Music Music Music... Rock & Roll Part I

My introduction into rock bands started in 1991 when I joined a couple of high school friends playing pop music together. Animation was that first group, lasting about 9 months. Chris Mundy and I combined forces with the vocalist, guitarist and one awesome female drummer (you ROCK Kenda!) from a band called "Scimitar," becoming "BALANCE" - a band that would last 18 months. After a few months on my own I met up with vocalist Philip Olmes - we cut a 45 (that would be a two sided polyvinyl chloride disk played on something called a "record player" - look it up) with two original songs on it. That lead to a band called "AM/FM" - we played a handful of shows with Chris Mundy on base and guitarist Jason Aronoff, who after a short time invited me to play with progressive powerhouse Mara.

Mara was - in the beginning - a progressive rock style original music band that was based out the “Pill Hill” Clifton, Ohio area. Taking cue from their musical hero's and influences such as Genesis, ELP, Yes, King Crimson and others, Mara was a pretentious and creative group of accomplished musicians with plenty of money to buy whatever musical device they desired. One such member played something Chris would whimsically name the "Nutty Octave Device" - an electronic clarinet if you will. It was the most bazaar musical instrument that I had ever seen at the time, and it became the focus of many jokes and stories over the years (including a mention on Mara's first commercial release).

Upon my arrival as Mara's new keyboardist, the band started to take more of a turn towards a harder edge (a trait that would follow me pretty much wherever I headed). Popular music in 1984 was right in the middle of the Glam Rock mTV era where big hair, make-up and 3 chord rock songs were the big sellers. In typical fashion, Mara borrowed a taste of this and a pinch of that to their progressive styling’s to create original music that was accessible to the 3 chord rockers, but acceptable to the prog-rock snobs (like myself of course). Mara brought on singer Marty Farris about the same time Dream Theater released their single "Pull Me Under", putting Mara on a similar prog-rock track producing powerful rock songs with intricate rhythms and big vocals.

"Breaking The Silence" was Mara's first release. We recorded it on an 8 track reel-to-reel recorder syncing the keyboards to SYMPE time code (not really an exact science for a bunch of 20 something year old kids), but it sounded simply incredible. Our close friends all became a part of the process taking photographs, designing the cassette jackets (yes, audio cassette – look it up), printing them, cutting, folding, inserting the mass produced tapes – EVERYTHING! At the end of the day we had a package that people could purchase at our live shows. You could take Mara home with you.

I thought for sure that this was - at last - my vehicle to stardom.

Over the next few years we would play clubs, open for national acts such as Andy Summers, Marillion, Shooting Star, and “3” (Keith Emerson, Carl Palmer, and Robert Barry). We even did a show in Dayton, OH with Donnie Iris and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in front of an estimated 18,000 people (WOW what a rush!), all the while writing more and more material. We upgraded to a 16 track recorder and added a bunch of outboard gear to record “Poetry & Motion” – Mara’s first full CD released that included select cuts from our first cassette.

Jason Arnoff, Jim Questa, Marty Farris, Todd Farler, and Chris Mundy

MARA 1987

By this time Mara had a “posy” of managers, agents, and a road crew – even our own step van (the “Taco Queeb” van – don’t ask…) to go from local gig to local gig. By the time we started the writing process for “America”, we were well on our way – so we thought…

Unfortunately as time went on, the struggles of life and the unrealistic expectations of men who refuse to grow up started to have an adverse effect on the band. Half of us wanted to hit the road and start making more of a name for ourselves. The other half wanted to stay local and "do it like Allen Parsons," breaking into the music business from the recording studio. While we continued to play in local clubs to rave reviews, I had to make a personal, professional decision.

Next up - Off To The Islands "Mon"...