Folks here on the East Coast were saddened to hear of the passing last week of Mark Smith, lead singer of Bethlehem P.A's best garage band The Creatures of the Golden Dawn. Mark was very much a character of rock n' roll mythology here on the East Coast from his antics both onstage and off. Regardless of any issues some folks may have had with him at times when he was dealing with his demons (myself included) one cannot deny that he was a one man crusade for garage music, soldiering on through numerous line up changes for the past 27 years with the band he founded and fronted "The Creatures" (as they were known to us locals). To me Mark will always be remembered for the distinct vocal style he had that at times involved throwing an extended "a" syllable on the end of words whilst singing, for instance "we" became "we-ah". This is no better exemplified by their brilliant "Clown With A Broken Crown" that was cut for their 45/EP with the Dionysus label in 1991. Below is a live clip of the track (ignore the title on the video the person posting it screwed it up).
To all of Mark's family, friends, fans and band mates post past and present we here at Anorak Thing offer our sincerest condolences. R.I.P.
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Michael Vallone, the late Mike Smitreski, Mark Smith and unknown mod
Bethlehem, PA May 1994 photo courtesy of EastCoastModSceneArchive. |
