Reed St. Mark

Reed St. Mark
Background information
Birth Name	Reid Cruickshank
Alias	Reed St. Mark
Occupation	Musician
Genres	Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Funk Metal, Avant-Garde
Instrument(s)	Drums
Years active	Early 1980s - Present
Labels	Noise, Epic
Associated acts	Celtic Frost, Mind Funk, Triptykon, Crown
Website	Reed St. Mark Official

Reed St. Mark (born Reid Cruickshank) is a New York-based drummer. He is best known for his tenure with Celtic Frost whom he in 1985, appearing on the Emperor's Return E.P. and the highly influential To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium albums. He would also be known as a founding member of the funk metal group Mind Funk.

During his time with Celtic Frost, St. Mark's various trademarks included rows of women's high-heeled shoes arranged on his drum kit and playing drum solos with oversized sticks. He was also noted for his highly visual and flamboyant drumming style as well as hitting his drums exceedingly hard. He was said to have destroyed drum heads on a daily basis as a result of his hard-hitting technique. St. Mark performed with Celtic Frost on a Sonor Phonic Plus series double bass kit, that included a Sonor Signature Series 8" steel snare drum. His cymbals used were mainly Paiste RUDE series known for their durability and powerful tone. In the studio and sometimes live, he would include some of the Paiste 2002 line.

Biography

Celtic Frost

• For more details, feel free to view the Riffipedia page on Celtic Frost.

June 1 changed its name to Celtic Frost. Fischer, Ain and session drummer Stephen Preistly would rehearse over the next several months and record their debut in October. Morbid Tales was released in November 1984 and was a hit in the underground metal scene. Initially a mini-LP but with two tracks from the Metal Attack Vol. 1 compilation it is considered to be the band's first album. St. Mark would leave the Swiss hard rock band Crown and join Celtic Frost that Spring and record three songs, integrating them with the Metal Attack songs to compose the Emperor's Return EP, released 15 August 1985.

After making an appearance on the Swiss-German television program DRS that April, Celtic Frost would perform live for the first time on 17 May 1985 at Grabenhalle in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The band would tour for the first time that summer, performing in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Work would begin on a second studio album but before the album could be recorded Martin Eric Ain would leave the group due to personal conflicts, forcing the band to utilize a session bassist in Dominic Steiner. Recording that September, To Mega Therion would be released on 27 October 1985. Featuring artwork by H.R. Giger ("Satan I") it would be widely praised in the underground metal circles and is considered a major influence on the death and black metal genres. Ain would return to the band after the album was recorded in time for a string of shows in Canada, including their appearance at the "World War III" Festival (With Possessed, Nasty Savage, Destruction and Voivod.). Ain would state later on in the documentary "A Dying God" that the biggest regret of his career was not being involved in the recording of To Mega Therion.

The band would record in early 1986 with Ain again. The intent was to record new bass lines on all of To Mega Therion but ultimately costs only allowed two tracks along with a bonus re-recording of "Return To The Eve", ultimately composing the Tragic Serenades EP. Celtic Frost would tour Germany with Helloween and Grave Digger before touring North America for the first time with Running Wild and Voivod. Notably on the last date of the tour would be at The Ritz in New York City on 14 July 1986. This would be part of the New Music Seminar alongside D.O.A., Nuclear Assault, Rogue Male, MDC and Samhain (In what was notably their last live performance of their original run.).

The first four months of 1987 would be spent working on their third studio album, drawing not just from metal but influences of classical, 70s prog and new wave. During the sessions rehearsals would begin as word was out of an impromptu February tour with Anthrax, against the band's wishes. However on 1 June 1987 Into The Pandemonium was released. A far departure from their extreme metal motif as this album featured a cover of "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo, emotionally charged love songs, an EBM-inspired song in "One In Their Pride" along with elements of industrial, classical music and gothic rock. Some critics would coin them as "avant-garde metal", a motif that has stuck ever since. However tensions behind the scenes mounted, especially between Noise Records owner Karl-Ulrich Walterbach and Fischer over pay (The record allegedly sold 120,000 units worldwide) just to scratch the surface.

A second guitarist in Ron Marks would be added to "beef up the sound" as Celtic Frost would tour Europe in October with Kreator and Virus, followed by a North American tour with Anthrax and Exodus. Tensions also mounted between the band with Fischer stating to the audience on 19 December 1987 at the Bronco Bowl Auditorium in Dallas, Texas that this would be the final Celtic Frost concert.

In the fall of 1991 the band would record a handful of demos and include two of those new tracks on a compilation album entitled Parched With Thirst Am I And Dying, released in 1992. In the meantime Reed St. Mark would join the band for demo sessions, this demo being referred to as Nemesis of Power. A sixth album was planned entitled Under Apollyon's Sun but before anything could be finished the band would dissolve in 1993.

Other Bands

Between tenures with Celtic Frost, Reed St. Mark would join the New Jersey band Mind Funk in 1989. Mind Funk, initially known as Mind Fuck, would sign with Epic Records after a name change. Mind Funk would release their eponymous debut album in 1991. He would leave Mind Funk in 1992 to re-join Celtic Frost.

In 2008 St. Mark was briefly involved with Triptykon alongside former Celtic Frost bandmate Thomas Gabriel Fischer, though would only be part of four rehearsals. He is also listed as a contributing artist for the Septimus Orion project which released its first album in 2008. St. Mark would also appear as a guest for the Celtic Frost tribute band Cult of Frost in 2018, performing "Dethroned Emperor".

Discography

Celtic Frost - Circle Of The Tyrants

Mind Funk - Sister Blue

With Celtic Frost

• Emperor's Return (EP) (1985, Noise Records)
• To Mega Therion (Studio Album) (1985, Noise Records)
• Tragic Serenades (EP) (1986, Noise Records)
• Into The Pandemonium (Studio Album) (1987, Noise Records)
• Parched with Thirst Am I and Dying (Compilation; Selected Tracks) (1992, Noise Records)
• Nemesis of Power (Demo) (1992, Self-Released)

Other Releases

• Francis X And The Bushmen ‎– Soul Incest (Mini Album) (1986, Revolver Records)
• Mind Funk - Mind Funk (Studio Album) (1991, Epic)
• Septimus Orion - Caged (Studio Album) (2008, Consurgo)

Bands

• Crown - Drums (Unknown Time Period)
• Celtic Frost - Drums (1985 - 1987, 1992 - 1993)
• Mind Funk - Drums (1989 - 1992)
• Triptykon - Drums (2008)
• Septimus Orion - Drums (2008)
• Cult of Frost - Live Drums (Guest) (2018)

External Links

• / Discogs
• Reed St. Mark Ranks His Favorite Celtic Frost Songs
• 1992 Celtic Frost Demo
• 1993 Celtic Frost Demo