WE ARE

About Mark Urgent

Often, I’m asked where our band’s name Mark Urgent came from. True story, one day I was on the phone talking with someone when the operator interrupted the call, telling me someone was trying to reach me because there was an emergency. I hung up, worried about what I was about to learn.

The phone rang, and it was producer Kim Fowley (he produced or wrote songs for The Runaways, Alice Cooper, KISS and dozens of others). He said, “I just listened to a song of yours, I love it. Send me all of your songs in an envelope, and mark “urgent” on it right away!” Excited, I immediately packaged up our tapes and sent them off. It then occurred to me that Mark Urgent was a cool name. It sounded like a secret agent. Soon the band agreed, and we adopted the name.

By the way, as happened often, Kim Fowley never followed up or returned our calls again! But at least we had a great name.

-Barry LaBov

Discography

Today. Many of the members remain in touch. Some teach music and perform locally as well. For me, I have never seen a more talented group of guys. Denny had an amazing voice. Steve Smeltzer was (and is) an advanced drummer, artist and creative. John’s guitar solos are songs within themselves. Dick jumped in and added rhythm guitar, vocals and arrangement ideas. The late Steve Lethwaite, in addition to being a strong bassist and vocalist, was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known. It was a privilege to be around such hard-working, honest people.