Mars (band)
Encyclopedia
Mars was a New York City
No Wave
band formed by vocalist Sumner Crane in 1975. He was joined by China Burg (née Constance Burg; a.k.a Lucy Hamilton) (guitar, vocals), Mark Cunningham (bass), and artist Nancy Arlen (drums), and briefly by guitarist Rudolph Grey
. The band played one live gig under the name China before changing it to Mars. They played a mixture of angular compositions and freeform ambient
noise music
jams, featuring surrealist lyrics and non-standard drumming. All the members were said to be completely untrained in music before forming the band.
Mars played live about two dozen times, all in Manhattan
. Their first show was at CBGB's in January 1977; their last one was at Max's Kansas City
on December 10, 1978. Their recorded debut was the "3-E"/ "11,000 Volts" 7-inch single, released by Rebel Records/ ZE Records
. The group then released a single live EP in 1979 or 1980, though they had broken up in 1978. Both recordings were compiled by Lydia Lunch
's self-run label, Widowspeak Records, in 1986, as 78; the songs were slightly remixed and tweaked by Jim Thirlwell (a.k.a. Foetus). It was reissued by Atavistic Records
on CD in 1996 as 78+.
In 1978, Mars appeared on the influential No New York
compilation LP produced by Brian Eno
, along with DNA
, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and James Chance and the Contortions
, which helped to bring the nascent No Wave
genre into the foreground.
Due to complaints about Thirlwell's modifications on 78/78+, the full studio recordings of Mars (totaling about 30 minutes) surfaced in 2003 on the Spanish labels G3G and Spookysound. Cunningham ran both Hyrax Records and Spookysound Records. (To clarify: 78, 78+, and Mars LP: The Complete Studio Recordings, NYC 1977–1978 all feature essentially the same half-hour batch of music, but with very slight auditory differences.) After the break-up of Mars, Cunningham was part of the bizarre John Gavanti
"no wave opera" project with Crane, Arto Lindsay
, and others. He has also worked with the band Don King, and with his current outfit, Convolution.
Crane died of lymphoma
on April 15, 2003. Arlen died on September 17, 2006, following heart surgery.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
band formed by vocalist Sumner Crane in 1975. He was joined by China Burg (née Constance Burg; a.k.a Lucy Hamilton) (guitar, vocals), Mark Cunningham (bass), and artist Nancy Arlen (drums), and briefly by guitarist Rudolph Grey
Rudolph Grey
Rudolph Grey is a musician and writer.As an electric guitarist, Grey has recorded and performed under his own name, as well as leading various ad hoc ensembles called The Blue Humans. His music draws on no wave and free jazz....
. The band played one live gig under the name China before changing it to Mars. They played a mixture of angular compositions and freeform ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
noise music
Noise music
Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
jams, featuring surrealist lyrics and non-standard drumming. All the members were said to be completely untrained in music before forming the band.
Mars played live about two dozen times, all in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Their first show was at CBGB's in January 1977; their last one was at Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
on December 10, 1978. Their recorded debut was the "3-E"/ "11,000 Volts" 7-inch single, released by Rebel Records/ ZE Records
ZE Records
ZE Records was originally a New York-based record label, started in 1978 by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban. It has been re-established by Esteban since 2003.-History:Michael Zilkha ZE Records (always written with two capital letters) was originally a New York-based record label, started in...
. The group then released a single live EP in 1979 or 1980, though they had broken up in 1978. Both recordings were compiled by Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, and actress whose career was spawned by the New York No Wave scene...
's self-run label, Widowspeak Records, in 1986, as 78; the songs were slightly remixed and tweaked by Jim Thirlwell (a.k.a. Foetus). It was reissued by Atavistic Records
Atavistic Records
Atavistic Records is an American rock and jazz record label based in Chicago, Illinois, known particularly for its No Wave and free jazz recordings. It has released albums by Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Lydia Lunch, Peter Brötzmann, various Ken Vandermark projects, Pinetop Seven, Swans, Elliott...
on CD in 1996 as 78+.
In 1978, Mars appeared on the influential No New York
No New York
No New York is a compilation album released in 1978 by Antilles Records under the curation of producer Brian Eno. Although it only contained songs by four different artists, it is considered by many to be the definitive single album documenting New York City's late-1970s No Wave...
compilation LP produced by Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, along with DNA
DNA (band)
DNA was a No Wave band formed in 1978 by guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Robin Crutchfield. Rather than playing their instruments in a traditional manner, they instead focused on making unique and unusual sounds...
, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and James Chance and the Contortions
James Chance and the Contortions
James Chance and the Contortions, led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, were one of the original punk jazz groups of the New York No Wave music scene. Their first recording, credited solely as Contortions, was on the 1978 compilation, No New York, produced by Brain Eno...
, which helped to bring the nascent No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
genre into the foreground.
Due to complaints about Thirlwell's modifications on 78/78+, the full studio recordings of Mars (totaling about 30 minutes) surfaced in 2003 on the Spanish labels G3G and Spookysound. Cunningham ran both Hyrax Records and Spookysound Records. (To clarify: 78, 78+, and Mars LP: The Complete Studio Recordings, NYC 1977–1978 all feature essentially the same half-hour batch of music, but with very slight auditory differences.) After the break-up of Mars, Cunningham was part of the bizarre John Gavanti
John Gavanti
John Gavanti is a 1980 "No Wave opera" album by members of the bands Mars and DNA. It was written and played by Mark Cunningham , Sumner Crane , China Burg , Ikue Mori and Arto Lindsay...
"no wave opera" project with Crane, Arto Lindsay
Arto Lindsay
Arthur Morgan Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida....
, and others. He has also worked with the band Don King, and with his current outfit, Convolution.
Crane died of lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
on April 15, 2003. Arlen died on September 17, 2006, following heart surgery.
Discography
- "3-E" (b/w "11,000 Volts") – 7", 1978 (Rebel Records, RB 7802) (later released as a 12" on ZE)
- No New York – LP, 1978 (Antilles/ Island) (split compilation with three other bands)
- Mars – 12" EP (live), 1979 or 1980 (Lust/Unlust/Infidelity)
- John Gavanti – LP, 1980 (Hyrax) (CD reissue on Atavistic) (featured Crane, Cunningham, Berg)
- 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; limited edition) (later released on LP by Important) (reissued by No More in 2008)
