By the time you read this Bang Tango will have played their comeback show at The Whisky in Hollywood. The show is sold out. It’s a reunion that many thought might never happen and one that follows close on the heels of guitarist Mark Knight rounding up all of the bands original members to play on his upcoming and as yet untitled Mark Knight and the Unsung Heroes album. For those who count themselves as fans the reunion is something we’ve been waiting for for years. I jumped on a plane to catch the Bang Tango Redux shows a few years ago, and Drew who made the documentary of the band even gave me some airtime. There’s not a band from the late eighties I love more and now Joe is back too… I caught up with The Rockpit’s old friend Mark Knight to find out more…
Mark K: Hey Mark how you doing!
Mark D: I’m good thanks Mark, great to catch up again on the eve of the big show! How are you doing? Any nerves?
Mark K: I’m doing pretty well (laughs).
Mark D: Great news all around a sell-out reunion show for Bang Tango at the Whisky and a new Mark Knight and the Unsung Heroes album on the horizon!
Mark K: Yeah man, things are coming together! (laughs) good to start the year off busy!
Mark D: I’m just sorry I couldn’t be there.
Mark K: It would have been great if you could have made it out. It is a bit of a distance!
Mark D: It was just one thing I didn’t think would happen. After I got on the plane to see those Redux shows all those years ago when we first met, I thought that might be as close as we got. I’m so happy it has all come together. I thought the best chance might have been last year for the Anniversary of Psycho Café. Was this a little out of the blue? Spill the beans! (laughs)
Mark K: How it came about was that we did want to do a Psycho Café 30 year reunion, some of the guys were pushing for it, I was pushing for it, and Joe was out with his version of Bang Tango on tour most of the Summer and we were just going “well I guess the year is gonna pass us by and this isn’t gonna happen” because that was the time we were gonna do it. And then Joe called me up in probably like October. He started calling me, at first I didn’t even take the call as I was just a little upset about some of the stuff that had gone down, you know.
Mark D: I think we can all guess what that might have been.
Mark K: And finally I took the call and he said “OK I want to do it” and I said “well you know I’m down with playing again as long as you’re no longer involved with some of those cats in your old band. I said “if you’re still dealing with those guys then I don’t want anything to do with this, but if you just want to do this with the original guys then let’s just go for it. Let’s put it together”
Mark D: Cool, first Motley Crue and now your guys back together! (laughs)
Mark K: Motley Crue (laughs) Motley weren’t out of the loop for 25,30 years like we were (laughing)
Mark D: I know mate, I’m talking about the hugeness of the news! The anticipation must have been huge, what was that first rehearsal like?
Mark K: I’ll take you back a little bit further first. After that call, I had a chat with Joe and told him “You gotta reach out to the other guys and clear the air with everybody and then we’ll go away and do the first rehearsal”. There was this rehearsal studio that I like to use with my band, it’s got a big room and as some of the guys live out of town, they have to drive in, and so we went in there and we just went for it. It was cool, like family, like brothers you hadn’t seen for years, in fact just like a family reunion (laughs). And we started playing, and it all just clicked and I thought “Whoa, I totally forgot how intricate this band is, and how all the parts kinda blend together to make the sound.” I was kinda in awe and thought “Wow we really did do some cool stuff.” So we ended up playing like 20 songs, we rattled them off one after the other, it was “Let’s try, that one, let’s try this one” It went so well.
Mark D: I know when I saw the Redux shows a few years back you played a lot of material off the third album, the classic ‘Love After Death’ and I think Kyle Stevens had left before that album toured, did you play any of that at rehearsal?
Mark K: Yeah, he had left the year before that record came out, he left the band right after we had finished recording ‘Love After Death’ so we picked up another guitarist and we looked at getting another deal. It was a two year process before it got released and it didn’t even get released in the States just in Europe and Japan on Music For Nations. So we hadn’t played a lot of it live really only back then, but we tried a couple of those at rehearsal and they sounded great.
Mark D: That’s good to hear. So the setlist for the big show is locked away?
Mark K: Yeah we got the setlist put together it’s gonna be mostly from the first two records because that’s what Bang Tango fans who haven’t heard us in a long time mostly want to hear, but we are doing some off ‘Love After Death.’ But this first show is all about the songs people know, we all have our deep cuts that we’d like to play but we’ll just stick with what was popular and what is best known for our fans.
Mark D: That makes perfect sense first time out especially. And there is another show on the horizon too but no tour and probably even no thought of a tour at this stage?
Mark K: No we’re not gonna tour, the idea is basically to just do select shows, maybe fly to certain cities and do a couple of dates, a weekend, but we don’t plan on getting in a van and hitting thirty States. That’s not really our plan, our plan is to do those select shows and maybe get on some festivals and just see where it goes. The idea was originally just to play one show and take it from there, but Joe already had a really good booking agent in place and he kind of picked up where the band left off. He booked us at the M3 festival in May.
Mark D: That was so cool to see, and good to see you pretty high on the bill too.
Mark K: Yeah it’s a really cool festival and we couldn’t turn that down, we’re excited by it.
Mark D: And if things go well and the offers come, you’ll take it from there, sit down as a band and decide the next steps?
Mark K: Exactly we’ll just see how it goes. Better to take baby steps than trying to plan something. But we do definitely plan on getting out of town and doing some fly out weekend things. That works for us, some of us have commitments and jobs and can’t really drop everything, get in a van and tour unless it’s something big.
Mark D: And there’s always the Monsters of Rock Cruise?
Mark K: Yeah we were gonna do that but it had already been booked with the previous Bang Tango and it just didn’t work out for us, plus it would be like next week or something! (laughs)
Mark D: So maybe next time, we’ll see you. Those cruises are cool man, you’d love it.
Mark K: We’ll see.
Mark D: So the setlist is locked away, the rehearsals went well. When was the last time you played the Whisky?
Mark K: I played the Whiskey maybe a year and a half ago but with Bang Tango it must have been ’89- ’90, no actually I think we played a show there in maybe ’94. I remember it was a super-hot night when we played there, it was when Kyle Stevens wasn’t in the band that must have been the last time.
Mark D: Great place to play. You must have some great memories.
Mark K: Yeah I love that place, it’s a great place to play, a lot of history and a really great vibe. I actually got up and played with Joe in 2013 when he had come to town and I got up and did a couple of songs.
Mark D: I guess the beautiful thing about the Bang Tango situation at the moment is that it’s so open, no pressure, and if it takes off who knows where it leads!
Mark K: Exactly.
Mark D: And I know you write all the time Mark, and that there’s a new Unsung Heroes album on the way which we’ll get to next. I just wondered if you’d ever sat down over the last few months while you were writing and thought, “Jeez that sounds like a Bang Tango song?”
Mark K: Yeah, I mean I don’t write to any particular style I just write what comes out. Whenever I have tried to write in a particular style it always comes out not quite right, as it’s not come naturally. I do of course think about Bang Tango songs, it’s always in the back of my mind.
Mark D: That’s great I couldn’t be happier, one of my favourite bands taking to the stage again. The other thing we need to talk about though is the new Mark Knight and the Unsung Heroes album, I’ve been waiting a while, it seems longer between records this time but it’s not really.
Mark K: Yeah, it’s been a slow process because I’m doing it a different way, but it’s a process I’ve used on a couple of my records. I have a bit of a home studio and I demo’d all of the stuff in Pro Tools on my computer, then I took the demos of like 14 songs, gave them to the band members, we did pre-production, we went in and did all the drums, then we got the bass down, we have a bass player but he’s kinda new to the band so he didn’t play on all of it, so I got Reeve Downes from Rhino Bucket, and Kyle Kyle from Bang Tango he played on a couple of songs. I just tried to get the best guys I could for these songs and it took a lot of work. So we got 14 songs and everything’s coming back to my house we’re doing all the guitars and vocals, all the overdubs here, we’re taking it to the next stage now but it’s taken a while. But it’s come out great.
Mark D: I can’t wait to hear it.
Mark K: And Kyle Stevens is in the band as you know, he’s been there for two years now so he’s a big part of the sound too. I’ve even got Tigg in to play on a track, so in the end we had all four of the guys playing on it.
Mark D: The timing is perfect, you get all the guys on the album and then Joe makes the phone call.
Mark K: Yeah it was ironic how it happened I just watched everybody playing on it and then I get the call from Joe, it was almost like he had a sixth sense! It all worked out really well, the timing was impeccable.
Mark D: So with the sixth album on the way and each one better than the one before you must be feeling pretty good? This could well be the best Mark Knight and The Unsung Heroes album to date?
Mark K: I think so for sure. It just feels right, it’s not rushed and I’ve been honing my vocals a lot more, I’ve worked really hard at it and it feels really good and the songs are great they sound like me but they’re all over the map just like you like them. It’s gonna be interesting to see how it all finally come together but the demos went down great with the band, and what they did with it is great. I mean I could put this out now but I want to redo the guitars and do some of the lead vocals again, it’s gonna be the best adventure in music for you!
Mark D: That’s so cool. Do you have a title yet?
Mark K: A couple of titles are banging around but nothing for sure. I have a song called ‘Days of a Dreamer’ I might title the record that.
Mark D: And is there thought of a single release before the album comes, any potentials picked out?
Mark K: Um, there’s a couple of them that are really standing out that outside people might want to produce and stuff that I might release before, but I want to make sure I have a good chunk of it recorded before I put anything out. We might be waiting another six months before I get everything done but once I get everything honed in and to the mix stage we might put one or two out to grab people’s interest because you know (laughs) it’s taken so long!
Mark D: And hopefully when it’s all out, you’ll be touring it too?
Mark K: Oh for sure. I got a gig February 7th at a really cool place in the Valley, remember Paladinos where you saw us? It’s right down the street, a really cool place, so The Unsung Heroes are still gigging out doing all kinds of stuff.
Mark D: So when are we looking at for a release date?
Mark K: It’s funny I did an interview a few days ago and I said something crazy like “summer” (laughs)
Mark D: (laughs)
Mark K: I woke up this morning and thought “summer?” – What was I thinking! (laughs) If I’m honest it would be great to get this out in fall 2020. That would be great, we’ve just got to get busy.
Mark D: You better get it done because you never know what’s gonna happen with that other band!
Mark K: Exactly.
Mark D: It must have been hard rehearsing with Joe in Phoenix, Kyle in Vegas and the rest of you all around L.A.?
Mark K: Exactly, they’ve all been coming into town to rehearse, and it’s not like we can rehearse every day when you’ve got guys in other parts of the country. In preparation we just did a Saturday, Sunday this last weekend – we just woodshedded and had two six hour rehearsals to get the band up to speed to play this show on Saturday.
Mark D: So how does it feel on the verge of it now that it’s so close.
Mark K: You know everybody’s excited, it felt really good on Sunday at the last reversal, I thought ‘we can do this’ (laughs) but you know it’s just a gig, it’s just one gig, you know, there’s a lot of hype about it and there’s no warm-up gig so there are a few nerves as we haven’t tested the waters yet. But with the rehearsals and how it felt and with everyone doing their homework and practicing, everyone know their parts so we’ll hit it hard and make it work. We maybe could have done with another rehearsal to get that little edge for the magic to really happen you know.
Mark D: Are you going to film it?
Mark K: We aren’t but I’m sure there’ll be a lot of people there who will be, but there’s no professional crew.
Mark D: I’ll look forward to seeing it. It’s always a pleasure to chat mate thank you and enjoy yourself up there.
Mark K: Thank you Mark, take care and keep in touch
