Mark Steiner is a well-known figure in Oslo's music underworld, and he's been around in Norway for so long that many assume that he is Norwegian. He is not. This ex-New Yorker is a wandering scoundrel who one might find hanging out in the shadowy corners of a pub at closing time – whether the nearest street sign reads New York, Oslo, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon or Melbourne. A musical vagrant who draws inspiration from the same sources which may have influenced Stuart Staples, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Rowland S. Howard – yes, that entire circle of hollow-eyed, black-clad night owls with melancholic dispositions and pocket-flasks full of booze to match. Mark Steiner is indeed such a character.
The songs, the baritone voice, and the guitar on Mark Steiner's new album can be compared to a run-down bar in a city like Berlin. In the pub "BROKEN," one will find a surprisingly international atmosphere, with Frenchmen, Germans, Americans, Australians and even Norwegians. Here is a party with good times, along with debauchery, skuffles, tears and heartache. Love herself sits and drinks with sorrow in a dark crook, alone with a bottle of liquor. Men and women sit and chat, bicker, flirt and argue. At the pub , there are many unique musicians who bring their own distinct personalities to the counter, and Mark Steiner is the bartender, serving up his talented patrons with one delicious cocktail after another.
An odyssey of decadence, the album BROKEN was recorded in Melbourne, New York, Dortmund and Oslo, with some of the "cr�me-de-la- cr�me" of today's "Swamp-Rock" and "Lounge-Noir" musicians from around the globe, including Parisian art-rocker Dimi Dero and his German partner-in-crime Tex Napalm, Sofy Perez and Lisa Barel of French cabaret duo Tulla Larsen, Rosie Westbrook (of former Bad Seed Mick Harvey's band), and Cam Butler of Australia's Silver Ray. Ex-Autodrone vocalist Susana Melendez makes an appearance on the song "Divine Whore," and New York's Susan Mitchell contributes her incredible string-playing skills on several other tracks. Australian legend Pete Luscombe of Paul Kelly fame is here on a couple of songs, as is Stevie Hesketh of Jet. And yet there are even more…
BROKEN is Mark Steiner's follow-up to his debut solo release, a Mini-LP CD called FALLEN BIRDS. A limited edition 12" 180gram vinyl EP version, aptly entitled LITTLE FALLEN BIRDS is available by mail order through Stagger Records, and can also found in vinyl record shops throughout Europe, the United States and Australia!
Performing nowadays as "Mark Steiner & His Problems," whether solo or with one of his many bands, Steiner has played gigs all over New York and Europe, and even in Hong Kong. He has also played two well-received tours of Australia, first in September 2008, and again in November, 2009, with a gig in Hong Kong along the way! The result? A full tour of mainland China followed by Australia & New Zealand in 2011!
Featured live guest musicians have included Spencer P. Jones (Beasts of Bourbon), Rosie Westbrook (Mick Harvey band), members of
Silver Ray, Madrugada and Serena Maneesh, and many others.
Mark Steiner has also played support, both solo and with his band, for many an artist, including ex-Swans member Michael Gira (US), Devendra Banhart (US), Madrugada (N), Rowland S. Howard (AUS), The Fatal Shore (AUS/UK), Kid Congo Powers & the Pink Monkey Birds (US), Ingrid Olava (N) and many more.
For more info, go to:
www.StaggerHome.com
or
www.MySpace.com/StaggerHome
