Mark Foggo

Last updated

Mark Foggo
Mark Foggo.JPG
Mark Foggo performing in Germany in 2005
Background information
Born30 October 1950 (1950-10-30) (age 73)
Liverpool, England
Genres Ska
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1979–present
LabelsSkanky'Lil
Website www.MarkFoggo.com

Mark Foggo is an English-born ska musician currently based in England, United Kingdom

Contents

Beginning his music career in Amsterdam in 1979, Foggo became a prominent figure in Europe's post-2-Tone ska scene, most notably with his band Mark Foggo's Skasters, formed in 1987. Foggo's music, which he describes as "modern, bizarre, non-influenced, up tempo ska", [1] is characterised by his observational and darkly comic lyricism, as well as his manic and boisterous stage personality.

Foggo's most recent studio album, Mad, was released in 2010 on V2 Records, and his band continues to tour Europe extensively. In addition, Foggo has also operated his own all-ska record label and booking agency Skanky'Lil Music since 1990, leading him to be called "the hardest working man in ska" and "a ska missionary" on a "never ending quest of playing and supporting ska music where ever he goes". [2]

Biography

Born in Liverpool, Mark Foggo began playing music at age fourteen, inspired by British rhythm and blues groups such as The Animals, whose singer Eric Burdon Foggo cites as an influence. [3] Several years later, Foggo moved to London in hopes of finding work as a guitarist, playing the London pub circuit with a number of different rhythm and blues and punk rock bands for most of the late 1970s. [2]

Professional career

In 1979, Foggo relocated to Amsterdam. Around this time, he had discovered ska music through the popularity of 2-Tone bands such as The Specials and The Beat, inspiring him to start his own punk/ska band, The Secret Meeting. [3] After independently releasing a single entitled "New Shoes", the band was promptly signed to Polydor Records in 1980, re-releasing "New Shoes" to moderate success in the Netherlands and followed up with an LP, Speeding My Life Away, and extensive European touring. [2] [4] Foggo's passion for ska eventually grew larger until he omitted the punk and New Wave elements from his music entirely, focusing exclusively on ska for his first solo album, 1983's A State of Mind, released on Boni Records. [4] The album proved successful enough that EMI Records approached Foggo shortly afterwards to record an album for their label under the condition that the music wasn't ska, as the genre was at its commercial nadir at the time. According to Foggo, he "recorded a shit rock album [1985's Weapons and Guitars] and went on holiday with [the] money. Afterwards it was straight back to ska". [2] [4]

Foggo formed his most notable band, Mark Foggo's Skasters, in 1987, naming themselves such to make it clearer to audiences what type of music the band played. Their 1989 debut, Ska Pig, was a big success in the Netherlands and Germany, is often cited as a classic of the ska genre. [2] The Skasters continued to tour exhaustively across Europe and record prolifically on several labels until Foggo founded his own label Skanky'Lil in 1990 to release his own music, as well as promote new up-and-coming ska bands and distribute material from established European ska bands like The Hotknives and Skarface.

In 2000, Foggo formed The Babyshakers, a side project which mixed ska with rock and roll and rockabilly. The group recorded one album, Shake the Baby, featuring several tracks which would later become part of the Skasters' repertoire.

Current work

In 2010, Foggo's band signed to V2 Records to release the album Mad later that year. As of 2011, Foggo still continues to tour regularly and exhaustively, featuring a rotating roster of backing musicians. Alongside Foggo, saxophonist Paul Berding remains as the last original member of the Skasters and the sole constant member of Foggo's group. Although his band has occasionally toured in Japan (releasing a Japanese-only compilation in 2006), Foggo almost exclusively tours within Europe, most frequently throughout Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland. [5] [6] [7]

Discography

Albums

Singles

As Mark Foggo & the Secret Meeting
As Mark Foggo
As Mark Foggo's Skasters

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madness (band)</span> British ska band

Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, north London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Records</span> British record label

Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwide success over time, with the success of platinum performers Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Phil Collins, OMD, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, the Sex Pistols, and Mike Oldfield among others, meaning that by the time it was sold, it was regarded as a major label, alongside other large international independents such as A&M and Island Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gang of Four (band)</span> English rock band

Gang of Four are an English post-punk band, formed in 1976 in Leeds. The original members were singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. There have been many different line-ups including, among other notable musicians, Sara Lee, Gail Ann Dorsey, and Mark Heaney. After a brief lull in the 1980s, different constellations of the band recorded two studio albums in the 1990s. Between 2004 and 2006 the original line-up was reunited; Gill toured using the name between 2012 and his death in 2020. In 2021, the band announced that King, Burnham, and Lee would be reuniting for a US tour in 2022 with David Pajo on guitar and Sara Lee returning to the band. They continue to perform live, including at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, CA; headlining Luna Fest in Coimbra, Portugal, a UK Tour in October '23, and will be in Australia and beyond in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mighty Mighty Bosstones</span> American ska punk band

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. From the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer ("Bosstone") Ben Carr remained constant members. The band's final line-up also included drummer Joe Sirois, saxophonist Leon Silva, guitarist Lawrence Katz, keyboardist John Goetchius, and trombonist Chris Rhodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talk Talk</span> English pop and post-rock group (1981–1991)

Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis, Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). Initially a synth-pop group, Talk Talk's first two albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984), reached top 40 in the UK and produced the international hit singles "Talk Talk", "Today", "It's My Life", and "Such a Shame". They achieved widespread critical success in Europe and the UK with the album The Colour of Spring (1986) along with its singles "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World". 1988's Spirit of Eden moved the group towards a more experimental sound informed by jazz and free improvisation, pioneering what became known as post-rock; it was critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subhumans (British band)</span> British anarcho-punk band

Subhumans are an English punk rock band formed in the Warminster and Melksham areas of Wiltshire in 1980. Singer Dick Lucas had formerly been in another local band, the Mental, and other members had been in The Stupid Humans. The band's musical style is typically classified as hardcore punk or anarcho-punk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charisma Records</span> British record label

Charisma Records was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator. Gail Colson was label manager and joint managing director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voodoo Glow Skulls</span> American ska punk band

Voodoo Glow Skulls are an American ska punk band formed in 1988 in Riverside, California, by brothers Frank, Eddie, and Jorge Casillas and their longtime friend Jerry O'Neill. Voodoo Glow Skulls first played at backyard parties and later at Spanky's Café in their hometown of Riverside, where they played shows with the Angry Samoans, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Firehose, Murphy's Law, and The Dickies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Ex (band)</span> Dutch band

The Ex is an underground band from the Netherlands, started in 1979 at the height of the original punk explosion as a Dutch punk band. The Ex originated from the squatting movement in Amsterdam and Wormer, and was inspired by bands like The Fall and The Mekons. Although initially known as an anarcho-punk band associated with the Dutch post-punk ultra scene, over the decades The Ex's sound has gradually developed into its current form of highly intricate, experimental punk/post-punk/no wave-inspired work. This sound includes a combination of diverse genres and styles, such as noise, folk, world music, free jazz, and crossovers between these genres. Other examples of branching out stylistically include the improvised double album Instant and a release under the moniker Ex Orkest, a 20 piece big band assembled for performances at Holland Festival. "One reason we are hard to describe is that we never had an education at music school, and in that sense we are not influenced by any traditional playing," explained Katherina Bornefeld, drummer for The Ex since 1984. The Ex's lyrics consist of straightforward statements about politics and abuses in society. The band enjoys international acclaim for this socially critical message, as well as for the energetic, rhythmic, atonal guitar playing, and for the furious vocals of singer G.W. Sok, who was replaced in recent years by Arnold de Boer of Zea. The Ex have released over 20 full-length albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mad Caddies</span> American ska punk band

The Mad Caddies is an American ska punk band from Solvang, California. The band formed in 1995 and has released seven full-length albums, one live album, and two EPs. To date, Mad Caddies have sold over 500,000 albums worldwide.

Noise Records is a German heavy metal record label founded in 1983 by German music industry personality Karl-Ulrich Walterbach as an expansion of his company Modern Music Records. It was sold to the Sanctuary Records Group in 2001 and ceased any activity in 2007 due to the bankruptcy of Sanctuary. The Noise catalogue was consequently acquired by Universal Music Group later on. In April 2016, BMG Rights Management, which had acquired Sanctuary Records in 2013, announced that it would revive the Noise Records label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Ruggiero</span> Musical artist

Victor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in reggae, blues, ska and rocksteady bands since the early 1990s, including The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers. He has also performed with punk rock band Rancid, both live and in the studio. He has released four solo acoustic albums and continues to tour and record worldwide. Ruggiero is known primarily as a singer and organist, although he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica and percussion.

Mad Heads XL is a Ukrainian ska punk band from Kyiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zeus B. Held</span> German music producer and musician (born 1950)

Zeus B. Held is a German music producer and musician, known for his work in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was involved with several artists of the krautrock, disco, and new wave era, such as Birth Control, Rockets, Gina X Performance, Dead Or Alive, John Foxx, Fashion, and Men Without Hats on their successful album Pop Goes the World.

The Rudiments are an American ska punk band from the East Bay, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaya the Cat</span>

Jaya The Cat is a Dutch/American reggae/ska/punk rock band originating from Boston, Massachusetts, but currently based in Amsterdam. The band formed in 1998 and has released four full-length studio albums, one independent release and one live album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claw Boys Claw</span> Dutch rock band

Claw Boys Claw are a Dutch band, formed in Amsterdam. The core members of the band are Peter te Bos (vocals) and John Cameron (guitar). After some years of inactivity, the band started playing live again in 2007.

Alien Crime Syndicate, often abbreviated to ACS, were a rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1997. From 1999 to the band's breakup in 2005, the lineup consisted primarily of Joe Reineke, Jeff Rouse, Nabil Ayers (drums), while guitarists Jason Krevey, Mike Squires and Mike Davis were also members of the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anka Wolbert</span> Musical artist

Anka Wolbert is a Dutch musician, singer, songwriter, and web developer, best known for her work with Clan of Xymox.

References

  1. "SKA-Interviews – Mark Foggo's Skasters". 25 February 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mark Foggo – The Hardest Working Man in Ska". Marco on the Bass. 3 August 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Duff Interview: Mark Foggo". The Duff Guide to Ska. 15 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 "Interview with Mark Foggo". 2 June 2000.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. www.muziekencyclopedie.nl – Mark Foggo's Skasters Biography (in dutch)
  6. www.laut.de – Mark Foggo's Skasters Biography (in german)
  7. www.punktastic.com – Mark Foggo's Skasters Review of the album Mad (V2, 2010, in English)