Marcus King On Channeling Cream And ZZ Top While Shifting To Rock

Last year, Marcus King released his second album ‘Young Blood,’ which brought him remarkable success. In contrast with his debut ‘El Dorado,’ this album showcased an evident leaning toward rock. Speaking to Guitar World, King revealed that he tried to embrace the sound of Cream and ZZ Top during the record-making process.

“Yeah, I think ‘absorbis the key phrase,” Marcus King said when asked whether he tried to absorb the sound of 70’s power trios in ‘Young Blood.’ “I was living really hard, but one thing I was doing was listening to a lot of Cream, a lot of ZZ Top, a whole lot of Free, Sabbath, and Zeppelin. I listened to any big, trio-sounding group I could get my hands on and just blared it at my place by the lake.”

When the interviewer told him that the impacts of Free and Creedence were apparent in the song, ‘Dark Cloud,’ King replied, “Yeah, that’s the most unintentional one on the record, as far as inspiration. When we started cutting ‘Blood On The Tracks,’ I was like, ‘Hell, man, this has a swampy feel. It’s getting humid.’ So, we chased that feeling and put proper percussion on it, and it happened really unintentionally. But that’s not a bad group to model yourself after.”

Marcus Young’s first album ‘El Dorado’ presented his take on soul music. Following its release, the album brought Marcus a nomination for Best Americana Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. However, the musician felt the need for a change in his musical direction and started a journey to come up with a rock and roll album.

Before the release of ‘Young Blood,’ Marcus sat and listened to household names in the rock industry, such as Cream, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Free. Apparently, he found inspiration in these bands’ sounds and ‘absorbed them to create his own approach.