Marko DeSantis

Marko DeSantis
Background information
Birth name	Marko DeSantis
Also known as	Marko 72
Born	May 3, 1972 (1972-05-03) (age 39)
Genres	Pop punk, Alternative rock, Powerpop
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Writer, DJ
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Fearless, V2/Artemis, Suburban Home, Avex (Japan), Sideout (Japan)
Associated acts	Sugarcult, Bad Astronaut, The Playing Favorites, The Lapdancers, Popsicko, The Ataris, Lost Kittenz, Nerf Herder, Swingin' Utters
Website	Official site

Marko DeSantis (born May 3, 1972)^[1] is a music professional best known as the lead guitarist for American modern rock band Sugarcult; he grew up in Santa Barbara, California.^[2]

With Sugarcult he has made 3 studio records, 2 DVDs, 1 live record, and toured internationally since 2001. Sugarcult have headlined tours, played many notable festivals (Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds, Summersonic, Warped Tour, Voodoo Fest, Soundwaves, etc.), and were the opening act on Green Day’s “American Idiot” USA/Japan tours, and Blink 182’s final tour before reforming to name a few. Tim Pagnotta asked him to join Sugarcult after meeting him at a Superdrag concert in 1999.

Currently, each member of Sugarcult is involved with other projects: bassist Airin with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Pagnotta produced the major label debut by Neon Trees and drummer Kenny Livingston bikes across America for charity www.kennydoit.org and started Americana band Good Man Down.

DeSantis has had two side-projects with Lagwagon singer Joey Cape; Bad Astronaut and The Playing Favorites whose debut release "I Remember When I was Pretty..." features Marko singing lead vocals on 2 tracks he wrote ("Futuring" and "Whole Lotta Nothin"). He has also played in Nerf Herder, Swingin' Utters, The Lapdancers, The Ataris, Popsicko, Lost Kittenz.

Bad Astronaut recently did a Southern California tour (their first ever live performances as a band); now, the band plans to occasional play live in different territories worldwide.

He has used various guitars on Sugarcult's records, but his main instrument is an Epiphone Elitist '65 Dot ES-335 guitar. He uses Bogner Shiva Amplifiers.

As a DJ, DeSantis has performed at special events, parties and nightclubs in Japan, Russia, New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Salt Lake City, Austin (at SXSW), St. Louis and more. In the late 1990s he produced and hosted a weekly specialty show on Santa Barbara modern rock station KJEE FM. In the summer of 2009 he became the host/producer of weekly internet music television show Raw Rhythms on [1] showcasing upcoming bands. He currently hosts a weekly radio show called Endless Party! on Moheak Radio.

As an educator/mentor, DeSantis has appeared as a guest speaker/panelist at several music conventions and academic programs: SXSW, MI (Musician's Institute), Taxi, Citrus College, Kenshu (Japanese exchange), and Rock Shop Academy. In the summer of 2009, he was the director of the Washington DC branch of the rock fantasy camp for teens called Power Chord Academy; returning in the summer of 2010 as the director for PCA's Chicago, IL sessions.

As a writer, DeSantis contributes to various print and online publications such as Punk Rock Confidential Magazine, Substream and The Independent; he also contributes a regular column called "Can You Hear Me Now?" to the UK independent rock magazine, Black Velvet. He has recently blogged for OC Weekly and Clear Channel's Modern Rock Station 98.7FM Los Angeles.

Marko DeSantis lives in Los Angeles, California.

References

1. ^ Encyclo Marko DeSantis
2. ^ "Band FAQs". http://www.sugarcult.com/sugarcultboard/lofiversion/index.php/t15611.html. Retrieved 2007-05-15. 

Persondata
Name	Desantis, Marko
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 3, 1972
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death