Nicholas Markos writes and sings his own rock music, his "green-eyed soul." Not a slave to trends, genres, or formats, he simply looks into the heart of music to find what speaks to him. While his songs are compared to the thoughtful and emotive work of Paul Weller, Pete Townshend, Van Morrison, and David Gray ("He's like David Gray without the accent... or with the accent, depending on how you look at it, I guess..." - Swifty Lazar), the songs incorporate a range of elements that reveal both Markos's depth as a musician (in addition to guitar and bass, he was formally trained on viola and saxophone) and his egalitarian tastes. "I'm not concerned with classifying my songs," he explains. "I'm just focusing on making music that speaks to me." On the recordings and in live shows, Markos collaborates with a variety of musicians, including Todd Sucherman, drummer of Styx, who plays drums on most of the songs on "Whatever." Other collaborators inc...