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Mark Steiner - thirty-something...
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Young Mr. Steiner, Pre-Piker...
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Mark Steiner has now released his debut solo "Fallen Birds" CD Mini-LP, as well as the "Little Fallen Birds" special edition vinyl EP, which was recorded in Paris and in Oslo in early 2007. Currently, he is performing both solo and with his current band, "THE FALLEN BIRDS," which consists of various French, German and Norwegian musicians.
Mark Steiner - vocal & guitar
Dimi Dero (Dimi Dero INC) - percussion
Lisa Barel - piano
Tex Napalm (Iron Cobra Orchestra) - guitar
Delphine Ellis (Delphine Thirteen, Youpi Youpi Yeah!) - baritone guitar
Amelia S. Deva (Electra Jean) - vocal
Eivind Schou (Sereena Maneesh) - cello
His earlier backing bands, known as "THE DEBAUCHERY," and earlier still "THE BROKEN MEN," consisted of musicians both in New York City and in Oslo, Norway.
On the Scandinavian side of the big pond, he worked in the studio with RAYMOND JENSEN (My Midnight Creeps, Ex-Vidar Vang) on guitar, as well as with his revolving band members known as THE DEBAUCHERY, which has included THOMAS DENSTAD on acoustic guitar, EIRIK BJARGHOV (ex-Vidar Vang) on bass, and KENNETH SIMONSEN (ex-Vidar Vang) on drums, as well as BEHZAD FARAZOLLAHI (My Midnight Creeps) on drums, KENNETH FURRE on guitar, and KNUT FRØYSNES (Howl, The Goo Men) on sax and guitar.
New York violinist SUSAN MITCHELL, bass player JEROME O'BRIEN (The Dog Show, Kid Congo's Pink Monkeybirds, Knoxville Girls), guitarist JACK MARTIN (Dimestrore Dance Ensemble, Kid Congo's Pink Monkeybirds, Knoxville Girls), drummer SARA LANDEAU (The Chickletts, Mercury Stars), and of course pianist ERIC WOLTER (Kundera, ex-Hellpop, ex-Piker Ryan's Folly) have joined Mark Steiner on stage stateside. Singers SUSANA MELENDEZ and HANNAH FAIRLIGHT have also lent a helping hand.
In his Nordic past, he's also had help from THE BROKEN MEN, which has included TORGEIR KJELDAAS (of The Unmist) on bass, LARS KRISTENSEN (of Infidels, Thee Unmist) on drums, PETTER SVEE (The Graves, The Goo Men) on guitar, ANDERS MALMBERG (Northern Apples) on guitar, SOFIE NAVELSAKER on backing vocals and EIVIND SCHOU (Serena Maneesh) on violin. Percussionist GUNNAR MOTLAND (ex-Goo Men) and guitarist CHRIS DAMIEN DOLL (Trashcan Darlings) have also helped out in the past...
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Piker at sixteen?
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bio
Mark William Steiner was born and raised in the New York City area, where he began music at an early age. After dropping seven years of playing the fiddle for the guitar, he began writing songs. In 1988, with influences in the realms of new wave, punk, and gothic rock, he joined a band called UNIFIED DIVISION, and assumed the role of lead singer.
After college, where he received a BA in avant-garde cinema, he worked for a number of years in music video production, but never lost his yearning to play music. While he directed, shot and edited music videos for various bands, including friends NOVAK SEEN (aka GLUEGUN), he also played bass guitar for awhile in New Jersey with the short-lived THIRD OF MAY, as well as ELIXIR (which eventually became JOSEPH PLA's EROTOMECHANICS). Also produced during this period was the "music-mockumentary" feature "TO BUILD AN EMPIRE," which revolved around MYKE HIDEOUS and his Jersey-based band THE EMPIRE HIDEOUS. But by this time, Manhattan had reclaimed Mark's soul.
In 1997, through a Village Voice classified, he met a Belgian guitarist named PHIL VANDERYKEN, and deep in the bowels of the Lower East Side of Manhattan the pair formed the lounge-noir act known as PIKER RYAN'S FOLLY.
Inspired by the tales of 19th Century mayhem and debauchery as chronicled in "The Gangs of New York" by Herbert Asbury (long before the Scorsese film), the duo began with a small show at CB's 313 Gallery. It wasn't long before the band expanded, although in typical New York criminal fashion, the line-up kept changing.
In 1998, Piker Ryan's Folly released an edgy five-song CD-EP called "Lowlife," engineered by Eric M. Wood, with additional musicians ROBERT LEE OLIVER II (ex-Valentine Six) on bass, JIM MOFFITT (ex-Missing Foundation) on drums, and keyboardist NICK COLT (White Collar Crime). Also included was the piano ballad "Fin Hvit Dress" with violinist SUSAN MITCHELL, perhaps an early indicator of where the band KUNDERA was to one day go.
After numerous gigs with various musicians in the New York area, a couple of which actually resulted in bar-brawls, Piker Ryan's Folly began to develop quite a reputation as one of the city's most notorious bands. This was presumably due to Mark's whiskey-drunken transformation into "Piker" himself as he grabbed a bottle of bourbon and bellowed into the mic.
In 1999, Piker Ryan's Folly succeeded in swaying over the hard crowd which attended the legendary Bowery venue known as CBGB. A live album, "Bowery Blues," was subsequently released as a custom CDR, and is soon to be re-released by Stagger Home Music. With the addition of the MELE brothers on rhythm, this album features the ultimate core of Piker Ryan's Folly at it's prime: MARK "Piker" STEINER on vocals, PHIL "The Tremelo King" VANDERYKEN on guitar, "Pick-pocket" PETE MELE on bass, and CHRIS "The Butcher" MELE on drums.
Other notable guest live musicians along the way included bassist Paul Morden (ex-Brickbats), as well as pianist ERIC WOLTER (ex-Hellpop, later to join forces with Mark Steiner and create the band KUNDERA). Vocalist Kit Messick of THE MIRROR REVEALS, a band which Mark Steiner played bass for, even slinked herself onto the stage to duet with Mark during the "Save 295 Bowery," (site of the historic McGurk's Suicide Hall) benefit concert of 1999, and delivered a disturbingly wicked and sultry version of Peggy Lee's "Fever."
In 1999, The Tremelo King was forced to leave New York and relocate to the city of New Orleans, leaving Piker Ryan's Folly at a crossroads. Unable to find a suitable replacement guitarist, Mark dropped his glass of bourbon and picked up his electric, and the remaining band played one final gig as PIKER RYAN. The dynamic was changed, and the band went on hold. But with pianist ERIC WOLTER in the wings, Mark decided to move on, and with the aid of violinist SUSAN MITCHELL, the trio formed KUNDERA.
KUNDERA was perhaps more sedate and sober than Piker Ryan, yet just as melancholic. A number of gigs were played in the New York area, and several songs were recorded at the Norwegian Seaman's Church in New York City, yet at this time remain unreleased. Regular guest musicians have included JEROME O'BRIEN (The Dog Show) on string bass and SARA LANDEAU (Chicklettes, Mercury Stars) on drums. KUNDERA even performed in Oslo, Norway in the summer of 2002, and included THOMAS DENSTAD on guitar, LARS KRISTENSEN (Infidels Forever) on drums, and TORGEIR KJELDAAS (Thee Unmist) on bass.
After 9-11, KUNDERA'S legacy seemed to dissolve with ERIC WOLTER's disappearance (and fortunate reemergence in Florida), while Mark focused his attention across the big pond on the Scandinavian peninsula. Disgusted with the international barrage of pathetic patriotic 9-11 tribute songs, Mark relented to his post-traumatic stress disorder and wrote the song "This World..."
Mark struggled for awhile to start a new band, even started one called CHIMNEY SWEEPERS, but then finally, after listening to the advice of a friend named JIM SCLAVUNOS (The Vanity Set, The Bad Seeds), Mark Steiner opted to work under his own given name...
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