NEWS Latest Update: April 30, 2013 Spring has finally come to Central New York, and Mark is celebrating with a studio reunion with Andy Pratt. These two have a long history together, and work is progressing at Near Miss, Mark's studio, on three new songs: "Three Ring Circus", "Killer Smile", and "Trial By Fire". Andy is in great voice and is writing really great songs these days. There are plenty of opportunities this Summer to see Mark play live with his band, Mark Doyle and The Maniacs. Check out the Maniacs web site, markdoyleandthemaniacs.com for all the latest tour dates. Past Updates: March 18, 2013 Check out the archive store for reduced prices on several albums. Also now available are the separate albums of Jukin' Bone ("Whiskey Woman" and "Way Down East"), previously only available in the "2 On 1" CD set. Feb. 22, 2013 It's hard to know the players without a scorecard, but Phil Broikos has left Mark Doyle and The Maniacs. The long commute to and from his home in Rochester and the day-to-day responsibilities of his family business necessitated the decision. We wish Phil all the best and welcome the great Pete McMahon into the fold. Pete is a former member of Savoy Brown and The Kingsnakes (who Mark produced) and is also a featured player on the new Pushin' CD and DVD. Anyone who was at The Redhouse CD release party on Dec. 22 where Pete was a special guest knows what a perfect fit he is. Rehearsals with Pete are starting to smoke, and this should be a really excellent line-up. First gig is March 22 at Carnegie Cafe. In other Sammy news, Ronnie Leigh's album Live at Apple Jazz was nominated for Best Jazz CD. Mark is featured as a guitarist throughout. Fans of Mark's solo albums may want to take advantage of a March Madness Sale at CD Baby. All three solo CDs are discounted down from $14 to $9.99.
That's it for now - stay warm! Dec. 28, 2012 Since the last update, the new version of Mark Doyle and The Maniacs debuted in May, with longtime drummer Frank DeFonda and Mark joining forces with Joel Kane on bass, 2nd guitar and vocals, and Phil Broikos on bass, 2nd guitar, keyboards, trombone, harmonica and vocals. The new lineup is out playing some incendiary shows, and has hit the studio to record the third Maniacs album, called “Pushin’.” After two albums that paid homage to the British Blues Boom of the Sixties, and specifically Doyle's heroes Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Peter Green and Kim Simmonds, the release of "Pushin'" shows The Maniacs standing on their own feet with a bluesy, rockin' and (dare we say it) mature release of mostly original music. Included along with the six brand new Doyle originals is a stunning version of Jukin' Bone's "Nightcrawler", a turbo-charged version of Freddie King's "Palace of the King" and a final tip of the hat to British Blues godfather John Mayall with "I'm Your Witchdoctor." Mark’s brand new solo album, “In Dreams: Guitar Noir II” is out and has been garnering great reviews, which you can read by clicking on the album’s cover on the Discography page.
And September 30th marks the official release date of Mark’s long-awaited follow up to Guitar Noir, called “In Dreams: Guitar Noir II.” It will be available as both a digital release and as a limited edition Pro-CDR from CDBaby. You can read all about the making of it by clicking on its icon on the discog page. Mark Doyle & The Maniacs had a busy summer playing several key festivals, including Blues Fest in Syracuse, McCauley Mountain Music Fest in Old Forge, and Sterling Stage in Sterling. They also were support act for Robin Trower at the Westcott Theater in June, and will be support act for The Zombies at Oneonta Theater on Sept. 11. After Mark returns from a trip to London, England in October the band will hit the studio in November to begin recording an EP of all-original songs, followed by a live concert recording for release on DVD and CD. Also slated for release in the Fall is an anthology album from Jack “Penetrator” Lipton, garage-rock pioneer and former singer of The Maniacs. Besides a choice few blasts from the past, there are six new songs produced by Mark. The record is called “Forgotten Boy.” In other production, Mark and David Werner finished co-producing 5 songs for artist Maddie Georgie, now renamed Madison. French singer/ songwriter Violette
de Bartillat is still working on her follow-up CD, for
which Mark is providing string arrangements and guitar.
|
Past Updates Cont: Apologies for the long time between updates.
Over the course of the last year, the album Mark produced for talented
singer/songwriter Michael Gordon, “Dream
Board”, was released and is available on CD Baby and Amazon.
As a matter of fact, Michael and Mark just finished the follow-up
CD, which is due out this Fall. Also over the course
of the long winter Mark concentrated on writing and doing demos
for the second album from his band, Mark Doyle & The
Maniacs. The band premiered all of the new originals in
the course of their live dates, finally culminating in another few
days of intense sessions at More Sound in March. The result, a brand
new Maniacs album called “Comin’ Home”, was released
in early May. The band plays a CD Release party at The Redhouse
in Syracuse on May 22. Apologies for the long
time between updates. Since last writing, Mark was enlisted as Music
Director and lead guitarist/keyboardist/ backing vocalist for the
CD Release Party of Laura Austin’s long-awaited
album, “Bittersweetheart” (yes, it finally got released!)
With a killer band assembled by Mark (Scott Allyn – acoustic guitar and songwriter; Peg Newell – guitars and backing vocals; John Goodwin – keyboards and backing vocals; Michael P. Ryan –bass and backing vocals, and Cathy LaManna on drums), they ruled The Redhouse for two shows on April 4, 2009
to an ecstatic response. A lot of preparation went into the shows:
the band rehearsed for two months. Mark also traveled to Boston to do string arrangements and guitar work on an album for up and coming French singer/ songwriter Violette de Bartillat. And in the midst of a February blizzard, Mark went into the studio and in two days knocked off the debut album from his new band, Mark Doyle & The Maniacs. The record is called “Shake ‘Em On Down: A Salute To The 60s British Blues Boom” and is a fiery homage to the four great guitarists that most influenced Mark in his formative years: Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Kim Simmonds. The band features Terry Quill on harmonica and 2nd guitar, Jack “Penetrator” Lipton on vocals, Michael P. Ryan on bass and vocals, and Frank DeFonda on drums and percussion. The record was produced by Mark and recorded, mixed and mastered by Jocko at More Sound in Syracuse. It’s just been released and the band debuted at Taste of Syracuse on June 5 to ecstatic reviews, following up with a headlining slot at Inner Harbor on July 1. On July 25 The Maniacs go deep catalogue and play an entire night of British Blues Boom music at Bear Bones in Auburn, from 9-12:30. Opportunities to see Mark play live this summer are: May 23 – Paper Mill Island,
Baldwinsville (The Doyle – Whiting Band) More live dates will be announced as we go. Please check http://myspace.com/markdoylemusic for up-to-date additions. That’s it for now – have a glorious Summer! _________________________________ The
reuniting of Mark and old partner Joe Whiting for a new album, “The
Truth” and a series of live dates last summer was a resounding
success. As a result, “The Truth” just won a Sammy Award
for Best Rock Album, and has been the impetus for a DVD biopic called
“The Truth – The Story of Mark Doyle & Joe Whiting”.
Directed by Timothy Daniel, the documentary spans the entire career
of Mark and Joe, together and separately, over the forty years that
they’ve been collaborating. The B-Side of the double-sided
disc features the legendary Storytellers Concert at The Redhouse
last October 20th. The DVD is out on June 9th and is having a premiere
screening at The Redhouse on June 24th. More live dates will be announced as we go. Mark has been busy
recording and producing. This year has seen the release of “Harboring
The Day” by Jonah Cohen, “Masters of War” by Andy
Pratt, “What I’ve Become” by 12AM, “Bad
Woman” by The Penetrators, and “China Ranch” by
Frank Briggs. All of these recordings are available at CD Baby except
Andy Pratt, available at <itsaboutmusic.com>. (Speaking of
Andy, he’s playing a solo show at The Redhouse on June 14th,
and Mark will guest on a few songs from the Resolution era. It will
be Andy’s first show in Syracuse since 1977!) That’s it for now – have a glorious Summer! A
lot of activity going on this summer, so let’s get to it:
Mark has collaborated with original Jukin’ Bone partner Joe
Whiting for their first original project together in 21
years. It’s a brand new album of 12 original songs called
“The Truth” and was released on June 1. Mark and Joe
will be out performing together over the summer to promote the record.
Confirmed dates so far are: That’s it for now – have a glorious Summer Hope everyone had a wonderful summer, and apologies for the LONG time between updates. Things have been busy. Recording is now complete for the new Mary Fahl CD, to be released on V2 Records in January, 2007. Co-produced by Mark with David Werner, the record was mixed in stereo and 5.1 by Bob Clearmountain at MixThis! in Los Angeles. In addition to production, Mark did most of the engineering and played all of the instruments (except for guest appearances by Pete McMahon on harmonica and Josh Dekaney on drums and percussion). Taking as its concept the complete reinvention of a classic rock album, Fahl, Werner and Doyle dare to take on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on Mary Fahl: From the Dark Side of the Moon. Have doubts? Read More Mark has also completed production on the second Kim Monroe CD, called “New Reality” and available now. Recorded with Kim’s live band, it is soulful, organic, and a big step forward from the first album, with 6 new original songs co-written by Kim and Mark. The band just finished a whole summer of touring to promote the album. Order Here Believe it or not, manufacturing is getting underway soon for the long-promised second CD from Laura Austin. Called “Bittersweetheart”, it was produced byMark and will be released as a double disc set consisting of a DVD-Audio disc with high resolution 5.1 and stereo mixes (as well as Dolby Digital versions if you don’t have DVD-Audio capabilities), as well as video content, lyrics, photo galleries, etc. The second disc is a conventional CD for the car, iPod, etc. And pre-production has already begun on Laura’s third album, with demos already completed for 7 new songs from the pen of her husband/songwriter Scott Allyn. Other production duties over the past year were three more songs for Jonah Cohen, making a total of 6 tunes the pair have done together. And Mark produced two songs for 12AM which helped garner them the Sammy Award for Best New Artist in 2006. Check out the MySpace sites for both of these artists togive a listen. The only live date Mark was able to
fit in in the midst of all this production work was a show over
Thanksgiving ’05 with Jukin’ Bone at
the Turning Stone Casino in Verona. Since plans have been scrapped
to officially release either the 2 RCA albums or the Live at the
Dinosaur CD, Mark is making them available as one-off CD-Rs at the
new Archive Store. Click Here Summer saw the release of 18-year old Kim Monroe’s full-length CD, producedand co-written by Mark. The great live band that Mark put together for her, featuring Peg Newell on guitar, Will Tobin on keyboards, Matt Hampson on bass and Liz Strodel on drums, played dates throughout the summer and fall. Summer also saw the Jukin’ Bone reunion at the Sammy’s and the Dinosaur Barbecue. The band cut a live CD from the Dinosaur that will be held for release until this summer when more dates are planned. Mark worked most of the Autumn on the Solstice at the Cathedral Double DVD, mixed in 5.1 Surround Sound. Finally the show has been captured in all of its glory, recorded and filmed live in 2003. It was released in December, to coincide with this year’s awesome Solstice shows at the Cathedral. New performers featured this year were Andrew and Noah Van Norstrand, Dan Duggan, Victoria Kinney, and The Syracuse Brigadiers Drum Corps, as well as all the regular greats: Joe Whiting, Donna Colton, The Soulstice Singers, The Mandarins, Kenneth Meyer, J. Avery Head, and the fantastic orchestra featuring Jeff Stockham, Brian Scherer, Mark Nanni, Suzanne Stephenson, Matt Vacanti, Pearson Constantino, and Dave DeDiro. This marked the 5th year that Mark served as Music Director and Composer. Solstice at the Cathedral Double DVD Recording is finished on the new disc by Laura Austin called “Bittersweetheart.” It is being packaged as two discs, one a regular CD and the other a high-resDVD-Audio in 5.1 Surround and 24-bit/88.2k that will also feature interactive lyric and video menus. Look for a Spring release. January 2005 sees the release of the second volume of the Jimi Hendrix Tribute issued by Comet Records in Italy. It is called “Gypsy Blood – A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix Volume 2.” Along with Robben Ford, Arlen Roth, Pat Travers, Hiram Bullock, Steve Lukather and many others, you can hear Mark’s version of “Little Wing.” Here is what writer Dave Thompson says about it: “And Mark Doyle draws out such a sensitive reading of “Little Wing” that Hendrix’s own greatest performance of the song, the gorgeously soaring rendition that highlighted his In The West live album, is surely the only version you could ever compare it to – hich means there’s a lot of other versions, by a lot of other people, that simply pale alongside it.” January also sees Mark producing young singer-songwriter Jonah Cohen for an EP, and commencing work on a full album by singer Mary Fahl (October Project) that Mark is co-producing with old pal David Werner for a record label to be announced. |
|
