Everything influences me whether I like it or not.
The most profound musical influences before leaving school were The Transatlantics (my uncle's band in the 60s), The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Felix Mendelssohn's 'Fingals's Cave', Sex Pistols, The Clash, Two Tone movement, James Brown, Blondie, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Prince, The Jam, Whistle Test, Bow Wow Wow, Stiff Little Fingers, John Peel's show, Barnes & Barnes 'Fish Heads', The Pogues and various obscure 60s singles.
After leaving school I discovered Talking Heads, Public Enemy, Run DMC, Beastie Boys, Boogie Down Productions, Dinosaur Jr, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Boo Radleys, Teenage Fanclub, Primal Sream, Daniel Johnston, Sebadoh, Pavement, Guided By Voices, Beck....
The list could go on forever. All of the above have shaped the way I write and record music.
Mark Cottrell (born January 11th, 1970 in Rush Green, Essex) is a singer-songwriter who has been recording since 1986.
He starting writing songs at the age of 10 and 6 years later formed a musical partnership with Steve Oswald which lasted for 12 years. During 1990 they joined forces with Darren Hunt & Rob Lynch to form The F.O.S. They set up camp at Freak Out Studio in Collier Row, Essex and recorded hundreds of songs over the next few years.
Mark started The Scapegoat in 1991 as a side-project from The F.O.S. as he was coming up with far too many songs to be recorded by them. This developed into a full band by 1997 and finally imploded in 1999.
His first live performance was with 6 piece jam-band Keith Burton’s All-Stars in 1994 (2 drummers, 2 guitarists, a bassist & a saxophonist). They were together for about a month, had maybe 2 or 3 rehearsals, no songs to speak of but a gig! After the concert in front of about 500 people at a university party at a warehouse in Plaistow, East London they split up.
Also in 1994 Mark formed Raw Essentials with C, John Freeborn. They met in a record shop in Ilford, Essex and recorded an album, ‘The Green Rush’. Freeborn later collaboated with Cottrell again on his 2004 album, ‘Loop’ & Mark’s ‘Ex-Scapegoat’.
In 1995 Mark was given an Amstrad 4-track (with a tuner/turntable) by his friend Bob Sweeney on which he recorded 10 albums of 4-track recordings in 2 years with a whole array of social misfits. He released these on his own tape label, Renaissance, in 98-99.
Further forays into live performance happened in 1997 the highlight being a gig at The 12 Bar Club in Denmark St, London alongside Hefner and The Hangovers (featuring ex-Raincoat Gina Birch).
During 1998 Cottrell joined Smart Fruit (with then-current) Scapegoat drummer John Gleeson. The Scapegoat imploded later that year and after finishing the recordings in 1999 Mark decided to have a rethink.
After 3 years of writing & demoing Cottrell returned to live performance in 2003 playing at various venues in London including The Spice of Life & The Arts Cafe.
2004 saw the release of ‘Ex-Scapegoat’, Mark’s first CD of the 21st century. 18 songs and 52 minutes long, the album featured many of Cottrell’s best songs from the previous 10 years. Launch night was at Filthy MacNasty’s Whiskey Bar in Islington, London.
The same year Mark collaborated with The Libertines’ cover star & encore singer The Rabbi on the single, ‘Tom Dooley’. Joined Essex based ‘fuzz-skiffle’ band Trad Arr and performed with Jason Swindle, Hadleigh Ford & C John Freeborn.
2005 saw the artist perform many times at the notorious Duke of Clarence in Islington, twice at The Steeles, Chalk Farm; twice at The Wilmington, Islington; twice at The Boogaloo, Highgate (including a performance of Ian Dury’s ‘Plaistow Patricia’ with Shane Macgowan) & Phil Lynott’s memorial at The Westbury in Dublin alongside Jason Swindle, Thin Lizzy & Wheatus. Cottrell also co-wrote 3 songs with ex-Billy Bragg guitarist/producer Wiggy the same year.
Mark started 2006 with ‘The Late Mark Cottrell’ & Trad Arr’s ‘Music Nobody Else Likes’ album before starting on a new project with singer-songstress Beth Dismore. In august the duo made their debut (having never met beforehand) at the Peafish festival in Islington, where Mark performed 4 times (solo, with Betty Woz Ere, Trad Arr & The Rabbi). In October he promoted an all day party in Kensington at the Orange Club for Fuzzynoise records, performing with Trad Arr, The Rabbi, Betty, Lee Harris from The Blockheads & solo.
2007 proved to be Cottrell’s most productive yet, including a nomination for an INDY award. He co-wrote & co-produced 2 albums in the 28 days of february, Neutral Sons eponymous debut and Weeping Sores ‘Fake Right Arm’ (with Andy Golding from Trad Arr).
Between March and August Mark played may gigs & recorded a staggering amount of material.
Betty Woz Ere’s debut E.P. & ‘Betty’s Extravaganza’ L.P.
The Rabbi’s ‘Now…’ album.
6 songs for Trad Arr’s ‘Elephant Keen’ album.
4 songs with punk poetess Strychnine for The Sighs.
In September Mark travelled to Toronto, Canada for the start of 6 months travelling around the world. Over the following few months he wrote over 30 songs and played in Canada, America, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong & South Korea.
On his return in March 2008 Cottrell began mixing the songs he recorded during the past 6 months and found he had enough material for 2 albums. Whilst working on them he continued to play with many appearances at The Flask in Hampstead, Filthy MacNasty’s & The Hope & Anchor in Islington & The Water Rats, Kings Cross. In October he recorded several tracks with Neutral Sons at Tapewurm Studio in Cambridge & old friends Smart Fruit at The Enterprise in Denmark Street, London.
Having now moved to York, 2009 has seen Mark play to a packed house at Filthy MacNasty’s alongside Trad Arr, The Rabbi, Betty, Jason Swindle, Spizz Energi & the first appearance on stage of Neutral Sons.
March has seen the second Neutral Sons CD ‘The Ballad of Ariel Piccolo’ & the first of Mark’s albums written on the road, ‘King Gooski & The Honey Buns’. Already hailed by some as ‘a masterpiece’ & ‘a compelling work of genius’, the album comprises 17 tracks written in the U.S.A. Plans are currently afoot for a multimedia show at The Foundry in Shoreditch to showcase the music, photos & videos from the album.
The second ‘road’ album is third of the way through and should appear before the end of the year. Alongside new material from Betty Woz Ere, The Rabbi, Weeping Sores & Trad Arr.
May will see Cottrell’s first appearance at Rock ‘n Roll Cabaret at the Dublin Castle in Camden with new band The Chacers, with whom he has written many new songs and promise to be a hot tip for 2010.
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