Mark Doyle and the Maniacs

Formed in 2009, Mark Doyle & The Maniacs is the brainchild of guitarist/producer Mark Doyle. Signed to RCA in the early ‘70s with his first band, Jukin’ Bone (who played their own brand of fiery, Anglophilic blues rock), Mark has gone on to record and tour with artists as varied as Meat Loaf, Bryan Adams, Judy Collins, Leo Sayer, Kim Simmonds and Hall & Oates. A visit to the Discography page at markdoyle.com details the 65 albums that Mark has been involved in.

In describing the impetus for making their first record, “Shake ‘Em On Down”, Mark explains: “Old heroes die hard, and these were mine back when I was a teenager and first started playing the electric guitar. I’m sure Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Kim Simmonds had their own heroes – “authentic” blues men like B. B., Albert, and Freddie King, Otis Rush, Hubert Sumlin and Buddy Guy, but I did not yet know of them, and only discovered them translated and morphed through the brilliant playing of those four English kids.”

The second disc, “Comin’ Home”, featured nine original songs written by Mark and various other combinations of the Maniacs. “We were intent on making the music of the British Blues Boom era a living thing, rather than a museum piece,” Doyle said in 2010. “The new songs we’ve written manage to evoke the spirit of the era while remaining contemporary. And we still went for capturing lightning in a bottle by recording the album as live as possible. The difference is that we’re now an actual working band that played the songs in front of audiences over the year between the two albums.” Both albums won the SAMMY Award for Best Blues CD in 2010 and 2011, respectively, as well as rave reviews in magazines like Vintage Guitar in the States and Blues Matters in England.

Released in 2013, the new album, “Pushin’”, broadens the blues-rock focus even more with six brand new originals by Doyle, a stunning retake of “Nightcrawler” from Jukin’ Bone (Mark’s first band), a turbo-charged version of Freddie King’s “Palace of the King” and a final tip of the hat to British Blues icon John Mayall with “Witchdoctor.”

July 2013 saw the release of Mark Doyle and The Maniacs – “Live and Burnin’”, the first official live CD from the band, recorded multi-track on June 22, 2013 in New Hartford.

And now, in January 2017, a new live album "Raw" from the current line-up of the band, recorded on a hot, steamy night at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Two very good reasons to buy the new CD are the incendiary version of Jimi Hendrix's classic "Red House," and the almost 25-minute "Live Snakes Prelude - History of Rock and Roll," a truly spellbinding and jaw-dropping journey through the classic music of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Buffalo Springfield, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, to name a few.

With a stellar line-up that, along with Mark Doyle on guitar and vocals, now includes original member Terry Quill on second guitar, harp and vocals, Frank DeFonda on drums and Joel Kane on bass and vocals, this outfit is downright armed and should be considered dangerous. Experience Mark Doyle and The Maniacs, Premium Blues Rock!