Mark Steiner & His Problems

Mark Steiner & His Problems
Birth name	Mark William Steiner
Also known as	Mark, Mark Steiner, Piker, Piker Ryan
Born	26 January 1970(1970-01-26)
Genres	Post-punk
Occupations	musician, songwriter, film maker
Years active	1988-present
Labels	Stagger Records Paris Z-Man Records Melbourne
Associated acts	Mark Steiner, Mark Steiner & His Problems, Mark Steiner & The Fallen Birds, Mark Steiner & The Debauchery, Mark Steiner & The Broken Men, Mark Steiner & The Broken Birds, Piker Ryan, Kundera, Piker Ryan's Folly, The Mirror Reveals, Madrugada, Spencer P. Jones, Loene Carmen
Website	Stagger Home Music, Stagger Records (France), Z-Man Records (Australia)
Notable instruments
Fender Jaguar Baritone Special HH guitar and Washington J-9 Semi-acoustic guitar (manufactured by Washburn Guitars)

Mark Steiner & His Problems (born as Mark William Steiner on 26 January 1970) is a Norwegian-American rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his international solo work and as vocalist in his native New York City band in the post-punk Gothic rock group Piker Ryan's Folly. He has performed his solo material accompanied by various guest artists around the globe, including Spencer P. Jones (of The Beasts of Bourbon) in Australia, Phil Shoenfelt in Prague, Bruno Adams in Berlin, and many others.

1988–96

Mark debuted as a singer in his senior year at Tenafly High School's 1988 Battle of bands, performing with a Punk rock cover band called Unified Division. They soon evolved into a gothic-punk band, and performed a mix of original songs and covers in Bergen County, New Jersey. Their gigs were limited to The Rat Trap Café in Haledon, after playing Sex Pistols covers at Dwight-Englewood School's high school Prom, from which they were immediately banned.

Mark finally graduated high school and studied Experimental film at Bard College in New York's Hudson Valley. He tried to pull together a band, but had a difficult time finding people with whom he could work with on a steady basis, so he continued on with his music as a solo artist.

After graduating with a B.A. in 1992, Steiner moved back home, first to Tenafly, and then into Manhattan, to work in local music video and television commercial production. Some highlights: Mark Steiner directed and shot some music videos for bands such as Empire Hideous, Novakseen, and Run On (Matador Records). He also edited videos for a multitude of artists, including Motörhead and Dick Dale. On the side, he managed to do some photo-journalism, interviewing the likes of Michael Gira and Kristeen Young for some New York publications.

1997-2001

In 1997, through a classified which he placed in The Village Voice, Mark met a Belgian-born guitarist named Phil "The Tremolo King" Vanderyken. With 19th Century gangland New York as a reference point, and using Herbert Asbury's book, The Gangs of New York (pre-Scorsese's film) for inspiration, the two musicians began a band called Piker Ryan's Folly. Piker Ryan was originally a member of the notorious Whyos, a thug arrested with a "take out menu," or list of services rendered, in his pocket. Piker Ryan's Folly debuted as a band at the legendary CBGB. Piker Ryan's Folly went through a number of various musicians in the rhythm section before finally settling on brothers Christopher Mele and Peter Mele. In 2000, the last Piker Ryan's Folly was performed at CBGB, at an event meant to save a neighboring historic tenement building, 295 Bowery, from certain demolition. Eric Wolter of Hellpop was recruited as pianist for this final incarnation of Piker Ryan's Folly, and he and Mark Steiner started a new band called Kundera, which also featured violinist Susan Mitchell (formerly of The New Creatures) and special guest Jerome O'Brien (of The Dog Show, Knoxville Girls, Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds, Jerry Teel's Big City Stompers) on string bass.

2001-present

At around the same time as Piker Ryan's Folly first began in New York City, Steiner moved temporarily to Oslo, Norway, where he met several other musicians who he would later end up collaborating with. After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Mark moved permanently to Oslo.

As a solo artist, Steiner has performed at The 2003 Iceland Airwaves Festival and the Øyafestivalen in 2004. He has also played support for Michael Gira, Kid Congo Powers, Devendra Banhart, and many others, including Norwegian pop artist Ingrid Olava.

In May 2004, Steiner returned to tour New York City with the Norwegian rock band Madrugada, with whom he developed a close working relationship with, including booking shows and playing support for them at CBGB and Sin-é. He then played support as "Mark Steiner & The Broken Men" at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo. He soon changed the name of the band to "Mark Steiner & The Debauchery".

In 2006, using MySpace, he made new connections with like-minded musicians such as Tex Napalm and Dimi Dero. Stagger Records invited him to contribute a track to a tribute CD for legendary Australian artist Rowland S. Howard. After a European mini-tour as "Piker Ryan," (which included the Mele brothers and James Babbo on guitar), Steiner played a solo tour of Portugal.

In February 2007, he recorded three songs in Paris with German guitarist Tex Napalm, and with Parisians including drummer Dimi Dero, Sofy Perez, Lisa Barel, and Delphine Ellis. These songs were later compiled along with some songs recorded in New York (with the Mele brothers) to become part of his debut CD, "Fallen Birds." He then began touring Europe, playing numerous gigs in France, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium, and Norway, also returning to New York City to play the occasional concert.

In 2008, Mark Steiner went to tour Australia, and began recording the album "Broken." Accompanied by guitar virtuoso Cam Butler of Silver Ray, pianist Lilith Lane, percussionist Peter Luscombe (of Paul Kelly's band), organist Stevie Hesketh (of Jet (band)) and bassist Rosie Westbrook (of Mick Harvey's band), three songs were recorded at Atlantis Sound Studio in Port Melbourne. The remainder of the album was recorded with his various European and American musicians in New York, Oslo, and Dortmund, Germany. While touring Australia, he even played support for Rowland S. Howard at The Toff in Town in Melbourne.

In early 2009, he went to Copenhagen to record and play a gig with Thomas Borge (of the Danish duo Halph) and with drummer Tobias "Tex" Lange and the band Saudade was born. Their greatest 'hit' was a parody called "The White Shoe Wanker Gang Theme Song," as the trio wear white shoes during their gigs.

Steiner returned to Australia in October, 2009, to promote the album "Broken" (released as a special edition 2-CD by Z-Man Records), managing to perform on stage with various musicians, including special guests Spencer P. Jones in Melbourne and Loene Carmen in Sydney. He also played a solo concert in Hong Kong before returning to Europe. Mark Steiner & His Problems is currently touring "Broken" in Europe and in the United States.

Band history

• Unified Division (vocalist, songwriter)
• The Third of May (bass guitar)
• Piker Ryan's Folly (vocalist, songwriter) with founding member Phil "The Tremolo King" Vanderyken (guitar). Other members included Christopher Mele (drums), Peter Mele (bass), Eric Wolter (piano), as well as several others.
• Kundera (vocalist, songwriter, guitar) with founding members Eric "The Heretic" Wolter (piano, vocalist) & Susan Mitchell (violin). Featured guest member: Jerome O'Brien (string bass)
• The Mirror Reveals (bass guitar) with founding member James Babbo (guitar, songwriter) and members Kit Messick (vocalist) & Joanna Dalin (violin)
• Chimney Sweepers (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - Norway, 2003)
• Mark Steiner & The Broken Men (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - Norway & New York City, 2004–2005)
• Mark Steiner & The Debauchery (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - Norway, 2006)
• Mark Steiner & The Fallen Birds (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - France & Norway, 2006–2008)
• Mark Steiner & The Fallen Little Birds (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - 2008 Australian Tour)
• Saudade (baritone guitar & co-vocalist/co-songwriter (along with founding member Thomas Borge (bass) and member Tobias "Tex" Lange (drums)))
• Mark Steiner & The Broken Birds (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - 2009 Australian Tour)
• Mark Steiner & His Problems (vocalist, songwriter, guitar - present)

Discography

• Piker Ryan's Folly "Lowlife" EP-CD (Spectre Productions, 1998)
• Piker Ryan's Folly "Bowery Blues" LP-CD (live at CBGB) (Spectre Productions, 1999)
• The Mirror Reveals (vocal) "The Undying Man" single from "Frames of Teknicolor" LP-CD (Middle Pillar Presents, 2000)
• The Mirror Reveals (vocal) "Moon's on Fire" single from "This Infinite Eye" LP-CD (Middle Pillar Presents, 2004)
• Mark Steiner & The Debauchery "Reason" single from "In Glorious Mono" compilation 2-CD (HoneyMilk Records, 2006)
• Mark Steiner "Silver Chain" single from "A Tribute to Rowland S. Howard" compilation 2-CD (Stagger Records Stagg002, 2006)
• Mark Steiner "Fallen Birds" Mini-LP CD (Stagger Records Stagg003, 2007)
• Mark Steiner "Fallen Birds" 12" gatefold vinyl EP (Stagger Records Stagg004, 2007)
• Mark Steiner "Broken" / "Fallen Birds" special edition 2-CD (Z-Man Records (Australia), 2009)
• Mark Steiner "Broken" 12" vinyl LP (Z-Man Records (Australia), 2009)
• Mark Steiner & The Fallen Birds "Beautiful Thief" 10" gatefold vinyl EP (b/w Mark Steiner featuring Tex Napalm "Sea of Disappointment", Stagger Records, Stagg007, 2009)
• Mark Steiner "Broken" CD (Stagger Records Stagg008, 2009)

Filmography (selected)

• Director/Camera/Editor/Producer "To Build an Empire", 1996 documentary feature on the New Jersey gothic-punk band Empire Hideous

Music Production credits (selected)

• Arranger/Publicist/Booker/Promoter of Madrugada's 2004 mini tour of New York City
• Co-Arranger/Publicist/Booker/Promoter of Ingrid Olava's 2009 mini tour of New York City
• Producer of "Fallen Birds" Mini-LP CD / "Little Fallen Birds" vinyl EP (Stagger Records, 2007)
• Producer of "Broken" LP (Z-Man Records, Stagger Records, 2009)

References

[1] The Barman (Australia) [2] Rock City Networks (Australia) [3] Tranzistor (Greece) [4] Tromsø By (Norway) [5] Musikkavisen (Norway) [6] Nordlys (Norway) [7] Lucid Culture concert review (USA) [8] Swamplandzine interview (USA) [9] Swamplandzine "Broken" review (USA)

External links

• [10] Official Mark Steiner & His Problems website
• Official MySpace profile
• [11] Tribute album to Rowland S Howard (Stagger Records)
• [12]

Further reading / bibliography

• http://www.mickmercer.com/pdfs/the_mick_49.pdf

Persondata
Name	Steiner, Mark William
Alternative names
Short description	musician, Songwriter
Date of birth	26 January 1970
Place of birth	New York City
Date of death
Place of death