Mark Cross (musician)
| Mark Cross | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 August 1965 |
| Origin | London, England |
| Instruments | Drum kit |
| Associated acts | Ian Gillan, Nightfall, Metalium, Helloween, The Supremacy, Kingdom Come, At Vance, Winter's Bane, Firewind, Saracen |
| Website | mcross.com |
Mark Cross (born 2 August 1965, London, UK) is a veteran hard rock and heavy metal drummer. He was born to an English father and German mother, raised in Germany and later moved to Greece. Cross has played in many bands in his career and is currently based in Athens, Greece, which helped him land his current position as drummer for Firewind.
In 2002 Mark was forced to leave his position in Helloween when he was diagnosed with mononucleosis, a condition that affected his ability to play, but has since fully recovered. In the end he recorded only two tracks with Helloween, both of which eventually featured on their Rabbit Don't Come Easy album in 2003.
His comeback was a low-key demo recording with The Supremacy, a project band also featuring Bill Hudson of Cellador in 2004. In 2005 he featured as a session and touring musician for At Vance and also appeared on the British rock band Saracen's latest album, Vox in Excelso and Winter's Bane's comeback album, Redivivus.
With Firewind he released "Allegiance" in July 2006 and toured with them extensively throughout the world in 2006 and 2007 playing more than 150 shows. With their new album "The Premonition", which was released in April 2008 he and Firewind started their world tour in Europe in April - May followed by 30 more concerts in North America with Swedish metallers Arch Enemy. For the summer they announced various festivals and their headline tour in Europe starting on 15 September in the UK.on 13 January Mark announced that he and Firewind split.
Mark has been known to use Paiste cymbals, Tama drums, Vic Firth drumsticks, Evans drumheads and cymbals in the shape of Iron Crosses made by Factory Metal Percussion.