Mark Reeder (born 5 January 1958) is a British musician and record producer. He grew up in Manchester, England. At a young age, Reeder became interested in progressive rock and especially early electronic music. In his teens, he worked in a small Virgin Records store in Manchester city centre.Mark Reeder Official Myspace music website.Mark Reeder Myspace music.
Reeder has been living and working in Berlin since 1978. He is the founder and owner of the German electronic dance music labels MFS and Flesh. In 1991, Reeder discovered the teenage Paul van Dyk, guiding and paving his way to build up his now international DJ superstardom.MFS history Mfs-berlin.de Dave Haslam's book Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: The Rise of the Superstar DJs describes how Reeder initiated and successfully outlined van Dyk's early career from 1991 until 1999, and through Reeder's respected status and extensive music industry contacts, van Dyk was able to climb the ladder to success and reach his current superstar status.Dave Haslam Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: The Rise of the Superstar DJs (4th Estate 2002 www.4thestate.com) pp. 11–20
Reeder's career has spanned more than four decades. He has been a participant and behind the scenes influence for many now-famous artists, spread over a wide cross-section of contemporary musical genres.Creating Dance Music. The New York Times. 11 June 2000. Due to his extensive knowledge of the music industry, he has participated and chaired panels at various international music conferences since the late 1980s.
Background Mark Reeder formed the punk band The Frantic Elevators together with Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) and Neil Moss in Manchester, early 1977. In 1978, he decided to leave Britain and move to West Berlin. While living there he became Factory Records' German representative,Electronic Beats on Air with Mark Reeder .Electronic Beats 26 November 2009. promoting the label's bands, Joy Division and A Certain Ratio. Simultaneously he worked as a sound engineer for bands including all-girl avant garde group Malaria! (who he also co-managed) and punk band Die Toten Hosen.
In 1981, Reeder formed the synthpop-rock duo Die Unbekannten,Die Unbekannten official myspace Myspace.com together with Alistair Gray, and then drummer Thomas Wydler (who later played in Die Haut and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) joined, Die Unbekannten became a trio. After Wydler left to play in Die Haut, he still remained as Die Unbekannten guest drummer for the occasional live gig.
They released two very dark and depressive 12" EPs between 1981 and 1982: a debut EP, Die Unbekannten (1981) which consisted of 3 tracks "Radio war", "Casualties", and "Poseidon",Poseidon Last.fm/music Their second EP Dangerous Moonlight (1982) which had 4 tracks, "Don't Tell me Stories", "Perfect Love", "Against the Wall" and "The Game". Dangerous Moonlight was repressed with a different cover design in 1983.
In March 2005, Die Unbekannten released the limited edition vinyl LP Don't Tell Me Stories (on vinyl only)Don't Tell Me Stories Vinyl On Demand Vinyl searcher.com featuring the above 2 EPs and some unreleased material.
A music review concluded thatMusic Review Funprox.com Die Unbekannten is of course an 80's band. They combine the best of new wave, gothic rock and post-punk.
Meanwhile, the 2008 film Smirnoff Wall of Sound described Reeder as one of the godfathers of the early electronic music and gothic rock scene.Mark Reeder The Godfather Electronic Beats 12 October 2009.Nightlife Focus: Berlin, Smirnoff Experience, 18 December 2008.
In 1983, Reeder helped put together the Berlin special of The Tube, a UK Channel 4 TV pop programme, which he co-presented together with Muriel Gray. This show featured music from both sides of the walled city (debuting bands like Die Ärzte and featuring Die Tödliche Doris and Die Haut) and for the first time ever, a young East German band he'd literally discovered on the street, called Jessica, appeared on a UK TV show, fronted by Tino Eisbrenner. It was also the first time that a British TV crew had ever filmed a pop programme both in the GDR (East Berlin) and West Berlin.
In 1984, Die Unbekannten changed their name to Shark Vegas and toured Western Europe with New Order.MFS Official website MFS label. In 1986, Shark Vegas released one of the most sought-after factory 12" singles, "You Hurt Me". (FAC111) which was produced by Bernard Sumner,Cerysmatic Factory CerysmaticFactory.info. an unofficial blog, history & archive about Factory Records, Manchester, England. a founding member of Joy Division, New Order, and later Bad Lieutenant. This single was also released in Germany on the Toten Hosen Totenkopf label (TOT11) with different versions of the song. Both releases of the single were some of the first 12" to be designed by Mark Farrow, who went on to design covers for The Pet Shop Boys.Mark Farrow Farrowdesign.comAudio interview Thersa.org
The only other track, "Pretenders of Love",Factory US . Factory New York Discography.(FAC US 17) was featured on the only US factory compilation.
Reeder had contacts in the East Berlin underground new wave music scene and travelled a lot to East Berlin for concerts. He eventually helped to bring Die Toten Hosen over to East Berlin for their two secret gigs in 1982 and 1988, the 1982 gig being the first concert by a western punk band in East Berlin, disguised as a religious service. In the summer of 1989, he was officially asked if he would produce the album Torture, for up-and-coming East German indie band Die Vision for the East German state-owned record label AMIGA in East Berlin. This was probably the first east–west joint venture. Reeder is recognised as the only Englishman ever to have had the privilege to make a record in the East, because literally days after finishing recording the album, the notorious Berlin Wall fell.Mark Reeder Official Myspace.myspace.com.
Due to this album production, Reeder had made useful contacts at AMIGA, the former East German state-owned record label, now renamed ZONG.Is Trance Dead?.listology.com 2 April 2008. He managed to convince them to allow him to set up a new electronic dance label office in the Abhör Raum 101, situated in the building directly behind the Reichstag.
MFS – Masterminded for Success
In December 1990, Reeder founded his own electronic dance music record label, Masterminded For Success, later known as MFS. The name MFS was taken from the initials of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in East Germany.
Reeder had a gift for uncovering the hidden talents of many early techno and trance artists. He once stated in an interview together with DJ Paul van Dyk,
MFS was founded to offer opportunity to talented people.Paul van Dyk interview obsession.org.uk/dj/paulvandyk.htm
As an artist himself, Reeder was the creative driving force behind his labels, which provided a great platform for many young and then-unknown artists. He ran both his labels with an unconventional approach and a passion rarely seen in the music industry. Reeder was deeply devoted to all his artists and was involved in almost every aspect of their musical productions, from their concept, recording and mastering, to PR texts, as well as their artistic cover design ideas.
In 1993, a trance music documentary, Berliner Trance, was born, presented by Mark Reeder and directed by Ben Hardyment. This documentary is combined with interviews such as Dr Motte, Paul van Dyk, Laurent Garnier, Paul Browse, Mijk van Dijk and MFS label supremo Mark Reeder. This now-legendary exploration into the underworld of what was the most significant force in driving dance music forward in the 20th century. It contains rare early footage of the 1991 and 1993 Love Parade, and of the now bulldozed Mutoid Waste Company land, E-Werk and Tresor – Berlin's legendary clubs that started it all in the former East Berlin.Berliner Trance video.google.co.uk
Reeder reactivated MFS in 2018, specifically to release the album Fragment by Chinese band STOLEN.introducing STOLEN"electricity.co.uk" 12 October 2018
Current music works In the meantime, Reeder has returned to his own music production. He worked with German filmmaker Joerg Buttgereit on many of his film and theatre projects. In 1991, Reeder starred in the Buttgereit splatter film Nekromantik 2 and his sound is reminiscent of the 80s electronic rock-disco sound with a modern flair.
Reeder has since remixed tracks and worked with many well-known artists like the Pet Shop Boys & Sam Taylor-Wood "I'm in Love With a German Film Star" 2009 (Mark Reeder's Rundfunk remix), (Mark Reeder's Rias Radio Remix) and (Mark Reeder's Stuck in the 80s remix),Pet Shop Boys Official website .Pet Shop Boys.co.uk/news 20 September 2008. Bad Lieutenant "Sink or Swim" 2010 (Reeder's Rettungsring Remix) and (Reeder's Waterwing Remix),Sink or Swim .Bad Lieutenant Official website. Anne Clark "The Hardest Heart" (Heart and soul mix feat. Anne Clark),The Hardest Heart feat. Anne Clark.Amazon.com MP3 Downloads 18 September 2009. John Foxx "Underpass" 2010 (Reeder Sinister Subway Mix),John Foxx Official myspace. John Foxx Official Myspace.com. (Mark Reeder's dark long sinister remix),John Foxx "Underpass" Mark Reeder's Dark Long Sinister remix.Synthopia.com 23 March 2010. (Mark Reeder Sinister Subway Radio remix). and other less known ones such as Noblesse Oblige, Spartak and Parralox.
Reordered In September 2009, he released a collaboration album of reworks of tracks by Blank & Jones titled ReorderedOffizielle Blank & Jones websiteblank and jones.com for which he rewrote and replayed all the tracks.
According to ReederSoundcolours – Reordered Soundcolours.com Reordered could probably best be described as a re-works album as I've taken each track and basically rewritten and reworked the music and added my own sound imprint. It was decided to make it in a style reminiscent of the 80's and I produced it in exactly the same way as I had made music back then; using very few instruments, real synths and guitars. I wanted Reordered to have a different sound to anything Blank & Jones had done before and to touch territory they wouldn't normally visit.
This album features vocals by artists as Robert Smith of The Cure, Steve Kilbey of The Church, Bernard Sumner of Joy Division, New Order, and Bad Lieutenant, Claudia Bruecken of Propaganda and Anne Clark.
Five Point One In December 2011, Reeder released his second studio album Five Point One, a selection of his recent remixes.
All the tracks on this three-disc deluxe album have been re-remixed by Reeder in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
Notably, the album also includes his previously unreleased remix for Depeche Mode's "Sweetest Perfection" (Reeder's Sweetest Conception Remix) which is exclusive to this album, as are his two remixes for Anne Clark's "Full Moon" (Reeder's Stairway to the Stars Remix) and "If..." (Reeder's Seemingly Forever Remix). The album also features two further remixes for Bad Lieutenant's "Twist of Fate" and remixes for top German rockers Die Toten Hosen, teutonic trancers Blank & Jones and New York electro-jazzer Vanessa Daou, as well as the aforementioned Pet Shop Boys and John Foxx remixes. It also features a collection of videos and photos, such as a rare Depeche Mode photograph by Anton Corbijn.
Collaborator In April 2014 Reeder released his third studio album Collaborator through Factory Benelux. As well as remixes of tracks by Bad Lieutenant, Pet Shop Boys & Sam Taylor-Wood, Westbam, Marnie, Blank & Jones, Marsheaux and Koishii & Hush, the collection also included material by Reeder's own groups Shark Vegas and Die Unbekannten. Six of the thirteen tracks feature vocals by Bernard Sumner.
Music workshop, lecture & seminar sessions