Publicity Campaign: Mark Howard - ‘Live at Sunderland Studio’ EP

Phillip Island songwriter Mark Howard unveils Live at Sunderland Studio on April 20 — a three-track release capturing his songs as they’ve evolved through live performance: stripped back, road-worn, and intimately recorded.

Recorded at Sunderland Studio, Phillip Island on 30 May 2025, the EP bridges the space between Howard’s studio catalogue and the energy of his touring sets. After more than 300 shows in the last three years, these versions arrive as a document of what happens when the arrangements are peeled back to the core and the room becomes part of the record.

That momentum has been building in public. Over the past 12 months, Howard has taken his songs through key stages, from local festivals including Adelaide Fringe, TIDAL, Playing the Field, as well as international stages for Buxton Fringe Festival (UK) and a Japan tour in September and October 2025.

Along the way, Howard’s releases have landed radio adds, premieres, and playlisting, including 2 x #1 songs in the regional AMRAP charts, as well as 2 more in the Top 10, and seen him receive 6 AIR Award nominations, including Independent Album of the Year, Best Independent Rock Album, Independent Song of the Year and ​​Independent Music Video of the Year, among others.

Mark has also been featured in Gippsland Life Magazine and Coast Magazine for his music and his music video for ‘The Light Behind Us’ was featured in the Bass Coast Film Festival.

‘Live at Sunderland Studio’ leans into the intimacy of Howard’s live world, most often just voice, acoustic guitar, and the feeling of a song holding its own weight. In this setting, violin, mandolin, keys, bass, and delicate percussion sit lightly around the writing, giving the performances warmth without sanding off the edges.

‘Here I Am’ opens as a quiet, conversational confession, an acceptance of being seen, flaws and all. ‘My Girl Is on Fire’ shifts into something more cinematic and magnetic, circling desire and the loss of control that can come with it. ‘I Am Not Afraid’ lifts the energy, landing as a release or a moment of clarity and defiance, choosing to move forward without hesitation.

Howard says the live versions feel like a full-circle return.

“I write mostly with just my acoustic guitar. Once the songs go to the studio, they’re dressed up, wined and dined, but when they have to leave to go on the road they return hurtled back to earth with no frills attached.”

One of the EP’s defining moments lands in ‘I Am Not Afraid’, when the audience joins in singing and clapping along. For those who download through BandCamp, they’ll receive the bonus track ‘'To Be a Man is a Curse'.

“The song was intended to have a live feel and sound like a bunch of folk in a barn having a wild ol’ time. The vision finally came to fruition for the live recording.”

Engineered and produced by Dave Prideaux and Mark Howard, the EP was recorded by Rob Turton, mixed by Dave Prideaux, and mastered by Dave Stepford at Stepford Studio, with an emphasis on warmth, dynamics, and the live moments you cannot manufacture.

The EP arrives as Howard continues on the road, following shows throughout April and rolling on through May and beyond, taking these songs back to the regional Victorian rooms where they’ve been shaped, tested, and dialled in.

“I’ll travel just about anywhere to chase that moment when the room meets the music and there’s a real, shared connection. That’s what keeps me moving.”