Mac DeMarco is a known Canadian singer, songwriter and a producer that has released 3 studio albums and two mini LP’s.
His music style is often described as slacker ‘rock’ or ‘blue wave’. DeMarco likes to call it ‘jizz jazz’.
Early years
He was born on April 30, 1990 as Vernon Winfield MacBriare Smith IV in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada. He was raised in Edmonton, Alberta.
His mother is named Agnes DeMarco. His father was Mac Smith but he soon left the family. He has roots in Italy, Scotland, England and Ireland.
He was in several music groups during his High School education. Some of them were an indie rock band called the “Meat Cleavers”, R&B group called the “Sound of Love” and punk band called “Outdoor Miners”. Outdoor Miners were named after a song from a popular British band Wire.
DeMarco’s great-grandfather was called Vernor Smith and he was Alberta’s Minister of Railways and Telephones and DeMarco got his name from him.His grandfather was named the same, too. He was a judge in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.
His mother changed Macs name to McBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco because their father wasn’t with them nor he wanted to pay child support.
DeMarco is of Italian descent. Mac has a younger brother Hank.
DeMarco graduated from Strathcona High School in 2008 and after that he decided to be a backing musician.
He first started writing songs as a joke, around the time he was 11 or 12 years old. But he grew up to some of the most interesting songwriters in Canada but also in America.
Music is a part of their family and he couldn’t avoid it too. His granny sang at the opera, his grandfather loved playing saxophone and his mum played an instrument too.
After, he moved to Vancouver where he thought that he would gain better chances in making music.
Career development
In 2009, when he was living in the Killarney neighbourhood, he released his first self-produced album called Heat Wave. The album sold out.
He worked on ‘psychedelic’ video projects.
Jen Clement and Alex Caldr joined him and they signed to Unfamiliar Records. In 2009 they toured with a band called Japandroids.
DeMarco then moved to Vancouver because he wanted to start a solo career but couldnt make it. He was in medical expirements and worked many jobs for money in 2011.
He finally signed to a label called Captured Tracks in January in 2012. He released a mini-LP called Rock and Roll Night Club the same year that contains of 4 tracks.
The LP impressed the label so much they decided to make a full-length album.
His new album was named 2 and it received a lot of good critics.
One of his track called ‘Moving Like Mike’ was in a commercial for Target, a U.S. retail outlet. It also received a ‘Best New Music’ title by Pitchfork.
In 2013, he appeared on TV for the first time. It was in “The Eric Andre Show” where he sang his great hit “Let Her Go”.
In January, 2014 DeMarco stated that there will be a new upcoming album named Salad Days walong with his single ‘Passing Out Pieces’.
It was released on April 1, 2014. It also received a ‘Best New Music’ title.It was also nominated for a 2014 Polaris Music Prize.
Captured Tracks have announced a series ‘The Wonderful World of Mac Demarco 7 Club Vol.1’. With it, subscribers will receive a two 7 recordings every six-eight weeks by DeMarco.
He made his first talk show appearance on Conan by performing a song called ‘Let Her Go’ in 2015.
In April the same year he announced a upcoming mini album called Another One. It was released on August 7 in 2015.
In may they released a first track called ‘The Way You’d Love Her’. Still in Rock called this LP as the third best LP in 2015.
In July DeMarco released a instrumental album called ‘Some Other’. It included 9 tracks.
The same night he hosted a party in New York so his fans could hear Another one. They also had free hot dogs that you could eat if you donated to a food bank.
In August, 2015 he stated in an interview that he will be releasing Makeout Videotape on vinyl.
In february 2017 he appeared in a YouTube show Hot Ones.
In January, 2017 he announced his new album called This Old Dog. He released two singles that day. On May 5th, 2017 the album was released.
In October the same year he was on Charlie Rose. Two of them discussed about his new album and DeMarco’s relationship with his father on it.
In april, 2018 he appeared on FishCenter Live and was interview by Max Simonet.
He is recognizable by his chorus, vibrato effects on his guitar and its lazy atmosphere.
His favourite artist are Weezer, Shuqqie Otis, Jonathan Richman and Black Sabbath.
Reviewers often describe his work as ‘folk rock’ or ‘off-kilter pop’.
He calls his style ‘Jizz Jazz’ and he named his apartment studio “Jizz Jazz Studios.”
Demarco is very known for using vintage gear for his music.
He likes a lot of things vintage so he drives an old car.
Most of the time he played on his $30 Teisco electric guitar but it was in really bad shape and broke easily so he stopped playing it.
He uses Fender guitars like 1960s Mustang, HSS Shawbucker Stratocaster and a 1970s Stratocaster. His group got many Fender guitars because of their deal with them. For recording he mostly uses his Teisco/Stagg bass.
He loves to play vintage Japanese synthesizers like a KorgMicrosampler and a Yamaha DX7.
He records his work using reel-to-reel tape recorders like a Tascam 334, a Fostex A-8, a Roland Space Echo RE-201 and an Alesis Micro Limiter.
He recorded This Old Dog on Macbook that had an Apogee Quartet interface.
“My Kind of Woman” is his most popular Youtube video with 18 million views from 2013 until today. This video was connected to “Silence of the Lambs” video.
Personal life
He is nicknamed Pepperoni Playboy. He was an enormous fan of Jonathan Richman who was a follower of punk and rock genre.
He moved from Montreal to Brooklyn in 2014 and moved into a little flat which he shares with his longtime girlfriend and college love.
They are still together, sharing all the good and the bad, and supporting each other. Her name is Kiera McNally and they are together since college.
It is known that he made a lot of love songs for her during his career.
He drives an old car, not some expensive model because he thinks money is overrated.
He is a heavy smoker and considers this addiction as a part of who he is.
He is active on social media but always jokes there: for example, he made #glitterpisshole on his Twitter account.
His favorite musical instrument are drumms. He is outstanding in playing drumms and he plays it whenever he gets the chance.
He has no connection to his father and he saw him just a few times.
Quick summary
Full name: Vernon Winfield MacBriare Smith IV
Date of birth: April 30, 1990
Birthplace: Duncan, British Columbia, Canada
Age: 28
Profession: musician, producer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, drummer
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 77kgs
Net Worth: $1 million