Mars Everywhere -

Mars Everywhere was an American avant-rock/electronic band from Washington, DC, that debuted with the track “Attack of the Giant Squid” on the 1977 multi-artist release A Random Sampler on Random Radar Records, which issued the band’s 1980 singular album Industrial Sabotage. Audiofile Tapes archived the founding trio on the 1989 cassette Visitor Parking.

Members: Barney Jones (guitar, organ, clarinet, drums, electronics, voice), Tom Fenwick (synthesizer, keyboards, 1976–79), Greg Yaskovich (bass, synthesizer, trumpet, autoharp, 1978–80), Robin Anderson (drums, keyboards, percussion, 1978–79), Doug Hollobaugh (synthesizer, keyboards, 1979), Carlos Garrazza (synthesizer, keyboards, voice, 1979–80), Ernie Falcone (guitar, electronics)

Background

Mars Everywhere formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976 when high-school friends Barney Jones and Ernie Falcone organized an electronic improvisation project and recruited synthesist Tom Fenwick. Guitarist Steve Feigenbaum organized and produced the 1977 Random Radar compilation A Random Sampler, which included an early version of “Attack of the Giant Squid.”

Greg Yaskovich joined on bass and synthesizer; Robin Anderson completed the rhythm section on drums. The five-piece began regular concerts late in 1978 and appeared at Baltimore Manifest, an eight-hour program at Johns Hopkins University on December 15 that year.

Early in 1979, Fenwick and Anderson left the lineup. Doug Hollobaugh took the vacant synthesizer role while Jones learned drums for the revised quartet. Carlos Garrazza joined on keyboards in August. Coverage in The Washington Post raised the profile of the Garrazza lineup, which closed 1979 with a Washington Ethical Society concert before nearly one thousand listeners. The group then combined new April sessions with earlier concert tapes for a Random Radar LP.

Industrial Sabotage

Mars Everywhere released their singular album, Industrial Sabotage, in June 1980 on Random Radar Records.

Falcone and Jones appear across each track; Yaskovich anchors the expanded-band material. Fenwick and Anderson mark one configuration, while Hollobaugh and Garrazza represent later lineups. Muffins bassoonist Tom Scott joins “Zone of Twilight,” an arrangement of the television theme by Marius Constant. The sessions also mark Anderson’s recording debut.

“The Enchanted Domain” blooms from white-noise bursts into sustained electronic chords, then thickens around glissandi, trumpet phrases, and a rising solo before processed guitar closes final passage. “Steady State Theory” ricochets through electronic reed phrases and terse figures over responsive accompaniment. “Mare Chromium” tumbles from free electronics into a repeated organ figure, then stretches across reed phrases and a sustained, bowed-string-like lead.

“Industrial Sabotage I–II” surges through treated electronics, abrasive glissandi, metallic shimmer, and a dense rising wash before a direct segue. “Zone of Twilight” pivots from a spare acoustic theme into amplified ensemble play, with bassoon beneath opening phrase and electronic solos across later passage. “Zöln” coils around a simple recurring figure after a treated incantation, then loosens into ring-modulated, brittle chords and open ensemble passages. “Attack of the Giant Squid” splinters through transistor-radio fragments and alarm-clock signals; abrupt intrusions divide free ensemble passages.

A1. “The Enchanted Domain” (12:30)
A2. “Steady State Theory” (5:51)
A3. “Mare Chromium” (5:42)

B1. “Industrial Sabotage I” (3:05)
B2. “Industrial Sabotage II” (4:26)
B3. “Zone of Twilight” (10:19)
B4. “Zöln” (3:37)
B5. “Attack of the Giant Squid” (5:22)

Mars Everywhere recorded the longer pieces in April 1980 for the album. “Steady State Theory” originated on a Random Radar demo tape. “Mare Chromium” preserves the December 15, 1978 Baltimore Manifest performance at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Both title sections document a September 30, 1979 concert at American University Auditorium in Washington, D.C. The LP closes with a June 22, 1979 version of “Attack of the Giant Squid” from DC Space in the same city.

Falcone mixed and co-engineered the album with Tom Scott and Dave Newhouse. Colleen Scott also received an engineering credit. Tom Scott and Newhouse came from the Muffins lineup on Manna/Mirage, while Colleen Scott sang on the 1980 Random Radar album Things Are More Like They Are Now Than They Ever Were Before by Steve Feigenbaum and Tom Scott.

Industrial Sabotage appeared in a black sleeve that divides planetary and spacecraft imagery from a lower bank of electronic controls. Red-outlined lettering spans the upper edge, while a white flare joins the science-fiction collage to the console photographs.

Visitor Parking

Audiofile Tapes issued the archival cassette Visitor Parking as a 1989 release.

The cassette preserves the first Mars Everywhere concert from summer 1976, when Falcone and Fenwick performed with Jones as a trio. Fenwick supplies synthesizer and theremin against paired electric guitars and tape treatments.

“Calling Bats” spirals through analog oscillations, glissando trails, lopsided sequencer patterns, and treated noise, then settles on contoured phrases around altered organ tones.

A1. “Calling Bats”
B1. “Calling Bats (Conclusion)”

B2. “Attack of the Giant Squid”
B3. “Calling Cats”

The performance later circulated on Sound of Pig under the same title.

Later Activity

Sound of Pig compiled Live & Unrehearsed 1978–79–80 from four Washington-area recordings. The cassette draws from DC Space and Washington Ethical Society performances. Trinity Theatre and Mars Studio tapes complete the program.

Mars Everywhere disbanded before the close of 1980, ending the original sequence. Jones continued electronic and space-rock work through cassette releases for Audiofile Tapes and Sound of Pig. Robin Anderson later recorded as Robin Adnan Anders with Boiled in Lead. Barney Jones died on July 3, 1996, and Anvil Creations later digitized further solo cassettes from his archive.

Discography: