Mark:
In my previous life as a journalist I became the go-to music writer for the Cork Evening Echo, also contributing to Hot Press, Ireland’s number one music magazine. After The Echo I became the editor of Backstage Traffic, a bi-weekly glossy magazine that covered the city’s music scene. There were also a few guest appearances on Irish TV and radio.
A short journey through my media history before Ireland: England correspondent for India’s weekly million selling current affairs magazine The Week. Editor for Leisuretime, a weekly entertainment supplement inserted into 11 newspapers across London. Editor of the hugely exciting men’s lifestyle It Magazine which didn’t quite make it out of the nineties.
While on the surface of things I was enjoying a successful media career, my heart was really in music and I played bass in a number of bands, generally as the main songwriter. And for around a year I hosted the legendary singer/songwriter night at Cork’s Fred Zeppelins.
After illness forced me out of journalism and I somewhat made a recovery, I decided to devote myself to playing bass on the rich professional cover scene of Ireland, traveling all over the country with many bands playing bars and weddings.
Leaving Ireland for Madrid, I played in yet more bands there over a six year period before, in the summer of 2014, deciding to try the professional music scene on eastern coast of Spain. This episode saw the beginning of Mark’s Diaries which led directly to a move to London. Soon after Maja made her own move there, I switched from bass to guitar, at the same time ending Mark’s Diaries and beginning The Diaries. Which brings us right up to where we are.
Maja:
I first picked up the bass at the age of 15 when trying to start a rock band in my home of Stockholm. The band, and my bass playing, went nowhere and in May 2020 I decided to try again. This time it was different and I soon joined my first band.
Before the age of 15 I hadn’t really done that much with music at all. As a child I was in a choir, tried to learn the violin for a year, and showed a brief interest in guitar, but that was it. In truth, I was more dedicated to my studies.
At university I often took on a double workload across a variety of subjects and research projects, along the way attending seven different universities. This included conducting research at Keio University in Japan, in the process learning fluent Japanese. At the end of it all, from Lund University, I received my masters degree in Science and Engineering specialising in Communication Systems.
I then became a computer engineer specialising in cloud infrastructure at several exciting tech companies.
And so I remained until The Diaries were formed and I decided to focus on singing.
This is what we do We believe society wants and needs new music that comes from the heart However, most hits are now written by using algorithms We don't have a record deal yet, but then, most record companies keep most of the money anyway and then find ways to take the rest Streaming pays next to nothing Bars generally don't pay original acts, but we understand and have no problem with that Which is exactly why we have the hat Please think of the Donate button as the online equivalent of the hat and help keep us on the road
