Mark Morton (musician)
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Mark Morton is the lead guitarist of the metal band Lamb of God.
[edit] Biography
Mark Morton is one of Lamb of God's two guitarists, along with Willie Adler. He has a signature guitar deal with Jackson and is seen sometimes playing Framus Guitars, Jackson Randy Rhoads guitars, among others. He is the most reserved, introverted member of the band, and admits he doesn't feel comfortable in the public eye. Aside from guitar, he's an avid wine enthusiast, a cigar aficionado, and an amateur race car driver. In their DVD release, Killadelphia, he got into a fist fight with singer Randy Blythe (whom was drunk), which he won. This video can be seen on YouTube.
Mark Morton, Chris Adler and John Campbell formed the band Lamb of God in 1990 at Virginia Commonwealth University where they were floor mates. Morton left to pursue a master's degree, so a new guitarist, Abe Spear, was found. Randy Blythe was added on vocals when the band decided to retire from its instrumental sound. At this point in their career they were known as Burn the Priest. Morton re-joined the group and Burn the Priest released a self titled full length album soon after.
He cites Jeff Loomis as one of his inspirations. And has been told that he has a blues style to his music, as he frequently uses pentatonic scales.
His gear consists of Framus Guitars and his own Jackson signature models strung with GHS Boomer strings (52-10) tuned to drop-D, loaded with Seymour Duncan and EMG pickups. Onstage, Mark uses two Mesa Mark IV amplifiers with nine Mesa 4X12 cabinets (only two of the cabinets actually have speakers in them, the other seven are for show). His rack gear includes a Sennheiser wireless system, a DBX compressor which he uses as a noise gate to hide feedback, and a splitter box which divides his amplifier channels to the cabinets.
He has also been credited to some of Lamb of God's albums, specifically New American Gospel under his middle name only, Duane.
Morton is known for writing Lamb of God's more "risky" songs that some people argue their place in the band, as well as songs that meet no contest for use by the band. He has written the songs "Redneck", "Descending", "Vigil", and "Remorse is For the Dead", among others. He also plays most but not all of the band's guitar solos.
