Mark Mallman

Mark Mallman
Birth name Mark Mallman
Born July 20, 1973
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Origin Minnesota
Instruments Piano
Labels Eagles Golden Tooth, Guilt Ridden Pop, Susstones, Badman Recording Company, Kindercore
Associated acts Ruby Isle
Website mallman.com
Mark Mallman composer
Bandcamp page

Mark Mallman (born July 20, 1973) is a Minnesota musician and composer for film. Since 1998, he has released 7 full length studio albums, Double Silhouette (2012) being his most recent.

Education

Mallman graduated from Waukesha South High School in 1991. He studied jazz piano at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1991. In 1995, at age 21, Mallman earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he studied painting and performance art.

Musical career

Mallman started his career in the late 1990s with the short-lived band, the Odd, a surprisingly popular postmodern joke on 1970s rock histrionics. Days after they topped the City Pages "Best new Band" poll, they broke up, but reunited to record and release one album, Oh My G*d – It's the Odd in 1998, which was co-written and co-produced by Mallman.[1] His solo debut came in 1998 with the release of The Tourist. In 2000, Mallman issued his sophomore effort, How I Lost My Life and Lived to Tell about It, which featured guest spots by Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland and Mallman's schoolmate, Davey von Bohlen of The Promise Ring. The Red Bedroom, his third album, was issued in Spring 2002. It was produced by Radiohead producer Paul Q. Kolderie. The Who's Gonna Save You Now? EP and the live effort Live from First Avenue, Minneapolis were released in 2003.

Mr. Serious, Mallman's first self-produced album, followed in 2004. It marked his first album for Badman Recording Company.[2] His energetic performance style, combining the attitudes of punk rockers like Johnny Rotten and Darby Crash over the 70s disco-glam of Elton John, began to gain attention throughout the United States around the time of this record.[3] While he tirelessly performed 150 shows per year,[4] Mallman released Between the Devil and Middle C in 2006, and Invincible Criminal in 2009.[5] Invincible Criminal featured a duet with Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, and violins by Shannon Frid of Cloud Cult.[6] After an extensive amount of touring the United States, he spent the first half of 2012 in Los Angeles writing and recording Double Silhouette, which was released later that year.[7]

Marathon song cycles

In 1999 Mallman performed a 26-hour long song titled "Marathon 1". Later, in 2004, Mallman’s “Marathon Two” session took place back at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Minnesota. Seventy-five musicians took turns backing Mallman as he performed one song for over two consecutive days, only breaking to go to the bathroom.[8] On October 10, 2010, he completed "Marathon 3", a 78-hour long song complete with 576 pages of lyrics. During the performance, he injured his left foot. He finished at 10pm on Sunday night by biting into a bouquet of flowers and spitting them over the crowd.[9]

Mayor Chris Coleman declared October 7-10, 2010 “Mark Mallman Days” in St. Paul, Minnesota in honor of his creative achievement. The mayor's proclamation included the statement “Whereas Mark Mallman is totally AWESOME.”[10] From September 15 to Sept 22, 2012 he endured "Marathon IV: Road Rogue", an 8 day, 150-hour plus nonstop performance from New York to Los Angeles in the back of a van.[11] Road Rogue was the first ever intercontinental mobile musical webcast in the history of the Internet.[12] In addition to the pioneering webcast, Mallman also employed a hacked midi brain controller which enabled him to perform music with his brainwaves while he was sleeping.[13]

Film music

Mallman works as a professional composer for film by day, mostly doing music for major motion picture trailers, such as Adventureland, 10,000 BC and Haunting of Molly Hartley. He has also composed music for Living Arrangements (2009).[14] In 2012, he composed the score for the Lion's Gate / Machinima webseries Bite Me.[15]

Mark Mallman swinging from the rafters in 2012

Discography

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Scholtes, Peter S. (September 23, 1998). "Odd Man Out". City Pages. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  2. ↑ Prato, Greg. "Biography: Mark Mallman". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
  3. ↑ Solomon, John. "Like a great character actor, Mark Mallman says he feels like someone else when he's on stage". The Westword. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  4. ↑ Riemenschnieder, Chris. "Music: The Invincible Mark Mallman". Star Tribune. Retrieved 3 September 2009.
  5. ↑ Sterzinger, Ann. "Critics' Choices and other notable concerts". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  6. ↑ Chase, Ted. "Mark Mallman Invincible Criminal". QRO Magazine. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  7. ↑ Collins, Cyn (October 12, 2012). "On Making Double Silhouette a 10 Million Dollar Album". City Pages. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  8. ↑ Chapman, Gray. "Mark Mallman Talks Guinness Book of World Records, Marathon Shows, Keyboard Riding". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  9. ↑ Wells, Shayne. "Mark Mallman completes 78-hour music marathon". KARE11 News. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  10. ↑ Iverson, Kate. "Mayor Coleman declares Oct 7-10th "Mark Mallman Days" in St. Paul". the651.com. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
  11. ↑ Schlansky, Evan (September 10, 2012). "Song Premiere: Mark Mallman, “Double Silhouette”". American Songwriter.
  12. ↑ Fischer, Reed. "Mark Mallman's Marathon 4 is in progress!". City Pages. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  13. ↑ Hart, Hugh. "Road-Tripping Rocker to Livestream Brain Wave Music While He Sleeps". wired.com. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  14. ↑ "Mark Mallman gives away greatest hits compilation, re-records upcoming album for Badman Recordings, writes soundtrack for Living Arrangements.". Fanatic Promotion. 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  15. ↑ ""Bite Me" (2010): Full cast and crew". IMDb. Retrieved 17 August 2013.

External links