TradeMark G. (Mark Gunderson)
TradeMark G. (aka Mark Gunderson) is a musician and artist, perhaps best known as founder of the band The Evolution Control Committee in 1986. He is also a culture jammer, equipment designer, software designer, and organizer. The Evolution Control Committee is best known for its copyright-challenging stance, using found sounds to create new musical works at the risk of copyright violation. This made The ECC the target of a cease & desist order from CBS for sampling newscaster Dan Rather, but also earned The ECC credit for creating the "Mash-Up" genre of music (also called Bastard Pop). TradeMark can take credit for those and all other ECC projects, including the development and construction of the Thimbletron, a live sampling performance instrument; the 2003 nationwide release of the "Plagiarhythm Nation v2.0" CD (which charted #1 in LA, NYC, San Francisco, and put the word "Plagiarhythm" in the Macmillan dictionary), and acquiring and managing the 10,000-record-strong ECC media archives. Over its full history The ECC has produced 16 full-length albums, a videotape, 2 seven-inch records, and even an 8-track tape and a wax cylinder recording. The ECC has appeared on air from CNN to C-SPAN and in print from Spin to US News & World Report. The Evolution Control Committee and other bands The ECC and TradeMark's other bands have given nearly 1,000 live performances at festivals, concert halls, bars, and galleries in US cities from New York to San Francisco, and in Australia, Germany, Holland, England, France, and elsewhere.
TradeMark is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in Media Arts, and was an artist-in-residence (2004) and visiting alumni (2005, 2006) at the Headlands Center for the Arts. He has also given lectures and panel discussions at the University of San Francisco, University of Oregon, Headlands Center for the Arts, and festivals in Barcelona Spain, Utrekt Holland, and Sydney Australia.
In addition to The Evolution Control Committee, TradeMark also formed these performing groups:
- Gaga (primitive percussion-heavy tribal music)
- The Weird Love Makers (Electronica / Exotica / Erotica)
- Cheese & Pants Theater (absurdist found-sound dramatizations)
- MelloDeath (piano lounge covers of punk and hard rock)
- The Mood Swingers
Additionally, TradeMark has also been involved with many other organizations and efforts including:
- BMIR, official radio station of the Burning Man festival (station manager)
- Mad Lab, an alternative theater and performance space (musical curator)
- Burning Corn, an annual fringe culture festival (founder)
- Radio-Free 91.5 FM, an unlicensed radio station (co-founder, DJ)
- Cafe Ashtray, a weekly performance art venue which existed for two years at the Acme Art Company (curator/manager)
- ele_mental, a central-Ohio electronic music collective
- Active Radio, a student-based alternative radio group (president)
- Lyceum 23, an artists collective (organizer)
