RON MARKS SUBSONIC/CELTIC FROST by Alex Zander
Subsonic Frontman Ron Marks is a third generation musician. His grandfather, an Italian immigrant, was a band conductor from the 1920s- to the mid 1980’s. Ron’s uncle attended Julliard and founded Marks Music. His parents were both music teachers in rural Pennsylvania. His father’s influence passed the gift onto a young Ron. He began playing drums at 5, and like the rest of us, his initial introduction into rock n roll was KISS at age 14. His tastes naturally evolved into heavy music and his favorite band became Celtic Frost. Sometime thereafter the band announced they desired a second guitarist, so Ron sent the Swiss band a demo on cassette.
Ron Marks joined the Celtic Frost line-up in May of 1987, after the release of “Into the Pandemonium.” He became CF’s lead guitarist, thus fulfilling a long-planned goal of CF’s - to have two guitar players in the band in order to create a fuller sound in live performances. Ron’s presence within the band was heavily overshadowed due to the hardships CF was facing at that time. Although Ron was only in the band for a few months, his contributions turned out to be quite immense. He was a key element which influenced and helped change the band’s sound. Ron left CF in December of 1987. He was to actually have been a part of the follow-up to “Pandemonium” in 1988 (what eventually became “Cold Lake”) but ultimately declined to rejoin the band. In 1989 he returned to Frost unofficially to help record “Vanity/Nemesis” in Berlin. Ron’s tenure with Celtic Frost at that point would only be the recording of the “Vanity/Nemesis” album.
His presence in CF was massively underrated. His influences, technical versatility and philosophy were a major factor during 1987, and therefore for the rest of the band’s existence.
Earlier this year, Subsonic announced it’s signing with Outlaw Entertainment International. After negotiations with president Tommy Floyd, the project was signed to an exclusive management and record deal with the Vancouver, B.C. company. The band’s current CD, Super-Vel, was released in Canada on July 7th, 2002. Outlaw is perusing various options (in the U.S. and Europe) in hopes of augmenting Subtonic’s exposure to the world market. Super-Vel is receiving favorable reviews and promises no lack of identity. The first single released is a cover of Billy Preston’s, “Will It Go ‘Round In Circles.”
Celtic Frost frontman Tom Fischer calls Subsonic, “unusual and almost heavier version of Zappa.” When commenting on the much anticipated CF reunion, Tom volunteers, “When people approach me about one day doing a reformation of the original CF, it means to me: Reed, Martin, Ron and myself. That, to me, is “the original CF.”
I first became aware of Ron when he filled in as guitarist for a band that went through more lineup changes than Spinal Tap drummers and KISS guitarists. The band that could have been a contender, the band once called MACE, a Pittsburgh-grounded industrial band that fell victim to bad management and larger-than-life egos. In MACE, Ron looked and sounded out of place. The bands image was one of glamorizing S&M and the guitarist played live over a DAT dominated live show. But it was his guitar playing that made an impression on me years after the show when I saw MACE open for GWAR and Chem Lab. Fast forward five years later and I read he finally embarked on a solo outing. I immediately got in touch with him, and brushed up on his resume by reading the Celtic Frost book, (Are You Morbid?) Into The Pandemonium, a book where Ron Marks is more-or-less praised as “god’s gift to the guitar,” though not exactly in those words.
Alex Zander: You’re highly regarded as a great session player. Who are bands that you’ve worked with and some of what you’ve done?
Ron Marks: Obviously I’m known for my work with Celtic Frost which was back a few years from 1987-90. I was recording and touring with them. Another band I’ve worked with was a band called MACE, (now-defunct Industrial Band) which was in Pittsburgh. Same thing, I did some touring and recording with them as well.
AZ: Now that’s two different kinds of music.
RM: Yeah, you bet. Well, Frost was my favorite band when they were out. That’s how that came about. With MACE, it was just a referral from somebody I knew and that’s how we ended up hooking up. But I’m very diverse. I’ve always done a lot of different styles of music. I’m always in search of a new challenge and a new adventure. I’m game for anything.
AZ: In the book, “Are You Morbid?” the author and voice of the band, Tom Fischer, had some really nice things to say about you. With as many members as he’s gone through, it should be an honor.
RM: Oh, it was a big honor. It remains a big honor. I’m very proud of Celtic Frost. We went through some rough stuff and we went through some great stuff. It still remains my favorite band. Tom was very gracious in the book and had very complimentary things to say about my playing and our friendship, and that remains. I certainly hope I’m entitled to play on this reunion CD. So we’ll see how that goes.
AZ: Okay, we’ll talk more about that at the end. It’s kind of hard to believe, though, that with your background in music and your family’s background in music, that of all bands you’d pick a heavy band like Frost to like the most. What was it that made them your favorite band?
RM: Prior to that, what I thought was heavy, really wasn’t heavy. I always liked heavy music, but that for me meant Judas Priest, KISS, Aerosmith, bands like that. It was just this new wave of metal that I’d never heard before. Out of all the bands that were on that new thing, Slayer and Megadeth, Metallica and all that, I liked all those bands. But a friend turned me onto Frost and to me it was just a cut above, lyrically and instrumentally. It blew me away. I just listened to it nonstop for probably a good year before I even submitted my demo.
AZ: With your current project Subsonic, you have two releases out. The first one was Mindbomb, which we dubbed one of the top 10 records of 2001.
RM: Yeah, actually there was one before that as well, but these were just pretty much demos that I was shopping. There’s really only one release and that’s Super Vel.
AZ: And that was released on Outlaw Entertainment in Canada. Let’s talk about that one. We just did a review on it. Again I quoted Tom, that what lifts you above any other contender is your extraordinary guitar playing is the feel of someone who has a god-given talent for his instrument. You sure show off those skills on Super Vel. In this day and age nobody seems to concentrate on soloing anymore. What made you want to go exercise those skills and show them off again?
RM: Thank you. It’s something I think I do well, and something I think still belongs in music. When you use good taste with it. Not all of the songs on Super Vel have solos. The ones that do, yeah, there’s certainly indulgence, but if you’re gonna go —go. If you’re going to do it, then do it big time. It’s something I love to do, it’s something I’ve worked on for years and get a lot of gratification out of. I have a little feeling with things I’m hearing that it might be coming back a little bit. So just because it happened to be less than fashionable at this particular time, didn’t mean it was something I was willing to leave out of my music forever.
AZ: Tell me what you think the highlights on the album are as far as you’re concerned.
RM: Oh boy, this is tough. I hate when this happens. (laughs) Okay, my favorite, it’s so hard to look from the outside because I’m involved in it, I think “A Day Late” is a great song. It might not be heavy, but I think it’s a good song. That song was written about a friend of mine, that I knew well through high school and even afterwards. That was one that fell out of my head in about 10 minutes. That was an easy one. The cover thing, the Billy Preston cover, I think that’s a cool song. I think “Jane” is a great song. I think it has a really great story behind it.
AZ: That is a suicide themed tune, is there a story there?
RM: Well, that was a heavy one. I had an old girlfriend phone me some time ago who was quite suicidal. I basically almost literally talked her in off the ledge
AZ: I take it she’s still around then?
RM: Yeah, it didn’t happen, and I’m not saying it didn’t happen because of me. But, fortunately she woke up a little bit and everything’s cool.
AZ: If it did happen do you think you’d still have been able to write about it?
RM: Oh God, I don’t know. That would have to have happened and I would have had to react at the time. It would have been a lot more difficult, yeah.
AZ: The album kicks off with “Lick The Lie” pretty guitar heavy, with a lot of really good lead guitar work. The song after that, “Just Hit Pomona” kicks into high gear, like Rob Zombie type of stuff.
RM: That’s funny you mention that. That’s one of Tom Fischer’s favorite tracks. When we met in New York a couple of years ago he mentioned that if we ever had the chance he’d like to do that one. So quite a few people that love the heavy stuff really mention that song.
AZ: Then you go all over the place. You do your acoustic guitar piece, “Together Alone.” Why do you think it’s important to combine so many different types of music on one record? In this day and age people seem to focus on centering one entire album around one sound.
RM: Well, I like a lot of different styles of music. Believe it or not, it was difficult for me to narrow it down as far as I did. I have to credit my management, Tommy Floyd and Outlaw Entertainment were quite helpful in saying, “Hey Ron, you can do all this stuff but that doesn’t mean you necessarily should.” They kind of drew the reigns in a little bit, which I think was a wise choice because the album makes a lot more sense this way. But to me that’s not going that far outside. I’m a Zappa fan, so there’s no rules as far as styles. But I had to cool it down a little bit to make some kind of record that had a direction.
AZ: I really, really liked Mindbomb because it danced around just about every music genre, even country.
RM: Yeah. (laughs) The country thing, it’s not like I do legit country. I do satirical country because those people give you a lot of reasons to make fun of them. A lot of times you use styles of music to get your point across and to deliver a message. A certain sound delivers that message, more so than I’m going, hey I’m a country guy and a heavy guy and an acoustic guy. I’m not trying to be all these different people stylistically just to show off or all this stuff. It’s like here’s the story and here’s what the story’s about. I can tell a better story if I use this style to tell it. So that’s basically the motivation behind doing some thing.
AZ: You mentioned Tommy Floyd and Outlaw Entertainment, other than owning the label, he’s also your manager at this time?
RM: Yeah, he’s the President of Outlaw.
AZ: Now are you tied into this contract for a few albums with this label?
RM: No, the way it’s going Super Vel is licensed to them and they’ve distributing it. It’s released in Canada right now and there’s distribution set up for Europe and Japan and I believe Australia. Then we’re taking it from there. We have no multi-album deal. They’re shopping the CD to bigger labels and we’re hoping to expand on that deal. Right now it’s just a wait-and-see position.
AZ: Now what are you looking to do? What is your aim?
RM: Well I’m looking to be successful, obviously. That’s a hard thing in this business. There’s a million bands going for very few spots. Not only that, doing this as long as I have, I realize that just getting signed to a label is one thing, but getting signed to a label that’s going to make you a priority is quite a different thing. We’re very adamant about that. There’s no point in getting signed and tying up your options if they’re not going to make you a priority and just shelf you or make you number ten on the list. We need to find someone that believes in Subsonic and is going to make it important.
AZ: So I take it you learned a lot from the guys in Frost.
RM: Oh yeah.
AZ: That book is, if anything, and even if you’re not into the band, a bible for kids getting into the music business.
RM: Yeah, it’s brutal, but it’s the truth. Once again, a lot of credit goes to Tom. He told exactly what happened. We were all hungry as possible and those guys did a mountain of work for years before I ever showed up. So man, they know it even more so than myself. But yeah, it is a bible and any kid that wants to get into it should buy it and read it for that reason alone.
AZ: So you do have your options out there. You can go with a different deal if you want to.
RM: Yeah, we’re looking for the best possible thing. I’m very, extremely hungry to get this going and get this off the ground. I’ve started writing for the next CD now. Whoever believes in us and wants to make a go of it, I am definitely ready to go.
AZ: Say, somebody reads this article in management somewhere and says, “Whoa, this guy from Frost, he’s available. We never knew what happened to him?” What should they know about you and in what you’re looking for in a deal?
RM: Let’s get paid this time. (laughs) Like I said, I want to do it internationally. I want to do it to high level. I want someone that likes this band. I don’t just want to be a part of their accounting statement. They gotta believe in it, they gotta push it and they have to make it a priority. Like I said, we need to do this on a global level because even with all these things in place, the music business is extremely brutal and unpredictable. So we need all guns blazing, whoever would want to pick up the band.
AZ: Does living in Pennsylvania keep you isolated from what’s going on in, say in New York, Chicago or LA? Or are you willing and able to relocate if you need to?
RM: Absolutely, I’m willing to go anywhere. Music is number one for me. It always has been. Should the situation present itself, yeah you bet, I’m gone. I’m living in PA, yeah it’s a little isolated, but it also allows me the freedom to write and spend a lot of time doing what I want to do. There’s a lot of friends and people I know that have moved elsewhere because that’s where it’s at. They’re so busy playing their electric bill they don’t have time to work on their music. So it’s a two-sided thing.
AZ: Speaking of friends, a good friend of yours in now in Prong.
RM: That’s right, Dan Laudo, he’s my very best friend in the world. He’s doing great with them.
AZ: He sure is. I’ve seen them a couple of times. He seems happy. Did he live out there until he joined Prong?
RM: Yeah, Dan’s been out in LA for quite awhile. When I was with MACE, we were getting ready to tour and Prong was also going out with us and they needed a drummer. They said do you know any drummers in LA? I said, yeah I sure do, my best friend Dan and on and on. He went and auditioned and got the gig.
AZ: The funny thing is Dan mentioned to me that you guys grew up with Trent Reznor. Or did he know Trent, or did all of you know him?
RM: Yeah sure, Trent grew up about ten minutes from where Dan and I grew up. We all in a little basement band together in high school.
AZ: Did you have the feeling about him back then, that he would go on to do Nails like he did?
RM: Yeah, sure. Trent was always there. He always had a vision. You knew he was thinking big, as we all were. But it was no surprise to me that Trent went on to do what he did. I have a lot of respect for Trent. He writes great music.
AZ: Now what about putting a band together? How’s that coming for Subsonic?
RM: Well it can happen. But right now there’s not much of a reason for it to happen because there’s no tours scheduled and you’ve got to give They’re gonna say, to do what? And for how much? Unfortunately, these are some of the things a bandleader has to deal with. Everybody thinks it’s rock n’ roll all night and stuff. It is, but there’s also the practical aspect of it. You have to be able to offer a guy something. Right now, until there’s a major signing and a major influx of money to make some things happen it’s pretty hard to get that going.
AZ: Can you give me any insight to the next chapter, the next record?
RM: A little bit, but not much. (laughs) I’ve only written two songs so far. It’s gonna be the same thing but bigger, I guess. There’s going to be a lot more percussion going on, there’s gonna be a lot more real drums on this one combined with program drums that I’m going to be playing myself. I’ve played drums for quite a few years and I recently acquired a new drum kit. So I’m going to be doing a little bit of that. There’s one tune cut already and a few on the board. There’s going to be a few surprises as well. I think that’s always going to be the case with Subsonic.
AZ: What’s the fascination with engines or cars?
RM: Oh man, I’ve been a motor head since I was a little, little kid. That started when I was about five or six years old and my father’s teaching friend, they both taught school together. His name’s Gary Franco, he pulled up in a ‘66 Corvette Convertible and I looked out the window and that was the end of that. I go to drag races, and rallies. And I’ve had multiple muscle cars. Right now I’ve got a black ‘67 Cadillac. I just love cars. I love old cars, man.
AZ: That’s just one thing you can afford to have living in Pennsylvania.
RM: Yeah, exactly. That’s one of the luxuries I have here.
AZ: With something like that in the city you’re not going to get very far.
RM: No, I don’t think so! (laughs)
AZ: You’re either gonna overheat or run out of gas. Okay now, let me ask about all the rumors about the Frost reunion. On/off, you hear one thing and all the momentum builds up and then you get a newsflash it’s not gonna happen, don’t believe it. But they say that it is and if they tour you will be involved.
RM: Well here’s what I do know. What I do know is that there will be a CD. There will be a new Celtic Frost album. I know Tom and Martin are working on that right now. I don’t know exactly about what deal they put together or with whom, but I understand that they’re moving forward either way in trying to put something together. As far as myself being involved, Tom and I have talked about it and I think something’s going to happen, but I can’t really say for sure because until that phone call happens I can’t say.
AZ: But that’s something that you’re open to?
RM: Oh man! In a second. I still love Celtic Frost and I love all the guys in it. For me, even though I got to do Vanity Nemesis with the band, which I’m very grateful and very proud of, I’d like to do a record with Tom, Martin and Reed St. Mark who I’ve toured with after Into the Pandemonium. To me, that’s the classic Celtic Frost lineup and it would be a dream come true for me to be able to record with them.
AZ: I bet they’re very selective when it comes to a label now.
RM: Yeah, we got beat up pretty badly for years. Tom’s been down the road, and there’s no reason to repeat that again. So, it’s not just the matter of not getting screwed or getting paid. It’s not just about money; it’s about cooperation with the band. That was another major downfall with Noise Records. They didn’t believe in Into the Pandemonium and communication broke down. They quit giving us tour support and they quit believing in the band. As I said with Subsonic, it holds true with every band, including Frost, whoever’s involved in has to believe in it and has to love it.
AZ: At one point in the book, Tom mentioned that as good as everything worked out, you weren’t about to get involved in contracts and he knew, sadly, that you would have to depart the project at one point. To still stay in touch with them and be willing to work with them, and them wanting to work with you, has got to be flattering.
RM: Extremely so.
AZ: OK, so if people need to look up information on you on the Internet, to learn more about you, how to buy your product or how to book you, or how to approach you about possible management or getting you signed, how should they do that?
RM: Well, right now they can check out www.celticfrost.com and on the main page there’s an icon for the Subsonic site. Also they can check out www.outlawentertainment.com where they can buy the CD, Super-Vel, on that site and get a little background. Also, we would be open to some booking agencies to do some touring right now. So anybody looking, we’re here.