Mark Morton (musician)

Mark Morton
Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton at the Download Festival 2007
Background information
Birth name	Mark Duane Konnaris Morton
Born	November 25, 1972 (1972-11-25) (age 38) United States
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Guitar
Labels	Prosthetic, Epic
Associated acts	Lamb of God, Burn the Priest
Website	Lamb of God website
Notable instruments
Jackson Mark Morton Dominion

Mark Duane Morton (born November 25, 1972) is the lead guitarist of the American groove metal band Lamb Of God.^[1]

Before Lamb of God

Morton grew up near Williamsburg, Virginia. His first band was Axis, which was composed of other local youth, one being Ryan Lake of Alabama Thunderpussy fame. Morton played rhythm guitar. The band became a popular local act, winning the local battle of the bands competition,n 1988.

Biography

Mark Morton, Chris Adler and John Campbell met in 1990 at Virginia Commonwealth University where they were floor mates. Several years later, they formed a band under the name "Burn the Priest". Morton soon left to pursue a master's degree, and the band added guitarist, Abe Spear and vocalist, Randy Blythe. After a couple years apart, Morton rejoined the group and Burn the Priest released a self titled full length album. He was credited as "Duane" on the album "New American Gospel" Lamb Of God's first major release.

Morton frequently utilizes pentatonic scales and harmonic minor scales, and it has been noted that he has a blues style to his music. He composes and plays almost all of Lamb of God's guitar solos and forms many of the heavy groove rhythms.

Guitarist Mark Morton performing at the Download Festival music concert in 2007.

His performing gear consists mostly of various Jackson guitars, including a Rhoads style and Swee-Tone archtop (both seen in the Killadelphia DVD) and, most often, his own signature model, the Jackson Dominion strung with GHS Boomer Strings 10-46 tuned to drop-D, loaded with a Seymour Duncan Invader Pickup in the bridge and a Duncan Jazz in the neck.^[2] Onstage, Mark uses two Dual Mesa Boogie Mark V heads amplifiers with Mesa 4X12 cabinets His rack gear includes a Sennheiser wireless system, a DBX 266XL compressor / noise gate, and a splitter box. Mark only uses a few pedals on stage, Original Cry Baby Wah Pedal, MxR Eddie Van Halen Phaser which "makes his solos sear", MxR Overdrive pedal, and a Boss tuning pedal. Recently, it has been rumored that a signature Crybaby might be in production.

In the liner notes to the album New American Gospel, he is credited under his middle name "Duane".

Morton is known for writing some of Lamb of God's less conventional songs. These include, "Descending", "Vigil", and "Remorse Is for the Dead". In the DVD documenting the making of Sacrament, he made the point that he likes to "toss in the wildcard, the oddball, 'cause for every three you toss in, one of 'em winds up being real special because it's that different." Morton has also written some of the band's more traditional metal songs, such as , "Now You've Got Something to Die For", "Redneck" and "Walk With Me in Hell".

In September 2011, Morton revealed plans of collaborating with DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara on a new project. According to Morton, Chicago doom legends Trouble are a big influence on the material. He says 14 "killer tunes" have been written so far, with Morton stating he is "not sure when it'll come to light."

Equipment

Guitars

• Jackson Sweetone
• Jackson Mark (king) Morton Dominion^[3]
• Jackson RR5 (Rarely uses it since acquiring his Signature with Jackson. Only used on "Ruin")
• Jackson King V (Only used on the New American Gospel recordings)
• Jackson USA Custom Shop Swee-Tone
• Jackson Warrior
• Jackson Soloist (used on the recent No Fear Energy Tour)
• Jackson Adrian Smith San Dimas DK (used on the recent No Fear Energy Tour)
• Gibson Les Paul Standard Gold
• Framus Renegade Pro (With neck pickup removed)
• Framus Camarillo Custom
• Jackson RR24
• JAW Custom Les Paul Style

Amplifiers & Cabinets

• Mesa Boogie Mark IV Amplifier
• Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce Amplifier
• Mesa Boogie 4x12 Cabinets (x9) (2 loaded, 7 unloaded)
• Marshall Amplification Hot-Rodded head (Only used on Wrath)
• Marshall Amplification 4x12 Cabinets (Only used on Wrath)
• Orange Amplification 4x12 Cabinets (Only used on Wrath)
• Mesa Boogie Mark V Amplifier
• Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier (added to his rig in 2008)
• Mesa Boogie Royal Atlantic

Accessories

• Various Seymour Duncan pickup models with the Duncan SH-1 '59 set prominent
• EMG Pickups active neck pickup (used live at the Donington Festival Download 2007)
• Dimarzio Breed pickups
• Sennheiser Wireless System
• Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
• Dunlop Crybaby Wylde Wah
• MXR EVH Phase 90
• MXR Kerry King 10 Band EQ
• MXR Carbon copy delay
• Rocktron Hush Super C
• DBX 266xl Compressor/Gate
• GHS Boomer Strings 10-46
• 1.14 mm Dunlop Tortex picks

Discography

With Burn the Priest

• Burn the Priest (1999, Legion Records)

With Lamb of God

• New American Gospel (2000, Prosthetic Records) (Credited under his middle name, Duane)
• As the Palaces Burn (2003, Prosthetic Records)
• Ashes of the Wake (2004, Epic Records)
• Killadelphia (2005, Epic Records)
• Sacrament (2006, Epic Records)
• Wrath (2009, Roadrunner Records)

References

1. ^ Demasi, Vincent (January 1, 2007). All God's children: Lamb of God's Willie Adler and Mark Morton spread the gospel of American metal. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-155736590/all-god-children-lamb.html. 
2. ^ http://www.seymourduncan.com/artists/setups/mark_morton_lam/
3. ^ http://www.guitarworld.com/article/jackson_pro_series_dominion_mark_morton_signature_guitar

Persondata
Name	Morton, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 25, 1972
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death