Sky Cries Mary


Sky Cries Mary is an American psychedelic rock/trance musical group from Seattle, Washington, formed in the late 1980s by Roderick Wolgamott and Ben Ireland.
Early band influences included European industrial music bands such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Coil, and Test Department, and 1970s glam/punk artists including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and David Bowie.
Notable band alumni include Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, vocalist Anisa Romero, Michael Cozzi of Shriekback, Jon ‘Juano’ Davison, and Gordon Raphael.
In 2016, founding members Wolgamott and Ireland premiered a new line up including Ron Nine on guitar, and Kurt Danielson on bass. They performed live at Sunset Tavern on November 26, 2016.

History

The band's first album, from 1989, featured Roderick Wolgamott playing with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow from The Posies. The second album, released in 1990, featured the same trio, joined by Scott Mercado, Alfred Butler, Stephen Brian-Salit, Mark Ultra, Kevin McCoy and Jeff Guess. In 1991, the band became a septet with Roderick Wolgamott, Anisa Romero, DJ Fallout, Joseph E. Howard, Ben Ireland, Marc Olsen and Gordon Raphael. It was during this time they recorded A Return to the Inner Experience. Cozzi replaced Olsen on the fifth through seventh albums. In 1994, Davison replaced Joe Howard. William Bernhard joined the band in 1998 after Cozzi left to pursue other projects.
Sky Cries Mary had broken up in 1999, shortly after the release of Seeds, because band members wanted to work on other projects. They regrouped in various configurations including Hana, which featured Anisa Romero, Jeff Greinke, and Ben Ireland, and No Futuro, an experimental musical project helmed by Roderick Wolgamott, William Bernhard, and Jeremy Moss. In 2004, the band regrouped after they won the rights to their music back from their old record company and subsequently released their first live album Here and Now. Two years later they followed it up with the release of Small Town.
In 2008, Sky Cries Mary's founder, Roderick Wolgamott and Anisa Romero were featured along with Sting and Russell Simmons on Lokah's debut release, The Ivy Ceiling.
Sky Cries Mary were one of the first bands to have an 'internet only' concert, an effort that was directed by former member McCoy.
In 2012, bassist Jon Davison joined British progressive rock band Yes, performing as their lead vocalist. As a result, he was unavailable to rejoin the band when they reconvened in 2016.
In 2016, founder Roderick Wolgamott premiered a new line-up, alongside original drummer Ben Ireland, guitarist Ron Nine and bassist Kurt Danielson.
In 2017, the band co-wrote and digitally released "War Song", a new single co-written by Wolgamott and Ron Nine. The band recorded several new songs, at Sound House with Jack Endino, who engineered Nirvana's Bleach, and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. Later in 2017, Jack Endino along with Curt Eckman, and Kevin Whitworth joined the group. In September 2017, they headlined at Psychfest in Seattle. Together, the band recorded more songs, including re-releases of some very early Sky Cries Mary material.
A new album, Thieves and Sirens, included songs from their most recent collaborations and was released digitally in 2017. A vinyl and CD release of Thieves and Sirens was issued in 2018 following live appearances in March and April.
On March 25, 2020, a new album entitled Secrets of a Red Planet was released on Trail Records.

Discography

Their song "The Elephant Song" was featured on the soundtrack for the movie The Harvest. Their song "Shipwrecked" was featured on the soundtrack for the movie Tank Girl. Their song "Cornerman" was featured in the movie Higher Learning, playing from a jukebox.