Mars (band)

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Mars
General information
Genre (s) No wave
founding 1975
resolution 1978
Last occupation
Sumner Crane
Mark Cunningham
Vocals, guitar
 China castle
Nancy Arlen

Mars was a New York no-wave band formed by singer and guitarist Sumner Crane in 1975. The other band members were China Burg (actually Constance Burg; occasionally as Lucy Hamilton), Mark Cunningham (bass), Nancy Arlen (drums) and for a time Rudolph Gray (guitar). The band played a live gig under the name China , which they then changed to Mars. They played a mixture of compositions and free improvisation Ambient - Noise Jams , with surrealistic lyrics and unconventional drumming. Almost all band members were considered musical amateurs at the time the band was founded (although Crane had experience as a blues guitarist )

Mars played live about two dozen times, always in Manhattan . Her first appearance was in January 1977 in the CBGB's ; her last on December 10, 1978 at Max's Kansas City . Her record debut was the 7-inch single 3E / 11,000 Volts (Rebel Records, later as a 12 -inch maxi single on ZE Records ).

The group released a live EP in 1979 or 1980 after its breakup (1978) . Both recordings were reissued on Lydia Lunch's label Widowspeak Records under the name 78 in 1986; the tracks had been lightly edited and remixed by Jim Thirlwell . This record was re-released as a CD under the name 78+ by Atavistic Records in 1966 .

In 1978 Mars appeared on the major Brian Eno- produced compilation No New York , along with DNA , Teenage Jesus and the Jerks , and James Chance and the Contortions ; this record brought the nascent no-wave genre to the general public.

In 1980 the musicians from Mars recorded the no-wave opera John Gavanti, based on Mozart's Don Giovanni , together with those from DNA .

Due to complaints about Thirlwell's changes to 78 / 78+ , all of Mars' studio recordings (about 30 minutes in total) have been re-released by the Spanish labels G3G and Spookysound . (Essentially, 78 , 78+ and Mars LP: The Complete Studio Recordings, NYC 1977-1978 contain the same half hour of music with minor differences).

Mars was the first no-wave band to be founded after Suicide and, during their short lifetime, also the one that most radically dissolved musical conventions. Lydia Lunch said of her, “I saw Mars before Teenage Jesus existed. That gave me a lot of encouragement. They were so dissonant , so obviously freaked out. There were no compromises or any concessions to anything that had existed before. They really drew on their own torment. " China Burg says they named a piece of RTMT after a reviewer called it arty and empty .

Mars broke up in 1978, a few months after No New York was released, when Max's closed Kansas City, the CBGB's became more rock-oriented and bookings stopped. Sumner Crane died on April 15, 2003 of lymphoma , Nancy Arlen on September 17, 2006 after heart surgery. Mark Cunningham went to Spain, where he was verifiably musically active until 2004. China Castle is also still active.

Discography

  • "3-E" (b / w "11,000 Volts") - 7 ", 1978 (Rebel Records, RB 7802) (later as 12" by ZE)
  • No New York - LP, 1978 (Antilles / Island) (reissued as CD) (compilation with three other bands)
  • Mars - 12 "EP (live), 1979 or 1980 (Lust / Unlust / Infidelity)
  • John Gavanti - LP, 1980 (Hyrax) (CD reissue on Atavistic) (with Crane, Cunningham, Burg)
  • 78 - LP, 1986 (Widowspeak)
  • Live Mars 77-78 - CD, 1995 (DSA) (France)
  • 78+ - CD, 1996 (Atavistic)
  • Mars LP: The Complete Studio Recordings, NYC 1977-1978 - CD, 2003 (G3G / Spookysound) (Spain) (reissued as LP on Important and as CD on No More 2008)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marc Masters, (2007) No Wave London, Black Dog Publishing, pp. 42-46
  2. ↑ a b Simon Reynolds: Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 . Penguin , 2006, ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6 . Page 60
  3. ↑ a b Simon Reynolds: Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 . Penguin , 2006, ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6 . Page 59
  4. ↑ Marc Masters, (2007) No Wave London, Black Dog Publishing, pp. 13-14
  5. ^ "I saw Mars before Teenage Jesus existed. I was very encouraged. They were so dissonant, so obviously insane. There were no compromises or concessions to anything that had existed previously. They were truly creating from their own torture. "
  6. ↑ Simon Reynolds: Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984 . Penguin , 2006, ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6 . Page 71
  7. ↑ http://www.fakejazz.com/interviews/mars.shtml ( Memento from April 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ http://www.experimentaclub.com/data/mark_cunningham/0index.htmC  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Mark Cunningham's website@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.experimentaclub.com  

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