“Area code 204,” Mark Bryan says into the phone immediately after our initial greetings have been exchanged. “Hmm. I’m going to guess Philadelphia?” the lead guitarist of Hootie and The Blowfish asks enquiringly.

“Nope,” I tell him. “Manitoba.”

“Manitoba! My lord, how cold is it up there?” Bryan exclaims into the mouthpiece of his cell phone, while he climbs out of his car in Carolina. “What are you doing in Manitoba?!”

After I explain that I’m only temporarily enduring the arctic Winnipeg temperature for one week while I visit my family, he laughs, and assures me that he understands – home is where the heart is, or in his case, where the magic happens.

It was precisely there, at home, where Mark Bryan recorded his highly anticipated solo album, End of The Front.

“It’s very similar to being in a regular studio. You’ve got musicians coming in and out all the time,” Bryan says of his basement space. “But the difference is, at the end of that day, you just go upstairs and suddenly you’re home.”

The album is a compilation of 10-years-worth of songs that didn’t quite make the cut for Hootie and The Blowfish. However, Bryan doesn’t look at the songs as a collection of the band’s toss-outs.

“[These songs] had their chance with the band, but they just didn’t work with Hootie,” says Bryan. “I want to give them a life outside the studio, so other people can have the chance to hear ‘em, and dig on ‘em.”

His solo album, his second, is set to hit retail and digital stores (and his web site) on March 11.

His first single, Fork in The Road, has been receiving some encouraging feedback from fans and critics alike.

“I wrote that song two months ago for a movie. I had the honour of doing the title track for the film,” recalls Bryan. The film Fork in the Road, still in production, stars Josh Cooke (Big Day, Four Kings) and Jaime King (The Class, Sin City). “I read the scripts, got to know the characters, and then related their experiences to a recent one in my own life – the toughest thing I have ever gone through – a divorce.”

Playing instruments for nearly 26 years, the 40-year-old guitarist and singer has collected over 30 string instruments, and can play all of them. The mandolin, the banjo and a plethora of different brands and styles of guitars make up his massive musical repertoire. But it isn’t just his strumming abilities that made him an invaluable asset to Hootie and The Blowfish. Bryan also tested his chops on vocals for many of their biggest tracks, and in doing so, discovered his ability to belt it out, and belt it well.

“I used to feel that I was a dreadful singer,” admits Bryan lightly. “But as the years went by, I found my voice with [the band]. This will be my first time touring alone though.”

According to Bryan, he is both nervous and excited to get up on stage as a solo performer.

Albeit, his pre-show ritual might help him with those nerves.

“We always used do a shot of bourbon before going on, but now I’ve gotten into this drink called Baronjager,” he explains with animation. “It’s a German liquor, and it tastes like a shot of honey, with a bite!”

With an album teetering on the verge of release, and a tour in the coming months, Bryan sounds surprisingly calm about the future, ten years down the line.

“If I’m not writing music, then I’ll be producing someone else, and hopefully the band will still be cracking,” he says.

And if not? If Hootie and The Blowfish sink and never sell another album?

“At least I’ll have another batch of songs to do a solo album with,” he says with what sounds like a smile.


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