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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mark Sunshine of Unida (ex-Riotgod)

Posted in Questionnaire on February 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan

Mark Sunshine of Unida (ex-Riotgod)

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mark Sunshine of Unida (ex-Riotgod)

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I have this creativity source inside me, like a nuclear pellet. It has always been there. As a youth it just ran wild – not hard to imagine – for a child. It still does.

However I also had these parents by-adoption who were unused to such a volatile, challenging presence that came with their first-arrived. I’ve ridiculously imagined other scenarios – parents who are artists or musicians seeing right away that their child might be able to be trained, guided, with raw talents refined slowly during youth via whatever discipline is chosen. Consider those children as if they are orchids and the parents know just the treatments, care and attention needed.

For my particular upbringing ( which absolutely matters good or bad ) consider me a being who might have needed such attentions, yet received “house plant”.

This matters, this back-story because having gotten no introduction to anything – forget about a road to advanced tutelage – I had to make my way on my own – to “figure it out” — the messy route of the autodidact. I engaged the default option of art until my college years. Shortly after the cessation of my university experience, I underwent an undeniable animal direction change, with my spirit absolutely rebelling against almost all that I had known prior. I bought a drum set frst, but it became apparent that that instrument would not be an option for me long term. Again – without any prior experience – I threw myself into the world of metal and hard rock when I was 19 – choosing become a vocalist. Since those chaotic early days I have become the hybrid that I am. Artist who is heavy duty cartoon/comic art/fine art leaning and hard rock vocalist with passions that include many other forms of music.

Describe your first musical memory.

I was three. I was in the bedroom of our Brooklyn apartment on Ave H. My father had these Maxell cassette boxes he’d brought home from work. The box had a clear lid attached by hinges. You could see through the transparent lid the divisions of space, the slots for the cassettes.

I’d pretend I was playing a piano or keyboard, jamming along to say Bachman Turner Overdrive. That is a pure and rich memory for it does not relate to the life I actually had. When we eventually scored a Story and Clark piano after a ‘70s-era relocation to Jersey, my sister received the piano lessons.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

This is tough, because: Does it involve MY music experience through performing? Or is it one of music by a particular personal concert experience? I have a series of what might be called super-experiences in music, from both situations.
I will make it thus a two-part answer.

My best musical memory in the category of personal experience was the moment the curtains parted for the Riotgod set at Wacken. I was handed a wireless microphone, with the tech taking mine, putting it aside. BOOM. It was on. The rest as they say in showbiz – is on YouTube.

Best overall musical memory as far as concert experience was my being on the lawn during the Enit Festival. 1996? I was shall we say feeling quite good, a lush experience on the rolling hills of Holmdel. Porno for Pyros was set to play and I had never seen them live. I also had never seen Janes Addiction live. So when P4P eased into “Summertime Rolls” it was unexpected big time, magnificently epic.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Involving music…. I didn’t think it then but can cite it now.

It was a time of musical nothing after the band I had been in for almost a decade (Riotgod) had completely imploded. I had no band, nothing solid going on at all. However I was somehow in contact with a guitarist who said his drummer had a home studio, and you know phone talk, realities painted, speculation. These dudes were not part of ANY scene I knew, not even the cover circuit. Nonetheless, all roads led to some kind of get-together.

Eventually I took a drive down to Neptune and it had been a long time since I’d felt the “try out” vibe. I parked my car, arriving early. The song I had on my mind was “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison. The guitarist told me that they’d be trying out a bassist — told him to learn that tune. I saw another dude sitting in his car – the bassist?

When I’d first learned of this song choice, I asked, “So what are you guys doing for the horn break?” Simple question right? I have seen Government Mule handle it with guitar for example. I asked because the band for the day would be the guitarist, the drummer, the auditioning bassist and me. No keyboard player, no horn section.

Guitarist had no ready answer. Incredibly he did not immediately know what I was talking about. How could that be? It is essential to the tune, that horn part.

After the yikes “rehearsal” I reflected on what had gone down in that cramped feedback rich room inside some home in a neighborhood. Right! It was one lightly equipped room rented for the day’s activities. The home was being renovated and I briefly chatted with a resident in the kitchen. The music room was used for personal and church projects. As for the band – I didn’t even ask why we weren’t at the drummer’s studio.

During the session, I had to ask who was keeping time. It was all over the place and they looked at me sideways and eventually it became that my questioning was the problem, such radical repeated interjections! How dare me.

With my long ass hair and “rock casual” attire they looked at me like I’d walked in radiating the outlandish style of Janis Joplin, you know, full Pearl, boa wrapped. As if I was some demanding “rock star.” The guitarist and drummer were dressed like they might be spotted at Costco, Dadcasual. The bassist, kinda student ragamuffin. Oh yeah – I did the horn parts vocally, which the band wasn’t ready for, even though the notes and meter were spot-on! What was Mr. Pearl doing!

Later, in my car, I played back the scenes, with the uptight short-guy drummer drinking banquet beer, the intermediate level guitar player that I had only had the pleasure of talking to up until then and the quiet bass player who’d stayed in his car sipping Heinekens up until the time we had to go into the space.

For the first time in my life I questioned my devotion, my belief that I should go on doing what I’d been doing for decades, expressly my entire musical experience. It was a fleeting moment on Rt. 18 North as I headed home. It was dreadful, the day less so than that enormous unexpected thought.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

It leads to expertise and satisfaction if one is fortunate.

How do you define success?

One’s being able to exist outside the slave to wheel common experience. Now – for those who are family men and women, they might have a different manner of qualifying the success factor but for me, escaping the tricky paradigm I got myself wrapped up in, lord that would be success, not having to work so hard, for so little, for so long.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Oh lord. Too many options. I will semi-abstain from this question. I might somewhat satisfy the question with the broad generality of “Any grease-trap.”

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

Again this invokes my life-duality. Art-wise, to have the time to create my own art book, I mean a proper expression employing Phaidon style printing.

Music-wise a marriage of heavy material, powerful, involving my vocal stylings, tracks laid down over an electronically assembled creation that doesn’t sound altogether too electronic.

Specifically? Eventually getting to lay down tracks over the new Unida material sent my way – that’d be pretty good too.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

To make it all better.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Every new day I spend on this earth with my LB, woman I love, my best friend. 3:1

https://www.facebook.com/UnidaBand
https://www.instagram.com/unida_music_official/
https://store-benchmark.com/collections/unida

Unida, Live at Redwood Bar, Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 22, 2022

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Riotgod’s Driven Rise Due March 18

Posted in Whathaveyou on January 27th, 2014 by JJ Koczan

With drummer Bob Pantella and guitarist Garrett Sweeny having spent much of last year working in Monster Magnet on the album Last Patrol (review here) and subsequent touring, there hasn’t been much word of late out of the Riotgod (or, alternately, RiotGod) camp since the release of their sophomore album, Invisible Empire (review here), in 2012. They did tour in support of that record that year, even going so far as to play the legendary Wacken Open Air festival, but 2013 was comparatively inactive, with their only show being a Halloween appearance at The Stone Pony in their native New Jersey. Things look to be picking up in 2014 for the four-piece, however, as they’re set to issue their third long-player through Metalville Records.

Dubbed Driven Rise (or, alternately, Driven•Rise), the album is set to release on March 18 and will mark the band’s first studio outing without bassist Jim Baglino, who also parted ways with Monster Magnet last year, replacing him with Erik Boe, who came aboard in time for the band’s winter 2012 tour. The foursome’s classic heavy rocking approach is rounded out by the considerable pipes of vocalist Mark Sunshine, and if cuts like “Davos” and “Melisandre” are anything to go by, somebody in the band has been watching Game of Thrones.

The PR wire takes it from here with album art and track details:

RIOTGOD to Release Driven Rise March 18th on Metalville Records

Red Bank, New Jersey’s RIOTGOD (featuring Monster Magnet drummer Bob Pantella) are set to release their third album Driven Rise on March 18th in North America via Metalville Records. Today the artwork and track listing have been revealed.

Driven Rise Track Listing:
1. Driven Rise
2. They Don’t Know
3. Grenade and Pin
4. Sidewinder
5. Prime Moment
6. Positronic
7. Davos
8. Melisandre
9. You’re My Waste of Time
10. Beg For Power

RIOTGOD Lineup:
Bob Pantella – Drums
Garrett Sweeny – Guitar
Erik Boe – Bass
Sunshine – Vocals

For More Info Visit:
http://www.riotgod.com
https://www.facebook.com/riotgod999
http://www.metalville.de

Riotgod, Live at Wacken 2012

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Riotgod, Invisible Empire: All Tomorrow’s Todays

Posted in Reviews on December 22nd, 2011 by JJ Koczan

For their second album through the German imprint Metalville Records, native New Jerseyan Monster Magnet offshoot Riotgod present a sound that is crisper, tighter and more assured than on their 2010 self-titled debut. is also more directly derived from the stoner/heavy rock vein than was Riotgod (review here), and shows clear intent even in its track listing. Each of the album’s two presented “sides” – in quotes because it’s a CD release and at 59:31, it’s too long to fit on a single LP – ends with a ballad, those being “Gas Station Roses” and “Rebirth,” that through their mere placement set themselves as the cornerstones of what Riotgod is looking to accomplish their second time out. In terms of songwriting, the four-piece doesn’t seem to want to stray too far from the straightforward, well-structured verses and choruses they presented the first time around, but both the guitars of Garrett Sweeny and the vocals of Mark Sunshine offer more diversity, with the rhythm section of bassist Jim Baglino and drummer Bob Pantella (they being the Monster Magnet contingent) keeping a consistent and forward-pointed push whether it’s the darker, moodier chug of “Crossfade” or the grander emotionality of later cut “Loosely Bound.” At just under an hour, Invisible Empire feels long, and some songs work better than others, but each of the total 12 seems to justify its inclusion through diversity, however subtle it might be, whereas with the self-titled that wasn’t the case. If that’s to be the form of Riotgod’s progress, I’ll take it.

The album begins with the formidable swagger of “Breed,” and that sets a tone of classic rock appreciation that the rest of the songs bear out, both riff-wise and in Sunshine’s vocals, which are stellar in their performance but too forward in the mix. His voice has that ability that Chris Cornell had at his peak to just contort seemingly at will and jump in register to what feel like places it shouldn’t be able to jump. He throws some John Garcia-type grit into the approach as well and manages to shift to suit the music, as on the swaying “Firebrand.” As Pantella keeps steady waltz time on the drums and Sweeny noodles a subdued verse, Sunshine takes charge of the melody and caries the track into its chorus, which is among the most effective on Invisible Empire. True, some of the melodies can seem repetitive – more than once through the Alice in Chains-esque backups on “Fool” and they begin to feel overused – but Sunshine could carry this band if he needed to. Fact is, however, that he doesn’t need to. As the ballsier riffing of “Fool” and “Crossfade” work in ‘90s-style distortion behind their verses, the music more than stands up to the vocals, however more prominent the latter might be mix-wise. With “Slow Death,” as with “Breed,” Riotgod modernize a classic approach in a way not so dissimilar from what European tour and labelmates The Quill did on their 2011 offering, Full Circle.

Read more »

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audiObelisk: Riotgod Premiere “Fool” From Invisible Empire

Posted in audiObelisk on November 17th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

The funny thing about Riotgod is that while the band is from my home state of New Jersey, I think their second album, Invisible Empire, has more of a European rock style to it. Compared to their self-titled debut, which came out on Metalville last year, Invisible Empire is more outwardly stoner rock. The four-piece throw down unabashed love for ’90s heavy rock greats Kyuss and Soundgarden, and tinge it every now again with something more moody à la Alice in Chains.

Those shifts serve them well on Invisible Empire. Garrett Sweeny‘s riffs feel more prominent, and the band’s time on the road in Europe did them well in terms of Thee art.nailing down their aesthetic. Vocalist Mark Sunshine is restrained but not repressed, maintaining the classic rock frontman sensibility he brought to the first record while also refining his approach to the rhythms of drummer Bob Pantella and bassist Jim Baglino — both also of Monster Magnet.

And if that band’s stamp shows up anywhere on Invisible Empire, it’s in the straightforward quality of the songwriting Riotgod is able to make sound easy and natural. There isn’t much psychedelia to what they do — some — but instead, the album drives home the notion of the classic working rock band. One hopes they tour again for it, as that clearly seems to be the root of their growth.

I’m lucky enough today to be able to host the track “Fool” for your streaming pleasure, which you’ll find on the player below. Hope you enjoy:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

As previously reported, Riotgod‘s Invisible Empire will be released on Metalville on Jan. 31 — it’s already out in Europe. If you like “Fool,” hit the band up on Thee Facebooks or their ReverbNation page, where they have the rest of the album streaming.

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Riotgod Announce Release Date for Invisible Empire

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2011 by JJ Koczan

New Jersey rockers Riotgod released their first album last year via Metalville Records. As the PR wire informs today, the four-piece will return Jan. 31 with the follow-up, Invisible Empire, which between bassist Jim Baglino and drummer Bob Pantella‘s affiliation with Monster Magnet and Pantella‘s further responsibilities kicking ass in The Atomic Bitchwax, I have no idea when they would’ve had the time to record. But so it goes.

Abridged from the PR wire:

Riotgod began in spirit through the conversations of Monster Magnet‘s Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino while out on tour as early as 2006. While touring with Monster Magnet provided them with some great times and afforded them the opportunity to perform around the world, each communicated a desire to express their own musical ideas.  

Riotgod did its first mini-tour in 2009, hitting the road with fellow NJ rockers The Friends of Bill WilsonRiotgod would visit the US Midwest and Canada, playing venues such as Chicago‘s Double Door, Detroit‘s Blondies, Toronto‘s Bovine Sex Club as well as some lesser known colorful establishments along the way.

Invisible Empire Track Listing:
1. Breed
2. Fool
3. Crossfade
4. Slow Death
5. Firebrand
6. Gas Station Roses
7. Tomorrow’s Today
8. Saving it Up
9. Loosily Bound
10. Lost
11. Hollow Mirror
12. Rebirth

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Burning Out Retinas with Riotgod

Posted in Reviews on August 18th, 2010 by JJ Koczan

Though between them they’ve spent years playing in bands like Human Remains, Cycle of Pain, Lord Sterling, The Atomic Bitchwax and The Ribeye Bros., drummer Bob Pantella and bassist Jim Baglino are probably best known at this point as the rhythm section of New Jersey stalwarts Monster Magnet. Likely that’s a job that comes packaged with a lot of ups and downs. You get to tour the world over and have a built-in high profile because of the band’s past success, but probably you don’t get to write much and there’s a lot of downtime. Hoping perhaps to make the most of that, Baglino and Pantella formed Riotgod a couple years back with guitarist Garrett Sweeny and vocalist Mark Sunshine. Their self-titled debut, in digipak/bonus track form, is out on Germany’s Metalville Records.

If you’ve been privy to Monster Magnet’s latest output, you at least have a basis for understanding where Riotgod’s Riotgod is coming from; they play a relatively straightforward (in terms of structure) brand of rock, not quite stoner, but definitely influenced by the heavy ‘70s and with some element of space to it, as the cover and tracks like “Light of the Sun” and “Collapsing Stars” would indicate. The material gets samey toward the album’s back half, but there is plenty of quality songwriting on display, and the production, while modern, isn’t nearly as flat as, say, the last Monster Magnet CD. Sunshine does a pretty good John Garcia on the Zeppelin-esque “The Time is Now,” and the chorus of “Collapsing Stars” proves to be a Riotgod high point, which is surprising for a semi-ballad amidst so many hard rockers, but led into by the atmospheric interlude “Omega,” it doesn’t feel out of place.

Read more »

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Riotgod to Do Jersey Proud August 17

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 5th, 2010 by JJ Koczan

As the rhythm section of New Jersey‘s long-running Monster Magnet, drummer Bob Pantella (also of The Atomic Bitchwax and Cycle of Pain) and bassist Jim Baglino (formerly of Lord Sterling and The Ribeye Brothers) have some time on their hands. Magnet is Dave Wyndorf‘s show and everyone knows it, so while he’s off writing, or not writing, a new album, they’re free to do what they want, which apparently is start the band Riotgod with guitarist Garrett Sweeny and vocalist Mark Sunshine.

I heard Riotgod‘s demo a couple years back and dug the hell out of it, so I’m definitely looking forward to their self-titled full-length, out August 17 on Metalville Records. Tremble before the PR wire’s might and wisdom:

In 2007 Monster Magnet‘s Bob Pantella and Jim Baglino created their own alternate universe under the Riotgod banner, inviting guitarist Garrett Sweeny and the estranged vocalist known only as Sunshine to travel the cosmos with them. Their achieved collective goal is Riotgod, their self-titled debut album (due August 17 on Metalville Records) containing some of the most energetic, recognizable and high quality hard rock this side of Mars.

Drummer and founding member Bob Pantella spoke about the formation of Riotgod:

“It was just Jim and myself, you know, just spending a lot of time on the road and we just had a lot of music that we wanted to create. With Monster Magnet, that’s not really the case for us sometimes. That’s more of Dave‘s thing, so we really just wanted to get together and do something a bit more on our own. There’s a lot of time off and personally we like to work a lot so, the desire to do more began building up over the last couple of years.

“We wanted to try our own thing and call our own shots with musical direction and stuff. We talked about it for years and it took a long time to really find the right people and get going. I’ve always had my recording studio, so it was easy in that aspect but it was hard to find the right ingredients — sounds, personalities and such. We know nothing’s perfect but you want to get people into the same head space. This is a great band to take us to a different level. Being in Monster Magnet is an awesome opportunity to launch other things for us.”

Track listing
1. Light of the Sun
2. Crusader
3. The Time is now
4. Horizon
5. 9th Life
6. Omega
7. Collapsing Stars
8. Pinata
9. Drone Station
10. Love it or Leave it
11. Rift
12. Sweet Kaos
13. High Time
14. Grand Design
15. Fangasm*
16. Minds Eye*
*Bonus tracks on digipak only

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