-Grand Spark songs have been featured on several TV shows such as MTV's "Wanna come in?" and "Score!" along with Lifetime's "Lisa Willams: Life among the dead".
MOST RECENT SHOW: VH1's Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant.
-Two previously unreleased EP's will be available soon (for samples click on the Grand Spark web link on this page).
-The Grand Spark live band is Mario Ponce (vocals/bass/samples and machines) and Tory Moore (guitars).
-Check back soon for more info...
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With influences ranging from The Beach Boys to The Cure the path was laid for Grand Spark. Written, produced, and performed by Mario Ponce, this labor of love is ripe with freshness. This first, full-length self-titled debut is best described as being "a cosmic blend of Pete Yorn, U2, Travis, The Cars, and Radiohead." Starting off solid with strait ahead rock, then ending lost in dreamy pop, every song has it's own identity.
This CD is also available on iTunes, Audio Lunchbox, Buy Music, Rhapsody, and more.
REVIEWS: ********
"Over a gorgeous,, super-charged blend of rhythm & lead guitars, bass, and simple yet catchy drums that drive the momentum, Ponce sings with an unfathomable sense of depth, sadness, hope, and a feeling of life beyond the stars in the universe. Grand Spark turns the mundane into a cosmic array of abstract essence as we know it, but can’t vocalize, whether we’re working, playing, or dreaming. Ponce evokes these abstractions with a hip, modern sense of romance and powerful, laid-wide-open sensitivity. Powerful is the effect, for sure; because when Grand Spark dreams, they dream in motion; and it’s a motion that moves insistently with an arresting impact on the rhythm."---
Greg Debonne (Music Sup - Lifetime Channel / MTV)
"Grand Spark is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Mario Ponce, a Southern California-based individual who has effectively recorded this entire CD by himself, handling the vocals as well as the guitars, bass, and percussion on this disc. This came about following many stints in various bands about his locality, where he regularly found himself performing different duties, and so he's now going it alone, as Grand Spark.
"The eleven songs strewn across this self-titled effort straddle emotion, romance, and all retain a somewhat dark evanescent feel a la the ON project of (former Failure/current Year Of The Rabbit frontman) Ken Andrews. The overall feel of the music is of a bygone era, harking back to earlier times when material such as that found on this disc could be allowed to grow popular through the power and integrity found within, as opposed to the brainwashing promotional schemes afforded to the majority of frankly awful acts looking to make an impact in the charts." iateyourmicrophone.com
"Here is a new band from California that is playing to the beat of a different drum. Grand Spark sounds like a cosmic blend of Pete Yorn, U2, Travis,The Cars, and Radiohead. The sound is a thick wall of processed guitars with a light airly vocal sound overlaying everything. Really neat stuff and absolutely recommended!"--jamrecordings.com
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