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  • Marc Athlan

    Slide guitar

  • About

     

    In the Sci-Fi classic film "The Invaders", an alien could be recognized by their little finger pointing at the sky. On that same finger, European slide guitarist Marc Athlan wears a tube of glass: a bottleneck. While he is no intrusive invader, to witness him playing is to experience a real slide guitar U.F.O.!

    His versatile playing and musicianship allows him to take on multiple forms to any attentive listener, whether he is reinterpreting famous songs or showcasing his own original compositions: one moment we hear Steve Vai-esque wizardy, the next it sounds like classic country pedal-steel, and then suddenly highland celtic pipes... and it goes on, as he sonically shape-shifts into other forms and new territories.

    For some, all roads lead to Rome but in Marc's universe, all musics lead to slide guitar. Reaching far beyond the bottleneck's blues origins, no musical style is out of reach for this musical extra-terrestrial.

    Standing out from the crowd, playing music that lodges deeply into any memory, Marc has been recognised by his mentor, Sonny Landreth, among other leaders of the genre. He is increasingly seen as one of the leading slide guitar performers, innovators and composers on the planet... And perhaps beyond... ???

     

     

    Là où les Envahisseurs étaient reconnaissables par leur auriculaire pointant en l'air, le guitariste slide Marc Athlan l'est par ce même petit doigt affublé d'un tube en verre. Plus timide qu' « envahisseur », mais quand bien même extra-terrestre de la slide guitar, d'après les oreilles incrédules ! Capable de prendre différentes apparences, des réminiscences shred à la Steve Vai, aux imitations de uillean pipes, de pedal-steel, entre autres, que ce soit sur diverses reprises personnalisées ou des originaux... Un musicien à part et dont l'art reste dans les mémoires ! Reconnu par son mentor, Sonny Landreth himself, entre autres...

     

    Marc Athlan is a Diamond Bottlenecks endorsing artist...

     

    ... And uses Krivo Resophonic Pickups

  • Videos

    Take a look and enjoy !

    Celtic slide guitar

    When glass pipe meets bagpipes...

    "Take On Me" (A-ha)

    Slide fingerstyle arrangement

    "Somebody That I Used To Know" (Gotye)

    Slide fingerstyle arrangement

  • Gallery

    Photos & videos

    With Johnny Gallagher after his private gig in Bogève, October2018
    With Sonny Landreth after his gig with John Hiatt in Zurich, July 2018 !
    With Sonny Landreth and Hank Shizzoe after the John Hiatt gig in Zurich, July 2018 !
    Visiting Mike Lewis' shop - 2017
    With Sonny Landreth in Paris 2017
    At Mike Lewis' place 2017
    On tour with The Flocking Murmuration 2017
    First EP recording sessions with The Flocking Murmuration 2016
    With Sonny Landreth in 2015
    With Sonny Landreth - 2015.
  • Sessions

    2021 : CousteauX "Stray Gods" ("Karen Don't Be Sad", "Hush Money")

    Crane "Rockin' In The USA", "Give Me Strength" (Eric Clapton cover)

    2020 : Crane "Poetic Verses"

    2019 : Crane "Everything Must Fall"

    2018 : Crane "Renaissance Spaceship"

    The Flocking Murmuration "Step Outside"

    2017 : Crane "Nobody Knows"

    2016 : The Flocking Murmuration

    2014 : Crane "Random Precision" ("Down At The River", "Endless Summer", "All I Have To Say", "Sunset")

    2012 : Tomas Grand "Kamikaze A Mi-Temps" ("Touché Coulé, "Chanson Un Peu Triste")

    2011 : Gael "Nos Liens" ("Une Place Dans Mon Coeur", "Amis", "Song For Charles")

    2010 : Tiger The Lion "The Secret Ballad Of Judas Iscariot"

    2008 : Gaëtan "Martin La Chance" (Editions L'Oreille)

  • Quotes

    - "Have to say, it really does my heart good to hear me inside Marc's playing (...). Marc Athlan has embraced what i've done as an influence and has made his way to another place and that's the greatest accomplishment a student can achieve." - Sonny Landreth

     

    - "A real master of playing behind the bottleneck !" - Mike Lewis (Fine Resophonic)

     

    - "This is some of the best guitar playing i heard in years !" - Dweezil Zappa (Instagram comment)

     

    - "Fantastic and amazing !! Marc is advancing the art form of slide guitar into new territory." - David Tronzo (Fb comment)

     

    - "Incredible musicianship. Marc is really taking slide guitar onto another level." - Ian McWee (Diamond Bottlenecks) (Fb comment)

     

    - "Amazing..." - Kirk Lorange (Youtube comment)

     

    - "Marc has an amazing feel for Celtic music played behind, in front of and all around the slide" - John Campbelljohn (Youtube comment)

     

  • Dates

     

    28/04/2022 : Bain-Bleu Hammam & Spa, Geneva, Switzerland

    12/05/2022 : Bain-Bleu Hammam & Spa, Geneva, Switzerland

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