Interview: Reed St Mark & Louie Svitek, Mind Funk

BODY TALK

You know you're going to get on when someone greets you with "Hey man, neat jacket you've got there!" (Said with more than a touch of irony, Ed). So said Reed St Mark drummer with MIND FUNK, as I strolled through the foyer of Regents Park Hilton Hotel. We're joined by guitarist Louie Svitek, who, like Reed, doesn't look like your average Hilton punter.

We find a secluded corner in the lounge bar, settle back into the plush seats, and try to ignore the horrendous muzak that tinkers away gently in the background.

For a band that's only been together for 12 months things are certainly happening.

Louie replies:

"Yeah, a hell of a lot! It's amazing but we were signed within eight weeks of forming, and three months later we were out in Denmark recording an album. It all happened so quick."

Why go to Denmark?

Reed humps in:

"We found a producer quite by accident, a guy called Jan Eliasson. He had an amazing sound that you couldn't identify. We didn't want to sound like we were working to a formula and we didn't want that stamp you get with certain producers. We wanted a production that was as unique as the music."

Louie intervenes:

"Yeah, we were really glad we used Jan because every review has mentioned the production. It wasn't raw but it wasn't picture perfect. It was polished and that's what we were looking for. Jan had never worked with a rock band. He'd be more involved with dance and pop music so it was an interesting experiment."

Will you go back to Denmark again?

Reed replies:

"I'd love to, it's the sort of place I could stay in forever. We just partied every night, and Danish girls are friendly to say the least."

Leaving Reed to his thoughts, I ask Louie why the band chose the name.

"Well, we originally wanted to be called 'Mind Fuck' because that's more applicable to the way we feel and the general state of things, but we just had to make a compromise."

You don't strike me as a bunch of guys who'd want to compromise. There's quite an attitude in your music.

"Yeah, we live and breathe the music. All five of us live together in a two bedroom department in New York, so we end up sharing everything. There's an attitude within the band, and this comes from the way we live. I think it cuts across in the music. As for compromising, well, I hate doing that, but it's simply a case of not doing so and we won't see a record release."

What's been the reception like from the British audiences?

Reed's back again:

"It's been really good. I'm surprised. In the States there's been a lot of word of mouth with Pat (Durbar) being Los Angeles, Louie coming from Chicago, and the band being based in New York. There are the three biggest cities, so word gets around fast. Over here we only had press and record stores but the kids know all the words and are really into the band. We expected a decent reaction, but things have been great for a first tour. You could tell they really wanted to listen to the music. I respect that they're an educated audience."

Listening to your album, I hear a varied collection of influences but couldn't say you sound like anyone in particular. Is there any reason for this?

Louie responds:

"Playing guitar and coming from Chicago, it goes without saying I studied blues. Playing with feeling is more important than being flashy. I look for atmosphere and mood. THIN LIIZZY were one of my favourite bands but MICHAEL SCHENKER was the guy that made me take it up."

Reed cuts in:

"I studied classical music in university And then got heavily into jazz, but rock n' roll is what I've always enjoyed playing the most. JOHN BONHAM said it all for me! We've all got a lot of musical interests but hard aggressive rock is where the heart lies."

Later on that evening, Mind Funk were opening for KINGS X at the Town and Country Club. A small hard-core of fans were bouncing around the front of the stage, a sure sign that they are building a following over here. Mind Funk are an explosion of fast motoring riffs and dynamic rhythmic pulses. They don't sound like anyone I know! Pat Dubar is the perfect frontman, oozing attitude. The bass player and second guitarist move around like demented punks while Louie reels out the molten riffs from his axe.

They're back again in the autumn and well worth catching live!

Mike Harris
Riff Raff
July 1991

Revenge...?

Riff Raff was a legendary rock magazine based in London in the late 1980s and 1990s. Edited by the ultimate music biz insider, Mark Crampton, and employing such talents as Mark Blake, Jerry Ewing, Mike Harris, Paul Smith, Chris Collingwood, Alan McCrorie, Simon Robinson, Lyn Guy, Anna Marx, Nick Douglas, Marion Garden, Peter "Grunty" Grant, Joe "The Crow" Mackett, Billy "The Kluck" Kulke, and, lastest and mostest, the incredible Liddell Brothers, Mark (a.k.a. "El Perro") and Colin (a.k.a. "Der Fly"). Unfortunately, Riff Raff was just too R n' R for its own good. A genuine working class rock mag, written, edited, and translated into 16 European languages in a drug-N-Jack-D-fuelled haze, often on the back of motorbikes, with spell checking by our staff of attentive rock bimbos (chosen purely for their blondeness and big knockers), it soon fell behind more trainspotterly, nerdish, and politically correct publications like Q, Kerrang, Mojo, Metal Hammer, and Horse & Hound. This website is an archive and kind of shrine dedicated to the writing of its greatest writers, some of whom, luckily for the Rock Kosmos, still continue to write about music. This is the REVENGE of Riff Raff...Rock on!