Mark Ryan isn’t really sure why you are reading this. Sure, Ryan has been a part of two beloved garage punk groups – first in The Reds and then later with The Marked Men, but his latest endeavor – Mind Spiders – started off with modest intentions. Ryan intended for the project to remain studio-bound, where he could explore and tackle genres he may not have dared to before with his previous groups.

But people do care and after hearing the self-titled debut from the band, it’s not really hard to see why. It just might be the best damn thing the man has done in his long and celebrated music career. Diverse is just one way to describe the album – which one moment goes from the spazzy power pop similar to The Marked Men to T. Rex-inspired rockers to even Spaceman 3-esque shoegaziness. And the best thing is that it all works flawlessly. Sprawling, fun, and one of the best things I’ve heard in 2011 so far.

I had a chance to talk with Mark over the phone recently, just a few days after the band played at SXSW 2011.

Were you thinking about doing The Mind Spiders record for a while?
While the Marked Men were going, I had been screwing around with side projects. I did this other thing briefly called The Crying Jags. There was at least one song I had with that band that I used with this [Mind Spiders] record. I knew it didn’t fit with The Marked Men.

Did you see it as a solo record?
The Mind Spiders started out as just a recording project. I didn’t really intend for it to be a band. After the first 7-inch came out, I had written a bunch of other songs. I know lot of people that play in other bands so I got them to record with me. That’s pretty much the extent of it and then all of the sudden we’re playing a bunch of shows.

With you playing more shows, the band has developed a consistent lineup. If you were to record another record, would you’d record with a full band again?
I’m going to try to record here in the next couple of months. I think the record will sound more like a band than a recording project. It’s gotten kind of ridiculous because there are six members. Two drummers, two guitar players including me [but] I’ve been playing synthesizer recently. It’s just hard because every member of the band has other projects going on. This isn’t going to be a full-time band. I’ve gotten the opportunity to play more. We did SXSW and we’re going to do the Mess-Around in Atlanta and Chaos in Tejas in May. I’m hoping to do more stuff.

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Some are saying (or at least assuming) that The Marked Men‘s new record Ghosts will be the band’s swansong. While things aren’t completely dead and buried, guitarist/vocalist Jeff Burke is moving to Japan. Hence, the band is being put on ice for the time being. Place this very sad situation on top of the fact that the band are following up 2006′s Fix My Brain, one of the most perfect pop punk records EVER made, and needless to say expectations were high in my book.

Ghosts is a tricky album of sorts. The songs trick you by being too fast. They blaze by you left and right that you don’t know what hit you. A few serious listens later, however, I was able to fully hear each carefully constructed note and all the vocal harmonies. The Marked Men are not a one trick pony, that’s for sure. Oh, and for the record, it’s fucking awesome. 

Read more after the jump.

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All pictures by Jason Bergman

Even though The New Lexicon doesn’t hit the streets for another month, Paint It Black brought the party to the City of Brotherly Love to celebrate their third full-length and, of course, Philly’s independent culture. The guys made sure to keep the weekend action-packed with plenty of great bands and Saturday’s matinee was no exception.

Read after the jump for the show review and more photos!

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Here is the final installment of our Fest VI wrap up. Here we go, here we go, here we go!

It’s been said that Sunday is the hardest day to play during the Fest weekend. Everyone, for the most part, is hungover and/or tired and it definitely starts to show on that final day. Exhaustion aside, I think it’s pretty safe to say that everyone was ready to go out with a bang.

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To the unexpecting eye, Gainesville could no way host the insanity-filled weekend that is the Fest. But really if you are traveling to Gainesville, it’s got to be for two things predominately; college football or to experience this annual, ever-growing marathon of bands, beer, and beards.

This was my second year attending the Fest and the expectations were even larger just because of the sheer volume of amazing bands playing in this sixth year. The tradition has become something much more important to me. It’s something that, come July or August, I’m usually talking about at least two to seven times a day. But this year, I was on a mission. Last year, I missed so many amazing bands that I got into after the whole shabang was over so I promised myself I would see as many bands as my body and mind allowed.

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