Career
St. Mark (born Reid Cruickshank) joined Celtic Frost in 1985, after leaving the Swiss hard rock band "Crown", for the recording of their Emperor's Return E.P. and the highly influential To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium albums. After extensive touring with the group, St. Mark left Celtic Frost in 1988 only to later join the funk metal group Mindfunk, playing drums on their self-titled debut album for Sony/Epic in 1991. He left Mindfunk in 1992 to re-join Celtic Frost for the writing of the unreleased Under Apollyon's Sun album.
During his time with Celtic Frost, St. Mark's various trademarks included rows of women's high-heeled shoes arranged on his drum kit and playing drum solos with oversized sticks. He was also noted for his highly visual and flamboyant drumming style as well as hitting his drums exceedingly hard. He was said to have destroyed drum heads on a daily basis as a result of his hard-hitting technique. St. Mark performed with Celtic Frost on a Sonor Phonic Plus series double bass kit, that included a Sonor Signature Series 8" steel snare drum. His cymbals used were mainly Paiste RUDE series known for their durability and powerful tone. In the studio and sometimes live, he would include some of the Paiste 2002 line.
In 2008, St. Mark was briefly involved in a new project called Triptykon with former Celtic Frost bandmate Thomas Gabriel Fischer. He is also listed as a contributing artist for the Septimus Orion project which released its first album in 2008.
Celtic Frost were a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metal and avant-garde metal. Formed in 1981 as Hellhammer, the band became Celtic Frost in 1984 and released their debut, Morbid Tales, that year. This was followed by To Mega Therion (1985) and the highly experimental Into the Pandemonium (1987), all of which were widely praised. Their next album Cold Lake (1988) saw a new lineup and a radical change of style, which was widely derided. After the release of Vanity/Nemesis (1990), the group disbanded. It re-formed in 2001 and released the critically acclaimed Monotheist (2006), before disbanding following frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008.
Alexander Arthur van Halen is an American musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. The band was formed in 1974 by Alex Van Halen; his younger brother, Eddie Van Halen; David Lee Roth; and Michael Anthony. Warner Brothers signed the band in 1977, and its debut album was released in 1978. Alex and Eddie Van Halen are the only members of Van Halen who have been in the band throughout its existence.
To Mega Therion is the debut studio album by Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, released on 27 October 1985 by Noise Records. The cover artwork is a painting by H. R. Giger entitled Satan I. The album was a major influence on the then-developing death metal and black metal genres.
Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen is the former drummer in both the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish and the Finnish progressive metal band Sethian.
Mind Funk were an American rock band containing members of Chemical Waste and several other bands. The band was originally known as "Mind Fuck" but were forced by Epic Records to change their name. They signed to the Sony/Epic-label and released their self-titled debut album in 1991. Guitarist Jason Everman, known for stints on guitar and bass with Nirvana and Soundgarden, joined and later left in September 1994 to join the US Army 2nd Ranger Battalion and the Special Forces. Louis Svitek went on to later perform with Ministry and has since opened his new recording studio and label, Wu-Li Records. John Monte also later performed with Ministry.
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Thomas Gabriel Fischer, also known by his stage names of Tom G. Warrior and Satanic Slaughter, is a Swiss metal musician. He led the groups Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, and today is the frontman of the band Triptykon.
Rock and roll first entered Switzerland in the 1950s, as a series of American musicians popularized the style internationally.
Tommy Aldridge is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. Aldridge is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Vinnie Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen.
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Morbid Tales is the debut EP by the Swiss extreme metal band, Celtic Frost, released in November 1984. The first European release on Noise Records was a mini-LP with six tracks, while the American release by Enigma/Metal Blade added two tracks, bringing it to the length of a regular LP.
Parched with Thirst Am I and Dying is a compilation album of the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost released in 1992. It consists of album tracks, demos and various other recordings of the band.
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Mel George Gaynor is an English musician. He is best known as the longtime drummer for the rock band Simple Minds. Gaynor was born to a Jamaican father and an Afro-Brazilian mother.
Dennis Leeflang is a Dutch rock drummer, currently living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his work with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
Neil Cooper is best known as the current drummer with Therapy?, a hard rock band from Northern Ireland, and formerly of The Beyond, a hard rock band from England.
Triptykon is a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich, formed in 2008 by Thomas Gabriel Fischer, founding member of the pioneering heavy metal bands Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and Apollyon Sun.
Septimus Orion is a recording project initiated with the release of its first studio album CAGED in August 2008. The album includes an audio version of Clifford Meth's short story Queers. This short story was originally published in god's 15 minutes by Aardwolf Publishing. Celtic Frost drummer Reed St. Mark lends his percussive talents while also working on the Triptykon project with former Celtic Frost bandmate Tom Gabriel Fischer. Veteran songwriter and musician Mark Radice joined the cast of Septimus Orion while continuing to compose and record for Public Television. For this work, Radice was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008. Former front man and vocalist for Lodi hardcore punk band Rosemary's Babies, known as JR, joined Septimus Orion with a rerecorded version of his song Sanctioned Violence.
Larry Paterson is a musician and author, best known as the drummer for Blaze Bayley during (2007–2010) and British heavy metal band I.C.O.N.
