Mark Sultan

Mark Sultan
Sultan, billed as 'BBQ performing in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Mark Antonio Pepe
Born	(1973-11-14) November 14, 1973 (age 43) Montreal, Quebec Canada
Genres	Garage rock, garage punk, rock and roll
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, drums, percussion
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Last Gang, Sub Pop, Sultan, Sympathy For The Record Industry, Goner, Bomp!, In The Red Records
Associated acts	The Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, The King Khan & BBQ Show
Website	www.marksultan.com

Mark Sultan (born Mark Antonio Pepe) is a Canadian musician and entrepreneur from Montreal, Quebec. He was a member of a number of Canadian garage bands including the Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, and Mind Controls. He has also spent time performing as a one-man band under the pseudonym BBQ, a moniker which has followed him beyond his solo career to his collaboration with former Spaceshits bandmate Blacksnake in the two-man band, The King Khan & BBQ Show. Mark Sultan usually performs using a number of aliases including Needles, Krebs, Von Needles, Skutch, Creepy, Bridge Mixture, Kib Husk, Noammnn Rummnyunn, Blortz, Celeb Prenup, and BBQ. In 2007 he released his first album as Mark Sultan entitled Sultanic Verses. In 2010, Sultan released $ as Mark Sultan and The Ding Dongs, the debut self-titled LP by Sultan and Bloodshot Bill.

Sultan was born in Montreal, Quebec. He was very interested in psychology as an adolescent, but in high school he grew anti-authoritarian and wasn't pleased with the fact he'd have to accept certain things in psychology. He got involved in playing punk at that time and ultimately stuck with music as what he wanted to do. At a very young age, he was able to recall lyrics with extreme precision and accuracy.

Sultan began his musical career playing drums in a band called Powersquat, a suburban group which combined a number of diverse influences into their notably violent live shows. After Powersquat, Sultan went on to join the Spaceshits, another Montreal-based band whose members approached Sultan in order to procure a lead singer. Sultan volunteered himself for the position and the band began writing songs together. At the time of Sultan's arrival the Spaceshits were composed of Oily Chi on rhythm guitar, Stinky B. on bass, and Skid Marks on drums, though within a few months Stinky B. was replaced on bass by Blacksnake, a Canadian of Indian descent. Tongues served as its lead guitarist until early 1998, when he left and was replaced by Alex Fascination, who left the band in 1999 after its European tour.