Band Profile: Supergreen

Supergreen is a five-piece rock band native to Washington, D.C. Their music is a striking blend of influences drawn together by powerful vocals, evocative lyrics, and melodic hooks. Driving rhythms fuse with soulful guitar riffs to give the music a rare depth and a fresh, dynamic sound. Supergreen's unique and energetic live shows have made them one of D.C.'s premiere bands.

History

A lot of people have asked how Supergreen came to be. Here's a brief history... Mark and Tim met at the University of Maryland and began playing together in dorm stairwells and eventually in an apartment they shared. When they graduated, they formed an acoustic duo called the Naked Puppets that played out in the DC area. The first Naked Puppets show was in January of 2001. While Mark and Tim were gigging as the Naked Puppets, Mark met Art Supsiri at work. They became friends after attending a toga party together. This was around May of 2001. The following January, after about a year of gigging on and off, Mark and Tim decided to form a full band. They first sought out a bass player to help write music. Art at that time was a guitar player, but really only played one note at a time. Mark recognized his sense of rhythm and his incredible ear for music and suggested that if he wanted to continue playing one note at a time, he might pick up the bass guitar. And so a match was formed. In January of 2002, Art joined Mark and Tim to form what was to become the core of Supergreen. Many people have asked where the name Supergreen comes from. A few have even guessed it. The origin of the name will remain a secret, unless you get the band drunk enough at a show to tell you the story. The origin isn't as interesting as some of the names that weren't chosen. See, Mark and Tim lived in an apartment together at the time and had a list of possible names on the refrigerator. The list is long gone, but names like "Urine Uranus" will live forever in infamy. In June of 2002, George Flick joined Supergreen on drums and the makings of a real band were finally born. In September of 2002, Scott Benford joined the band on saxophone to help fill out some of the sound. The band went in the studio to record a demo cd, which it released in January of 2003. The demo had 4 tracks: "Your Picture's On The Internet", "Insomnia", "Your Place Or Hers", and "Born To Run" (Springsteen). After recording the demo, George got a big promotion at work and no longer had time for the band. He amicably left the band in the Spring of 2003. Supergreen was forced to borrow Chris Murray, the drummer from Scott's other band, Odyssey, to fill in for George at Supergreen's first show. After much persistence, Supergreen played its first show at The Barking Dog in Bethesda, MD in June of 2003. The show was an mid-season celebration for WAKA kickball. In September of 2003, Joe Marshall joined Supergreen on drums. Joe pulled together the rhythm section and quickly became a big part of Supergreen performances. In November of 2003, Kevin Barrett joined Supergreen on keyboards. Kevin filled out Supergreen's sound and added a lot of depth and texture. And Supergreen now had vocal harmony! Mark had met Kevin at a music store over the Summer. At that time, Kevin was with a band called Stone Valley which later broke up. He remembered that Mark had mentioned Supergreen's need for a keyboard player and decided to give him a call. Scott left Supergreen in January of 2004 to pursue other opportunities. After briefly using a fill-in sax player, Supergreen decided to go without and firmed up what was to become the face of Supergreen. In the fall of 2004, the band recorded Misplaced, their first EP, with Dan Rappaport, a friend and former sound tech for the band. After much hard work, the EP was finally released on February 11, 2005. Mark, Tim, Art, Kevin, and Joe played out for about a year and a half together before Joe left the band due to irreconcilable musical and personal differences. This was in July of 2005. In August of 2005, George Hickey joined Supergreen on the drums as Supergreen's second drummer named George. George brought a very strong pocket and great finesse to the rhythm section, something Supergreen sorely needed. Unfortunately, George's job was too time-demanding and so he and Supergreen had to part ways. New Years Eve was his last show. New Years Eve was also Art Supsiri's last show. After 4 years with Supergreen, Art had to move on because of a new job that had become very demanding of his time. What is it with all these day jobs?? Art played a vital role in the band and a lot of his influence can be found in Supergreen's original music. In the first part of 2006, Kevin Hall joined Supergreen on bass, and Anthony Nixon joined on drums. Together, they form a tight rhythm section that lays the foundation for Supergreen's music. In August of 2006, Tim packed up his new wife and moved to Pittsburgh to learn how to become a powerful business tycoon. As a founding member of Supergreen, Tim's shoes were hard ones to fill. But after an arduous search, Supergreen found his replacement in Anthony Grasso. Grasso has brought a fresh perspective to Supergreen's music, and his creativity and drive quickly sparked new life in the band. In October of 2007, Supergreen played their final show. This is the goodbye letter that went out.

Mark Bober

(vocals, guitar)

Rumored to be the bastard son of Jim Morrison, Mark has played guitar and bass for such poorly publicized high school bands as Raging Chutzpah and A.D.D. Soon after discovering his love for performance, Mark found himself singing for a comedic a cappella group out of the University of Maryland, called Mockappella -- that is until his breakthrough role as the Tin Man in the children's musical Dorothy Meets Alice took over all of his free time. Mark then played solo gigs in such venues as The Front of Mark's Apartment and Mark's Grandparents' House. After graduating from U. of MD, Mark became the lead singer of a progressive rock band called Hotblack Desiato. The band recorded half of an album before realizing that people were just not ready for their brand of musical genius. In the fall of 2000, Mark and Tim formed an acoustic duo called the Naked Puppets. Their mix of classic rock, reggae/dance, and modern music, coupled with their particular brand of insanity, made the Naked Puppets shows entertaining, unpredictable, and often a little dangerous. About one year after the Naked Puppets began, Mark and Tim decided to form Supergreen, and the rest is history. Mark claims to gain writing inspiration from personal relationships and bizarre observations about life. He would like to point out that not every song is taken directly from his personal life, especially the one about putting a girl's naked picture on the Internet (single ladies, he would never do such a thing!)

Anthony Grasso

(lead guitar, vocals)

Anthony Grasso has been playing guitar for many years now. He is mostly self-taught and over the years has studied various styles, from blues to flatpicking. Grasso has played in the DC area since 2000. His first band in DC was a four piece acoustic band playing mostly original blues/folk tunes. After a few years and a few shows, the group disbanded. A year later, Grasso and the drummer formed a four-piece electrified rock (cover) band called Fleeming Jenkins. In addition, Grasso maintains a cross-country music collaboration under the moniker Death Valley Sunshine Band. He records and mixes the music, provides the lead and bass guitar parts, and when he's in the area plays with DVSB at a beach-side venue in Malibu. Grasso also spends time recording and scoring soundtracks. He has recorded and produced singles independently released by local performers and wrote the soundtrack for a full-length feature film that was written, produced, and directed by a DC-local. The film was shown here in DC and internationally in 2004. Some of Grasso's favorite players are Hubert Sumlin, David Gilmour, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Jerry Garcia, Trey Anastasio, Doc Watson, and Billy Nershi.

Kevin Barrett

(keyboards, vocals, ambience *those sweet 9ths and #11ths*, animal sounds)

Kevin Barrett has been performing and developing his musical skills for over ten years. The native of Daytona Beach, Florida was introduced to the keyboard in high school, when a scheduling glitch landed him in a beginning keyboard class. He took to it naturally, and kept playing in his spare time through high school and engineering school at the University of Florida. Shortly after graduating, he pursued his musical education more seriously, delving into blues, contemporary jazz, and rock styles, and taking courses in musicianship and keyboard playing from the Dick Grove School Without Walls. Since his arrival in the D.C. area at the beginning of 2000, Kevin has performed keyboard and lead/backing vocals with the Maryland-based rock quartet Stone Valley, and also performed in the orchestra for Sandy Spring Theatre Group's production of Chess. His mythical production company, Snowjack Productions, has done MIDI and audio production work for the Montgomery Playhouse, and for his own original compositions. His influences include Horace Silver, Elton John, Nick Rhodes, Bob James, Herbie Hancock, and Jamie Shields.

Kevin Hall

(bass)

Kevin recently moved back to the USA from his home country of Canada. He has been playing bass for more years than he'd care to count. His first band, Relics, played so many Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd covers that he hasn't really listened to either band since. While in college, Kevin formed an all-original band called the Gropetoads who were heavily inspired by Fishbone and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Gropetoads gigged for several years in the Toronto area, released a CD, and shot a video of their song "Barricades" that played on Much Music (Canada's version of MTV). After moving to Montreal to complete his Ph.D. at McGill University, "Dr. K" formed an all-original funk band called Wazoo. At that time, the live music scene in Montreal was limited to either Jazz or Bon Jovi tribute bands. So, Wazoo had to play at many small clubs in Montreal to eventually gain a following. After a couple of years, and several drummers, Wazoo gained a respectable fan base and the interest of a producer at Music Plus, the French Canadian version of Much Music. Shortly before Wazoo's demise, a video was made for the song "9-5 Abyss" which played briefly on Music Plus.

Anthony Nixon

(drums)

Born in Washington D.C., Anthony has been playing drums for 20 years. He has toured professionally for the last 12 years with such artists as Yolanda Adams, Faith Evans, Billy Hardy and the Soul Brothers, and the B.E.T. Urban Nation Youth Choir. He has also appeared with the Union Temple Baptist Church, Rehoboth Baptist Church, and a host of other local artists. Anthony's diverse style has been influenced by the Police, Duran Duran, Toto, and Stevie Wonder, among many others. He is excited to share his creativity and personality behind the kit with Supergreen.