had a slightly blurry memory of how the seeds of “Dumb Love” were planted. “I started to play this James Brown kind of guitar lick. I could tell [Mark] was getting excited, and because I have a background in improvisation, I just started playing a ton of guitar licks and he started capturing them and splicing them together.”
Adam was also the singer on the track, and jumped in the recording booth after Mark announced that the track was in need of a catchy hook. “I was thinking about short phrases, and I was thinking about different words that could be used. It’s possible that Young Moose’s song, “Dumb Dumb” was getting a lot of play, so that could have been floating around in my head [when I came up with the hook].”
After the music and the hook was completed, Mark continued to refine the song in his new South Baltimore studio called, Gold Room Music and Media Studios. MC Hello Rello, a local artist who has regularly recorded in the space, became a natural choice for Mark. The song was completed in Mighty Mark’s new studio that was just opened in February.
Once the song was ready for public consumption, Mark asked AGH and Hello Rello to perform the single for a crowd at The Crown, and Mark and Adam stated that the song has been received well by everyone who hears it.
The story of Dumb Love is simple, but incredibly sweet. “Mark’s an extremely sweet person,” said Adam. “He’s one of those people who’s worked with everybody, but he’s the complete opposite of any type of diva. He’s very sweet and very committed to South Baltimore, where he grew up. He exists in many scene, but is not a scene kind of person.” Mighty Mark is well known for his work with TT the Artist and many notable local MCs.
Dumb Love drops today. The official release party goes down on Wednesday June 28th at Looneys Pub Canton 2900 O’Donnell Street: (FREE ADMISSION TWO FOR ONE DRINK). Special Guest DJ Set by Baltimore Club DJ Mighty Mark / Special Performance of New Single Dumb Live by Mighty Mark x AGH and Hello-Rello / Powered by @LarryWhaddup @DJ_Calico @Fliination @GoldRoom410
And to commemorate the release, a limited number of special edition embroidered Dumb Love dad hats are available for purchase here.
