Jesse Marx: Like Father, Like Son

(LOS ANGELES) — 28-year-old Jesse Marx, son of iconic pop legend Richard Marx and Hollywood actress Cynthia Rhodes, is weeks away from releasing his debut EP, “Dark World,” which contains five songs that were produced and written by Jesse. Though he also played all of the instruments and produced and sang every song, the EP will be released on all available platforms under his band name: Mark This Hour.

“I’ve always known I wanted to be a musician,” Jesse Marx told The Click. “I have my dad and two older brothers who are also in the music industry, so that’s been circling around my household for as long as I can remember.” 

As Richard Marx’s son, he feels that being able to experience that from such a young age really inspired his interest in music.

“My dad has been a musician since before I was even born and that really influenced my music career. As soon as I was plunged into the world, I got to be in the backseat of an entire music career throughout his life and I got to witness how much joy and satisfaction he got out of it. And that was something that I really wanted for myself,” Marx said. “It made the transition of wanting to be in music a lot easier because I had a role model like my father to look up to.” 

Jesse and Richard Marx [Credit: Jesse Marx]

According to Marx, his older brothers were the ones who got him interested in rock music as a kid. “I started really getting into that genre when I was about 10-years-old. There was just something about it that stuck out to me and I found sonically that it was intriguing, particularly the instrumentation,” he explained. 

It’s evident from just the song titles alone that the theme of his music is centered around overcoming struggles. “The entire concept lyrically behind it is something we all struggle with, including myself, which is having to work and deal with significant issues. That could be something as harsh as addiction, or something as fundamental as the fear of failure,” he described. 

Writing music with a clear message and purpose is something that Marx feels incredibly passionate about.

“I feel like a lot of people in the world going through anything, whether it’s the highest of highs or the lowest of lows, turn to music to have a soundtrack for what’s currently going on in their lives,” Marx said. “For a lot of people, music can be incredibly therapeutic, and just given that I feel blessed enough to have any inkling of musical ability, I think it’s really important for me to use that to help inspire people the same way that countless artists have helped me go through stuff like that. It would be so incredible if I could help at least one person the same way that others have helped me.”

An image from Jesse Marx’s album photoshoot. [Credit: Cole James]

“At the time, I didn’t have people around who were like-minded creatively, so I was kind of on my own in that sense. And that was fine with me because it sort of gave me creative liberty to make exactly what it is that I wanted. So I programmed and I performed all of the instruments that are on the record,” he said. “However, I was so fortunate to get one of my idols within the mixing world, Ben Grosse, to mix my EP. He’s mixed a lot of my favorite rock records and I am so blessed that I was able to sit in the studio with him after I already had the demos for the songs, and he really helped me with some co-production, as well as mixing. It just sounds incredible.”

At the moment, Marx has been collaborating with his dad on some new tracks while also still writing, producing, and developing new songs on his own. He shared that as soon as his music is released, he hopes to find a group of people to join his band and possibly go on tour. Though this would be his first time touring as Mark This Hour, he is no stranger to going on tour. When he was 19 years old he was a touring musician for a band in Chicago and was able to tour for two and half years in a beat-up RV. This really shaped him and allowed him to know exactly what he wanted when it came to his music career. 

“Dark World” will be officially available on May 25, 2022.

“Leading up to the release, I’m just taking care of the promotional and distribution side of things to make sure that everything will be available on all of the music streaming platforms,” Marx said. “Also finishing up some videos and photo shoots to accompany the music.”