Life on Mars, Twenty-Five Years Later

Mars originally formed as China in 1975, and played their first show in 1977. Over the next year, the quartet played less than thirty shows, all within the confines of Manhattan. As one of the four bands on the seminal No New York compilation, Mars attained a small level of renown, but, by December of 1978, the dissolution of the band was imminent, staved off temporarily only by a recording session a few weeks after their last show. In addition to their four tracks on No New York, Mars released an early 7” and a posthumous EP, which, in addition to some live tracks, were compiled by Widowspeak in 1987 and reissued by Atavistic Records in 1996. Near the end of 2003, The Complete Studio Recordings surfaced on the Spanish labels G3G and Spooky Sound. Mark Cunningham, Mars’ bassist, runs Spooky Sound, and was instrumental in the disc’s release. After the break-up of Mars, Cunningham was part of the intensely bizarre John Gavanti project with Sumner Crane, Arto Lindsay, and others, as well as Don King and his current outfit, Convolution. Sumner Crane, guitarist and vocalist or Mars, tragically passed away far too soon in 2003.

fakejazz: What events and circumstances led to the studio tracks being reissued? Were there specific problems with the Atavistic disc, or was there other reasoning behind releasing the more recent disc?

For a long time we felt that what was available on disc didn’t really reflect the totality of the Mars sound. The Atavistic disc is an interesting document, and when we created it back in 85 (it was originally a vinyl reissue on Lydia Lunch´s Widowspeak label) we were quite happy with it, as we didn’t have possession of the masters, and vinyl transcription was an iffy process back then. In that sense Jim Thirlwell´s remastering was a way to restore what was lost in the translation so to speak. But what seemed necessary now was to not only restore the original sound of the vinyls, but [also] perhaps improve on them, and the deciding moment was when I came across a cassette copy of the binaural master of the Mars ep, made the day of the recording and then forgotten in a box all these years. Despite the format, it sounded incredibly better than the original master tape which, before we made the vinyl mastering, had been exposed to humidity and had lost frequencies, and consequently the binaural picture as well. If you listen to the last five tracks of the new cd on headphones, you place yourself right in the center of the band, which at that moment was, putting it mildly, a rather intense position. Another difference is that the Atavistic disc is an anthology of all the Mars songs, several of which were never recorded in studio, so almost half of it is live. The new cd is the complete recorded output, there were no alternative takes, and is presented in exact chronological order.

Why was the decision made to release the disc on a European label, and in such limited quantities? Is it mainly a result of you living in Spain? With all of the no wave reissuing going on right now, why not try to strike a bigger deal with Acute/Carpark, Atavistic, or another label?

We preferred to do it here to maintain the complete control of the object, do the cover we wanted (in general no one is interested in unorthodox packaging except for other small labels), and handle everything ourselves. In fact its a co-production between g3g, a label I’ve been working with here for years with my band Raeo, and Spooky Sound, which is the home label of my wife and I, primarily for our group, Convolution. I’ve always been totally outside of the music business, and my few experiences with other labels have not been very satisfactory in the long run. The way I figure it, its the type of product that most potential purchasers will find out about one way or another and be able to order likewise.

Was the work that led up to this reissue the last chance that you had to collaborate in any way with Sumner Crane before his death, or did his passing precede this release? Were you and the other members of the band in contact much with him at all post-Mars?

Sumner, burg and I have been close friends all along. Unfortunately, Sumner was already very ill when we started planning the release and was only able to give his blessing.

Since the three of you were still friends, then, when Mars broke up, I’m guessing that interpersonal strife wasn’t the culprit for the band’s demise. What was the reason? The liner notes for the disc hint at the idea that you felt the band had done what it was meant to do…care to elaborate?

There was a kind of overwhelming sense that the end had come. We had been received like heroes of the underground in August [of] 78 at Irving Plaza, but then went three months without being able to get a gig, after having played an average of twice a month for a year and a half. Times were changing, suddenly what was hip was funky and chic, the Mudd Club opened and Max’s closed, CBGBs started booking straight rock for the bridge and tunnel crowd and we were left in limbo. Other groups like the Contortions and DNA were able to adapt, but we had no interest. We played one more gig that December, then recorded the session for the ep, then decided Mars as such was finished. But soon after we started working on the John Gavanti lp with three of the four of us.

What’s your opinion on the way that the no wave scene or movement has been presented by more modern writers/magazines? Do you think that people have accurately captured the feeling of what was going on then?

I don’t really have an overall sense of what’s being said. I have noticed that even people involved in the original scene have quite a different take on it, which is not surprising. There does seem to be agreement that there was an authentic scene, that is, it wasn’t hype, partly cause at the time it was hardly covered by the media, and it was as much about music as not, which are both true. I’m gratified that its been approached with some measure of respect, and not written off as wanking.

In your eyes, is there a problem with bands and labels using the term no wave to describe their music in 2004? Was no wave something specific to Manhattan in the late 1970s, or is it still applicable today?

Again, I’ve hardly heard anything of these bands. But I think what is lacking today is the possibility of being as naive as we were, which made primitive modernism possible. Also I think if they are just trying to pin down a no wave style, especially a rock or funk style, and re- apply it they’ve got it all wrong. We were free to do what we wanted.

Could you describe what you’ve done since the end of Mars, and what you’ve moved on to do today?

Thats a long story, but I’ll be brief. Directly after Mars we started working on the John Gavanti lp, written by Sumner Crane and arranged and played by he, myself, China Burg and Ikue Mori from DNA. It was originally released on my label, Hyrax, in 1980, and is now available on cd from Atavistic. There were no performances. In 83, Burg (then called Lucy Hamilton), Duncan Lindsay (Arto’s brother), and myself formed Don King, which went through several different transformations over the years, at times including Arto on percussion. This lasted until 1989 and most of our recordings are compiled on another Atavistic cd. Also, during the eighties, I collaborated with Fist of Facts (ex Liquid Liquid) and various other individuals. In 86, I visited Barcelona and met up with a very interesting music scene, home spun electronics, and kept coming back for more until I eventually moved here in 91. My first band in Barcelona was Raeo, a duo with Gat, an industrial bassist. We made a couple of cds and have done a lot of shows around Europe, but never visited the states. We’ve been inactive since 2000, though we plan to revive it in 2005. Currently, I play in Convolution, with my partner, Silvia Mestres. We have our own label, Spooky Sound, and have released several cds. We’ve done two tours of the states, in 2001 and 2003. Most of my music since around 85 has included an exploration of the electro-acoustic possibilities of the trumpet, as well as different attempts to create new forms of what is, for me, psychedelic music, though with nothing or little to do with that genre.

As just one person who was involved, what do you think was the main impetus behind the original no wave scene? What linked Mars with Theoretical Girls, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and The Contortions?

It was the moment. A transitional period when suddenly there were no rules worth respecting. The links between the actual groups weren’t so important, though they existed. The four bands on No New York were all close socially but the only common element in the music was that we did what we wanted without caring about fitting into any existing style. We had the freedom to do that partly cause of what had come before. There was a direct evolution (this is my own take on it) from the Velvets through the Mercer Arts Center scene (the Dolls, Suicide), the new wave and punk (Television, Talking Heads, Patti, the Ramones...) to the no wave. So of course we had to go further and be more radical than our predecessors. And a part of all this was the do it yourself idea, which came from Warhol really, where we didn’t have to be fucking pros, or even musicians, to have a band and our fifteen minutes of fame.

Do you find that this “anything goes” philosophy towards music still influences your art of life at all? What are the lasting effects of the no wave scene on the way you think about music and/or art as a whole?

Yeah, it’s always been my way, both in music and in life. Not as a method, more like a force. I never even tried to make a living as a musician because I didn’t want the music to be conditioned by that need, with the consequent loss of freedom. I’ve seen it happen to others.

Do you think that no wave deserves its negative nihilistic reputation?

Mars music wasn’t negative for us, in fact it was transcendental; a way to take people out of the rock prison using the same tools. And I think most of the bands were musically positive. Certainly there was some of that black nihilist mystique that came with underground New York, but we were reaching for something beyond simple protest or even noise for its own sake. We found music in the noise.