Born and raised in New York City, Mark Steiner fled the decaying music scene of Lower Manhattan in the wake of September 2001, and soon found himself in Oslo, Norway, where he began to summon, weave and orchestrate his international confederacy of "lounge-noir" and "swamp-rock" musicians, from Norway, France, NYC, Germany, Portugal and Australia.
He possesses a deeply rich, sophisticated troubadour voice which conjures images of smoky European bars, combined with dark, lush, swampy songs overflowing with equal parts lust and sadness.
Mark is a seasoned musical traveller, who collaborates with artists wherever he goes, finding like-minded minstrels to compliment his many talents, and is a true artist in every sense of the word. Melbourne based Z-Man Records crossed Mark’s musical path serendipitously in 2008 at a gig in Paris, and vowed to someday release his work. Fast forward to 2009 and that promise has reach full-circle fruition.
Former Australian musical comrades have included a stellar cast of Cam Butler (Silver Ray & The Coralina’s), Pete Luscombe (SBS TV’s RockWiz Orchestra, Paul Kelly etc), Stevie Hesketh (Jet), Lilith Lane (solo and Black Pony Express), Rosie Westbrook (Mick Harvey’s band and etc). Mark supported Rowland S. Howard last tour, whilst members of The Green Mist, and The Gin Club have supported him.
In Europe and America where he is a regular fixture on venue bills, his backing band The Fallen Birds are an extraordinary collection of like minded-musicians from the US, Norway, France, Germany and Portugal. They collaboratively record in Paris, New York, Oslo, Dortmund and Florida, and in 2008 Mark released his solo debut Fallen Birds CD to rave reviews in Europe and the USA. Mark has supported the likes of Michael Gira (ex-Swans, US), Kid Congo Powers & the Pink Monkey Birds (US), Devendra Banhart (US), Madrugada (N) and many more...
Mark Steiner's special brand of 'Lounge-Noir' will have you reaching for the booze and the 'replay' button.
- Swampland Magazine (USA)
Anyone who even has a passing interest in brooding, dark, underground rock… should start paying attention to Mark Steiner.
- Rip It Up Magazine (Aust)
Euro Lounge in a dark and dank place.
- The I-94 Barman’s Top Ten List of 2008 (Aust)
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