MARK McCRITE
\\ MUSICIAN //
photo credit: Joel Barrios
LATEST NEWS
Projects and Performances//
AUGUST 2, 2020 - "The Radiant Blur" debut video release
Don Schiff and I have embarked in a new musical journey which we call The Radiant Blur! For our first offering, we have recorded a new interpretation of “Avalon” – a song I wrote with Erik Norlander for the first Rocket Scientists album. This one features an excellent string orchestration from Don and backing vocals by my daughter Emily McCrite. This isn’t the last you’ll hear from us!
ABOUT
info//
MARK MCCRITE
bio//
Singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, and audiophile Mark McCrite reflects his complex musical taste in all he does. His passion is music that is melodic and moody with lush, sophisticated arrangements that often feature acoustic guitar, Mellotron and Wurlitzer piano. This leads him naturally to a strong appreciation for artists that straddle the line between classic progressive rock, melodic pop and modern indie rock. Living in Los Angeles he performs locally as well as online with musicians from around the world.
Mark moved to Southern California in 1983 and met his primary musical collaborator and lifelong friend Erik Norlander in high school. They played in many bands together over the years, most notably Rocket Scientists and Lana Lane, recording approximately 30 CDs and touring the US, Europe and Japan.
Lately he splits his time between his new project with Don Schiff – The Radiant Blur, live online streaming appearances, an an international online collaborative music club called Theme Music, and music with his daughter Emily McCrite,.
BASIC INFO
locale//
Los Angeles CA, USA
genres//
Rock. Prog. Singer-Songwriter
years active//
1983-present
associated acts//
website//
social//
WATCH
video//
The Radiant Blur: Avalon
promo video - August 2020
Rocket Scientists: Minstrel Saviour
from "Looking Backward" boxed set - November 2007
Circe Link: Lucky Man (ELP cover)
recorded for Kickstarter campaign - June 2017
A Fleeting Glimpse: Breathe / On the Run (Pink Floyd cover)
live at Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center - October 2018
Mark McCrite: My Angel (Utopia cover)
recorded for Theme Music - April 2014
Mark McCrite: New Horizons (Moody Blues cover)
recorded for Theme Music - May 2014
Mark McCrite: The Truth
promo video from "Getting to the Point" - September 2017
Rocket Scientists: Better View
live at 3RP Festival, Burgettstown, PA - August 2008
Mark McCrite & Friends: Soulmating (Uncle Green cover)
recorded for Theme Music - November 2015
A Fleeting Glimpse: Money (Pink Floyd cover)
live at Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center - July 2012
Mark McCrite: When Time Stood Still (ELO cover)
recorded for Theme Music - December 2016
Mark McCrite: The Tears of Audrey (Kevin Gilbert cover)
recorded for Theme Music - February 2015
DISCOGRAPHY
Various Projects//
PHOTOS
Performance & Studio//
NEWS ARCHIVE
Projects & Performance//
JULY 30, 2020 – "Airwaves" Thomas Dolby cover
My fellow "Secret Martyr’s Club" member Dan Cubert contacted me out of the blue to sing on a couple of cover songs with his band "Elements of Medical." My favorite one was a song I love but had totally forgotten about – "Airwaves" by Thomas Dolby! I had so much fun with this one that after delivering my vocals to Dan, I realized that it fit the weekly theme for the Theme Music Facebook Group, so I recorded a quick acoustic guitar take and posted it to the group just in time for the deadline!
JUNE 7, 2020 – "Don't Be So Heavy" Gregory Darling cover
One of my biggest influences as a songwriter is an artist named Gregory Darling. He is an incredible singer/songwriter from Southern California, but now lives in the Czech Republic. He’s been one of Julian Lennon’s chief collaborators over the years, Lana Lane covered his song Coloured Life on her first album. He recently got out of his record deal and posted this new song on all of the social and streaming platforms, and I loved it so much I had to cover it!
MARCH 6, 2020 – XTC Tribute CD "Garden of Earthly Delights"
I was invited to cover song for an excellent XTC tribute album called The Garden of Earthly Delights on Futureman Records, and I chose he song Your Dictionary from the album Apple Venus Volume 1. My amazing backing band consists of Derrick Anderson on bass & sleighbells, Scott Mundy on drums, and Jason Berk on Wurlitzer. This CD & streaming compilation features excellent performances from a host of artists I really admire – Derrick and Jason each lead a track of their own, and it also features Jim Laspesa, Rob Bonfiglio, Fernando Perdomo, Bird Streets, Gretchen’s Wheel, Pete Donnelly and many others.
OCTOBER 12, 2019 - Rocket Scientists farewell gig at Progstock 2019
My band of 30 years - Rocket Scientists - played our final show at ProgStock in Rahway, NJ on October 12, 2019! This one-off event was the first time we had performed in 10 years and it was a grand sendoff. Huge thanks to Tom Palmieri, Ann Rinaldi, and every one on the staff who made it such a memorable event. And of course thanks to my partners in crime Erik Norlander, Don Schiff and Greg Ellis for making it an event I'll never forget. Also on the bill were Saga, Brand X, Nektar, Robert Berry, Rachel Flowers and more. Click here for an amazing photo gallery from Joel Barrios! Below is just one example of his outstanding work.
SEPTEMBER 2019 – New Song with Lynsey Moon
I’ve co-written a song with my good friend Lynsey Moon that I’m really proud of called Now I’m Gone which is on her latest album Tethers. Head over to Bandcamp to stream it or buy a copy!
APRIL 2019 – Rabbit Valet Debut Performance
I’m excited to announce Rabbit Valet – a new local live project I’m playing with featuring some fantastic musicians including David Bryce (the Funky Monks), Stan Cotey (Giraffe), John Maier, Paul Rosenthal and Melanie Kelly. We play our favorite classic 70s rock, but we keep it interesting by throwing in songs not often covered by artists such as Gary Wright, Badfinger, Seals & Crofts, ELO etc.
OCTOBER 26, 2018 – “A Fleeting Glimpse” live show
On October 26, 2018, my Pink Floyd tribute band “A Fleeting Glimpse” played the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center for a third sellout show! We added a few new tunes to the set this time around: Astronomy Domine, Pigs (Three Different Ones) and Welcome to the Machine, and I was playing through a rig comprised of almost entirely of Strymon pedals, including a prototype amp modeler/IR cab player – the sound was massive! Band credits in the description for the video below on YouTube.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 - Expanded Digital Release of "Getting to the Point"
Today Futureman Records has released an expanded downloadable version of my solo album "Getting to the Point" from 2000 on Bandcamp (includes FLAC download option), Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music and more! This marks the first time the album has been available from mainstream retail outlets. In addition to the ten tracks on the original release, this reissue includes several alternate versions of songs from the original sessions, a cover of ELO's "Strange Magic," and an expanded PDF booklet with lyrics and additional photos!
The album features a core band of Derrick Anderson (the Bangles, the Andersons) and Tommy Amato (Rocket Scientists) with special guests Dave Kerzner (Kevin Gilbert, Sound of Contact), Vince DiCola (Transformers, Thread), David Bryce (Funky Young Monks), Greg Ellis (Vas, Erik Norlander) and others. Be sure to check out the brand new video below for “The Truth,” which features Derrick Anderson and was shot by Firepilot Digital.
JUNE 21, 2016 - Erik Norlander's "Surreal" released
Today marks the release of Surreal - the new release by Erik Norlander! It's a fantastic album of great progressive rock featuring a core band of Nick LePar (Galactic Collective) on drums, Mark Matthews (Galactic Collective) on bass, Alastair Greene (Alan Parsons Live Project) on guitar, and Greg Ellis (Rocket Scientists) on percussion. Lana Lane sings and Jeff Kollman (Alan Parsons Live Project) plays guitar on one track, and I am featured on acoustic guitar for the track "Suitcase and Umbrella," which is featured below. It's now available for streaming and download (FLAC or MP3) here!
NOVEMBER 2015 - Matt Brown Birthday session
On November 8, 2015 I participated in a very special session. Here's the back story... Matt Brown - the fearless leader and founder of Theme Music had a big birthday recently. One of the members of the group schemed to pull together many of the regular contributors to cover Matt's songs as a gift to him. The end result was that on his birthday, Matt was treated to a top to bottom cover of Rycopa - the 32 track double album swan song by his old band Uncle Green - and each song was presented as a video! I was assigned a song to cover and I talked to some others who were also assigned songs. We decided to pool our resources and make a supergroup to perform 3 songs live and record audio/video live as it happened. The band was: Circe Link, Nancy Gardos, Christian Nesmith, Michael Sherwood, Jason Chesney and Christopher Allis - wow! It was a magical party!
OCTOBER 2015 - Themestock IV in Atlanta, GA
In October, I traveled to Atlanta to be part of a very cool event called "Themestock." This is an annual event where 100 or so members of the Theme Music group all meet up in Atlanta. About 50 different combinations of these musicians play a marathon show at a cool local venue. It was a whirlwind trip - I was only gone for 3 days, but it felt like 2 weeks! I was in 4 bands playing bass, acoustic guitar, lead and backing vocals. I couldn't help but think that if I had not moved to California, this would have been my circle of friends...
CONTACT
email//
public (at) markmccrite (dot) com