Mark Cawthra
| Mark Cawthra | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 April 1961 Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Instrumentalist Composer Record producer Recording/sound engineer Mastering engineer |
| Instruments | Drums Guitar Keyboards Bass Guitar Vocals |
| Years active | 1976-present |
Mark Cawthra (born 28 April 1961) is an English musician and record producer working in the UK. He was born in Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire, England.
Cawthra's first serious musical activity was in an early (unnamed) music project with schoolfriend Tim Smith (bass guitar) and David Philpot (keyboards), a band in which he was the drummer. The music, a mix of jazz and rock, drew inspiration from the "Canterbury" bands, particularly Egg.
After a period of playing drums with other musicians around Kingston upon Thames, he moved to North Yorkshire and lived there for the whole of 1978. He returned to London in 1979, following an invitation to join Tim and Jim Smith in Cardiac Arrest (replacing Peter Tagg on drums). Other members of the band at this time were Colvin Mayers (keyboards), (later to play with Adrian Borland in The Sound), and Mick Pugh (vocals). The Cardiac Arrest album The Obvious Identity was recorded at this time. Subsequently, Cawthra and Tim Smith recorded the band - now renamed Cardiacs - for a number of sessions in a small Surbiton studio. The results became the first Cardiacs album, Toy World.
Following a short period in 1982 in which he was Cardiacs' keyboard player and percussionist, he left the band, moved to Birmingham and briefly worked with two of the remaining members of the Birmingham band Dangerous Girls, following their split. The line-up, calling itself TAAGA, produced one single, "Friend of Mine", produced by UB40 producer Bob Lamb.
On returning to London, He worked for the remainder of the 1980s as crew member or live sound engineer, touring with several acts including Immaculate Fools, It's Immaterial, and Then Jerico. He was also Cardiacs front-of-house engineer at this time, and a member of the band Grown Ups with William D. Drake (Cardiacs), Elaine Herman, Jon Bastable (The Trudy), Dominic Luckman (Cardiacs) and Craig Fortnam. Five tracks were recorded by this line-up but never released.
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