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THE ORIGIN STORY
1989 - 1991
In the summer of 1989 we were approached by our good friend Mark Most
with an opportunity.
His family is from Fairmount, Indiana; the birth place
of James Dean.
He explained each year the city shuts down for a weekend and
hosts a car show.
They also bring in Rock & Roll acts from the era. Mark
suggested that we open for one of them.
AWESOME!! We put a band together and
prepared for our first show.
We
gathered a few musicians who wanted to make the trip from New England to the
heartland.
The Musicians were
vocals "Mark Trail": Mark Most
guitar "Jeffrey Ray Joe Bob": Jeff Gauthier
guitar "Danny M": Dan Moraski
bass "Carl Gherkins": Mark Kolnicki
drums "Squid": Mike Gullekson The
band name "Mark Trail and the Skid Marks" was born.
We opened that year for Freddie Cannon and were hooked.
When we came back to New England we brought the music & the band back with
us. THINGS
CHANGE
1991 - 1999
We played mostly in the clubs locally for a couple years as "Mark & the
Skid Marks until Mark Most decided to move back to Indiana in 1991. At the same time, Squid decided to move
out to Colorado. It seemed like we might be done. Yet, James Dean kept pulling us back. Over the
next few years we found ourselves meeting in Fairmount during the Car Show multiple times
and played an occasional event party. During these trips, Ricky Pierce began to fill in
for Squid on drums.
The decade came to and end as Jeff, Mark K and Squid played the main stage
without
Mark Most. Mark Most was performing after the Skids in his band "Surrender Dorothy"
and playing in both bands was too much.
This turned out to be the first performance of "The Skid Marks";
dropping the "Mark &" from the name. REFORMED
2001 - 2003
In 2000 a movie about James Dean came on television. The movie did not
portray him in a favorable light
Mark Most wanted to honor him better with a song. He penned the lyrics to
"Where Cool Was Born"
and sent them to Jeff to put it to music. The idea was to record it and sell
it at the car show.
So Jeff, Mark K & Mark M got busy writing tunes and in short time had a
full CD of original music. We
talked Squid into coming to town to add drums and the band was back together!
In 2001 "Mark & The Skid Marks hit the main stage again. The song
"Where Cool Was Born" was
used as the lead song on the event video. We returned for the next few years and
were honored to open for acts such as The Comets, Mark Lyndsey and Gary Lewis. Back
in New England the band began to perform without Mark Most on vocals since he
remained
to reside in Indiana. During this period, we dropped the white t-shirt
& windbreaker look, traveled
to Cape Cod for a couple years to play and began the jacket and tie look we
still use today. NEW
MEMBERS
2004 - 2012
In 2003 Squid again moved back to Colorado and Danny M
joined the Elton John
tribute band "Bennie & The Jets".
This marked the big change in our lineup.
We brought back Ricky on drums,
added a new guitarist
and a saxaphone player. New stage names for the members were created. The
new lineup was:
vocals & guitar "Jelvis": Jeff Gauthier
vocals & bass "Mark McLennon": Mark Kolnicki
vocals & drums "Buddy Rick": Ricky Pierce
vocals & guitar "Joel Lee Lewis": Joel Wilson
vocals, Sax, & Keys "Chubby Chet Kurr": Chet Kurr During
this time we got real busy, playing at least a couple shows every month.
We began the yearly tradition of playing the weekends at New England's largest
fair: "The Big E".
We began to play at the Chalet almost monthly. We played for the Doo Wop
Society, appeared on local television, giged at clubs such as The Ivanhoe,
Geraldines and Icabods. NOTHING
STAYS THE SAME
2013-2018
As time moved on so did the lineup.
Joel moved on to begin his successful Motorhead tribute band "Bomber"
This
led to our next vocalist/guitarist "Slim Perkins": Mark Rege
A
dance group partnered with us and we went on stage as the band in
"The Sammy Swing Show". After that we wrote a two act play about the
origins of Rock "n" Roll called "Rocket 88" and also brought
that to stage.
Still, local shows such as the Good Guys car show, Palmer Nostalgia
Days,
the Westover Air Show, the Apple Festival and the Big E filled our calendar each year. In
2015 we filmed the pilot show for "Live At Storrowton" mixing some covers
with our
original compositions. In 2016 we have our 25th Anniversary Jamboree show
and bring back Dan Moraski to the stage under his new stage name "Dan 'N
Dean" . We
continued to gig until health issues began to get in the way.
Chet moved on to start his solo show called "Class Act". To play our shows,
we relied on a select few musicians to fill in when one of us was unable to perform.
Mark Germana was added on keyboards and we started to use legendary
guitarist Gerry Moss ("Mossy Waters") as a fill in when either Slim or Jeff couldn't perform.
Still, 2017 brought on some more personal difficulties and we found
ourselves doing
only a handful of shows. It ws beginning to feel like it might be over. CAN'T
KEEP A GOOD BAND DOWN
2019 - present
In
2019 we released our second all original music compilation "In The
Snow".
As the year went on first Buddy Rick retired, so we
added a permanant new drummer "Fluke Fontana": Gary Hebert.
In October Slim Perkins played his last show and left the band.
Still, the health bug hit us when Gary had shoulder surgery at the end of 2019 But
don't fret! The band reformed yet again and went back out on the road. The
2020 line up
At the end of 2019, Jelvis performed at
the Big E solo and
it was feeling like the band might have been done. But
we get a shot in the arm with some new members:
Karen joins the band on keyoards along with J.T. on drums & Mike on
guitar.
This gives us renewed energy and we re-emerged with a new lineup:
vocals & guitar: "Jelvis"
- Jeff Gauthier
vocals & bass: "Mark McLennon" - Mark Kolnicki
vocals & keyboard: "Joni Joplin" - Karen Pinsonnault
guitar: "Tex Campbell" Mike Slahetka
vocals & drums: "Bingo Mars" - J.T. Mckenna Gary's
surgery was successful and he returned back into the line up in February 2020.
Then
tragedy hit when our alumni Joel Wilson passed away.
The band reunited and performed at a benefit show with
Slim, Buddy, Chubby, Dan, Joni, Jelvis and Mark.
We had so much fun with all the
alumi on stage we didn't want it to stop.
As our shows continue, we have an open invite to our past members.
You never know who will join us on stage.
But you can be expect Jelvis, Mark, Joni & Fluke to be there.
vocals & guitar: "Jelvis"
- Jeff Gauthier
vocals & bass: "Mark McLennon" - Mark Kolnicki
vocals & keyboard: "Joni Joplin" - Karen Pinsonnault
drums: "Fluke Fontana" - Gary Hebert
The 2022 line up
For our 2022 tour we have added personnel.
We reached out to local music veterans Tom & Lici Baird
of "Baird Souls" and asked them if they'd like to join forces
and they said YES! We feel so lucky to have them aboard!
vocals & guitar: "Jelvis"
- Jeff Gauthier
vocals & bass: "Mark McLennon" - Mark Kolnicki
vocals & keyboard: "Joni Joplin" - Karen Pinsonnault
drums: "Fluke Fontana" - Gary Hebert
vocals & guitar: "Tommy Winter" - Tom Baird
vocals: "Lici (in the sky with) Diamonds - Lici Baird
The 2023 line up
Buddy came back to finish out our 2023 tour.
vocals & guitar: "Jelvis"
- Jeff Gauthier
vocals & bass: "Mark McLennon" - Mark Kolnicki
vocals & drums: "Buddy Rick" - Rick Pierce
vocals & keyboard: "Joni Joplin" - Karen Coyne
vocals & guitar: "Tommy Winter" - Tom Baird
vocals: "Lici (in the sky with) Diamonds - Lici Baird
Then in the fall of 2023 Tom
& Lici left the band and we invited Slim back
to perform at what we billed as our final performance at The Big E.
BUT THE SHOW GOES ON!
The Current line up:
vocals & guitar: "Jelvis"
- Jeff Gauthier
vocals & bass: "Mark McLennon" - Mark Kolnicki
vocals & drums: "Buddy Rick" - Rick Pierce
vocals & keyboard: "Joni Joplin" - Karen Coyne
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