Adam Marsland is an American

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, producer, and

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where a ...

. He is best known as the leader of 1990s power

pop band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

Cockeyed Ghost and later for extensive touring and sideman work. He was born in

Greene, New York Greene is a town in Chenango County, New York, United States. The population was 5,604 at the 2010 census. The town is named after General Nathanael Greene. It is located in the southwestern corner of the county and contains a village, also na ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Music career

Cockeyed Ghost (1994-2001)

Marsland relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and formed punk-flavored powerpop band Cockeyed Ghost in 1994. Along with bands such as The Negro Problem, Baby Lemonade and Wondermints, Marsland and Cockeyed Ghost were part of the popular mid-1990s "pop underground" in

and signed to

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record la ...

-distributed indie label Big Deal in 1996. The band's debut album ''Keep Yourself Amused'' followed shortly thereafter and was acclaimed by The New York Press as "finest debut album of the rapidly aging year.". The band was noted for its high energy and work ethic, performing at the SXSW festival and touring with labelmates

Shonen Knife Shonen Knife is a Japanese pop-punk band formed in Osaka in 1981. Influenced by 1960s girl groups, pop bands, the Beach Boys, and early punk rock bands such as the Ramones, the band crafts stripped-down songs with simple yet unconventional lyr ...

, as well as opening for

Fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have t ...

Redd Kross Redd Kross is an American rock band from Hawthorne, California, who had their roots in 1978 in a punk rock band called the Tourists, which was started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald while Steve was still in middle school. With the additi ...

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...

and others. The band was also featured on the cover of the ''L.A. Weekly'' in November 1997, and appeared briefly in the television movie ''

Friends 'Til The End ''Friends 'Til the End'' is a 1997 television film directed by Jack Bender. It was originally broadcast January 20, 1997, on NBC. Plot Heather Romley (Shannen Doherty) and Suzanne Boxer (Jennifer Blanc) are both singers who have been competing a ...

'' that same year. Cockeyed Ghost made two further albums for Big Deal, ''Neverest'' and the critically acclaimed ''The Scapegoat Factory'', the release of which coincided with Big Deal's bankruptcy in early 1999. Cockeyed Ghost released their final album, ''Ludlow 6:18'', in 2001 on Marsland's own Karma Frog label.

First solo releases (2001-2004)

Marsland embarked on a series of coast-to-coast solo tours, performing hundreds of shows a year and establishing a reputation as a DIY workhorse. He released his debut solo album, the live CD ''232 Days On The Road'', in 2002. The album was produced by

Robbie Rist Robbie Rist (born April 4, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for playing Cousin Oliver in '' The Brady Bunch'', Martin in '' Grady'' and "Little John" in ''Big John, Little John''. Rist is also known for voicing assorted characters in ...

, who also participated in sessions for ''The Scapegoat Factory''.

Chaos Band (2004-2008)

Marsland's album ''You Don't Know Me'' was released in 2004 and featured the first appearance of his "Chaos Band," inaugurating a long-running collaboration with soulstress

Evie Sands Evie Sands (born July 18, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Sands' music career spans more than 50 years. She began her career as a teenager in the mid-1960s. After a rocky start, she eventually found chart success in 1969, be ...

. Ex-Cockeyed Ghost guitarist Severo Jornacion also performed with the band until joining the Smithereens in 2006. With the Chaos Band and

Alan Boyd Alan Boyd is an American musician, sound engineer, record producer, and filmmaker who is best known for his work with the Beach Boys. Since the 1980s, he has been an archive manager for the band's Brother Records. Since 2000, he has worked along ...

, Marsland released ''Long Promised Road: Songs of Dennis and Carl Wilson Live'' in 2007, recorded by Grammy-winning Beach Boys engineer

Mark Linett Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...

. A highlight of the album was the only then-currently available version of Dennis Wilson’s 1971 unreleased composition, "(Wouldn’t It Be Nice To) Live Again," featuring Sands on lead vocals.

Second solo releases (2008-2017)

Marsland returned to his original music with the compilation album ''Daylight Kissing Night'' in 2008. Marsland followed in 2009 with a 23-track double album, ''Go West'', and six months later with ''Hello Cleveland'', which was recorded on the road in less than 9 hours. Both ''Daylight Kissing Night'' and ''Go West'' briefly charted on amazon.com's top 40 best seller list on the strength of a grass-roots push to fans. After a three-year hiatus, he released ''The Owl And The Full Moon'' in spring 2013, which was promoted by tours in the US and, for the first time, Europe. Four years later, he released the southeast Asian-influenced ''Bulé'', partly recorded in Bali.

Other notable achievements

Aside from his songwriting, Marsland has an extensive resume as a sideman in various capacities including guitar, keyboards, and vocals. His more notable credits include working with 2008 Tony Award Winner Stew/The Negro Problem, members of the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

, and The Wrecking Crew,

Davie Allan Davie Allan is an American guitarist best known for his work on soundtracks to various teen and biker movies in the 1960s. Allan's backing band is almost always the Arrows (i.e., Davie Allan & the Arrows), although the Arrows have never had a st ...

, Wondermints, Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Philips, and many others. He performed on

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are r ...

vocalist

Pete Ham Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as a lead vocalist of and composer for the 1970s rock band Badfinger, whose hit songs include " No Matter What", " Day After Day" and " ...

's posthumous ''

7 Park Avenue ''7 Park Avenue'' is the first of four posthumous CD releases of demo material recorded by Badfinger's Pete Ham. The recordings are taken from various eras, beginning with compositions he wrote during his years with The Iveys from 1967 to 1969 ...

'' album and was a member of a latter-day incarnation of the Standells, as vocalist/guitarist prior to leaving the band in 2011. That same year he also participated in comeback shows by SST art-punk band

Trotsky Icepick Trotsky Icepick is an American indie rock band, their name referring to Leon Trotsky and his assassination. From 1983 through 1994 the band released six albums, all on SST Records. Trotsky Icepick continues to release records into the 2020s on Poi ...

and longtime collaborator Evie Sands. His numerous production credits include Beach Boy

David Marks David Lee Marks (born August 22, 1948) is an American guitarist who is best known for being an early member of the Beach Boys. While growing up in Hawthorne, California, Marks was a neighborhood friend of the original band members and was a freq ...

' 2016 album ''Back In The Garage.'' He also operate
Karma Frog Studio

Discography

References

External links

Adam Marsland's Chaos page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsland, Adam Living people People from Greene, New York Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Year of birth missing (living people)