Mark del Castillo is a guitarist, vocalist, composer and songwriter.
Early life and education
Mark del Castillo was born in
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. It ...
,
United States. Raised in a family with many musical influences, he started learning guitar at age 14, following after his talented older brother
Rick del Castillo. For some time Mark studied guitar by himself; then in year 1990 he entered the
University of Texas at Brownsville and became a Music Major. There Mark studied Music Theory, Ear Training, and Applied Guitar and played in University Latin/Jazz band.
Career
In 1991, Mark started to play with a cover band called Kickstart as a guitarist and spent over three years with them. He left Kickstart, and went to
Texas A&M University to study in the College of Biomedical Science. There Mark and several his student friends came together to play as a band called Vivid. They graduated in 1996 and moved to
Austin, Texas, where they started to perform on the famous 6th Street circuit. As Vivid they played in other cities in
Texas and even had some show trips to
Europe.
At that time Mark del Castillo also joined the rock band called Milhouse, where he for the first time met
Mike Zeoli
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...
(drummer of
Del Castillo). Mark's brother Rick recorded and produced the first Milhouse CD, for which Mark wrote and performed an instrumental Latin-flamenco track named “Para Mija Linda”. Written for his future wife, this song inspired him very much, and he started to write more guitar music in different Spanish styles. Mark created a few instrumentals and then began collaboration with
Alex Ruiz
Alexandre Ruiz (born 24 March 1987) is a professional rugby union referee who represents the French Rugby Federation. He is a regular appointment at Top 14 and has recently joined the top level of European Rugby.
Referee career
Ruiz started offic ...
, who wrote lyrics to several of songs. Mark offered these songs to his brother
Rick del Castillo. Rick liked them very much. The brothers realized that they had never worked together before and decided to start writing and playing music together.
Mark now plays guitar and sings in the
Del Castillo band he founded together with his brother Rick. Along with the other members of
Del Castillo Mark also plays in
Robert Rodríguez
Robert Anthony Rodriguez (; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ac ...
's
Chingon band.
Mark and Rick del Castillo were honored of being two of only about six musicians worldwide to launch the
Gibson Dark Fire
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typica ...
guitar.
Del Castillo Band Official Myspace
/ref> The Del Castillo Brothers presented the Dark Fire at Antone's club in Austin, Texas, on December 15, 2008.
Equipment list
*Takamine Classical Nylon customized by Peter Mark
*Yamaha APX10NA Classical Guitar customized by Peter Mark (main performance guitar)
*Genz Benz Shen Pro Acoustic Amplifier
*RMC Poly Drive IV Pickup System
*Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
*Boss DD-3 Digital Delay Pedal
*BOSS 7-Band Graphic EQ Pedal
*Boss Tuner Pedal
*Electro-Harmonix "Black Finger" Compressor Pedal
*Jim Dunlop "Mark del Castillo Signature" Tortex Picks (black/gold)
*D'Addario Hard Tension Nylon Strings
Discography
Milhouse
*''Milhouse (self-titled debut)'' (1999)
Del Castillo
*'' Brothers of the Castle'' (2001)
*''Vida
Vida means “life” in Spanish and Portuguese. It may refer to:
Geography
* Vida (Gradačac), village in Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica
* U.S. settled places:
** Vida, Montana
** Vida, Oregon
** Vida, Missour ...
'' (2002)
*''Del Castillo Live DVD
Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...
'' (2004)
*'' Brotherhood'' (2006)
*''Del Castillo'' (self-titled) (2009)
Chingon
*''Mexican Spaghetti Western
''Mexican Spaghetti Western'' is a studio album by Robert Rodriguez's band, Chingon. Originally released in 2004 exclusively on the band's website, it became available in stores on April 10, 2007. The original non-digi-pak release of the album di ...
'' (2004)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Castillo, Mark
Songwriters from Texas
Musicians from Austin, Texas
Writers from Austin, Texas
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Brownsville, Texas
Guitarists from Texas