The Marked

The Marked was a gothic rock band formed by Billy Corgan in 1985 in Chicago. The name came from the fact that both Corgan and drummer Ron Roesing had conspicuous port-wine stains - Corgan on his arm, and Roesing on his face.

The Marked was ahead of it’s time in a few novel ways…although generally unsuccessful and clumsy in our attempts, we did our best to blend really loud guitar with 80’s English, alternative rock in a more forceful way then what had been popular at that time…our mixture of 60’style paisley fed psyche-a-delia, in itself not unique (with handy “spacey” lyrics), was played with such overdriven frenzy that this common influence almost became mystical in feel…as is often the case, young bands take what they “think” they hear, and play their music in such an aggressive manner that it transforms into something new…we had grasped our obvious influences (Love and Rockets, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, Joy Division/New Order) and mashed them together with earlier teenage crushes (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, AC/DC) into a manner that was distinctly and brutally American… we had had something, however small, but of course it is 1986, almost a full 5 years before grunge would blow the doors wide open offa good ol’ rock ‘ roll…

History
The Marked traces its origins to 1983, when Billy Corgan met Greg Bates outside of teen nightclub Medusa's. Corgan and Bates, both vocalists and guitarists, began writing songs and soon formed a band, Coat of Eyes. Two years later, the band was expanded to include bassist Dale Meiners and drummer Ron Roesing. Jim Marcus also contributed to a few songs.

In 1985, Corgan graduated high school and decided to pursue music full-time. Fearful of a cold reception in their native Chicago, the band, minus Greg Bates, moved to St. Petersburg, Florida and renamed themselves The Marked, after Corgan and Roesing's birthmarks. The band were reported to have played around 20 shows in and around St. Petersburg before Meiners suddenly quit the band. Corgan and Roesing reluctantly returned to Chicago. The band continued, with Meiners briefly replaced by Len Ayala.

The band did not find significant success and within nine months they disbanded. Back to Chicago, Corgan joined the band Deep Blue Dream in 1987, which included Wayne Static who later formed Static-X. They, too, disbanded and by 1988 The Smashing Pumpkins were formed. Roesing served as the drummer on the Pumpkins' first demo cassette, Nothing Ever Changes.

Some songs by The Marked were later re-recorded or released as The Smashing Pumpkins, such as "Spiteface" and "Death of a Mind" (which became "Sun"). The band released a handful of demo tapes before disbanding in 1986.

Lawsuit
In 2000, The Marked reappeared in a lawsuit against Corgan, the Smashing Pumpkins, Virgin Records America, and Modivational Films, stemming from the use of a several clips of The Marked in the 1994 Smashing Pumpkins video Vieuphoria. JM Productions (Jonathan Morrill) objected to the use of band footage taken from his documentary Video Marked. This documentary film reportedly included videos for the songs "The Trance", "Scary Neurotic Song", "Stained Glass Window" and others, as well as footage of the band rehearsing. Morrill claimed the tapes were confiscated without his permission, and that he was unaware of the content of Vieuphoria until 1999.

Morrill was an associate of The Marked during its lifespan, and booked them their first and second performance club dates at the Act IV (Tampa), Jannus Landing, and American Stage shows in St. Petersburg. Corgan stayed with Morrill temporarily during his time in Florida. Reportedly Morrill filmed, directed, conceived, and edited music videos for the Marked songs "Stained Glass Window" (featuring Corgan as a grave digger, Roesing as an escaped lunatic, and Meiners as a priest), "Scary Neurotic Song" (filmed in Morrills's living room), "The Trance" (shot at The Act IV), "Anima Animus" (shot at The American Stage), "Passion to Despise", "The Dream" and "Pelican".

In spite of the lawsuit, Morrill insists there was no animosity towards Corgan, and that the lawsuit was a David and Goliath scenario, and Morrill just wanted fair compensation for his work.

Personnel

 * Billy Corgan – guitar
 * Ron Roesing – drums
 * Dale Meiners – bass guitar
 * Len Ayala – bass guitar