The Mark of Cain

The Mark of Cain (also seen as the initialism TMOC) are an alternative metal band from Adelaide, South Australia. Their influences include Sonic Youth, and Henry Rollins financed and produced their 1995 breakthrough album, Ill at Ease. They released their first album, Battlesick, in 1989, following up with The Unclaimed Prize in 1991. Since Ill at Ease. A compilation album, Rock and Roll was released in 1996 and The Complete Recordings 88–98 in 1998. These were followed by This Is This... in 2001 and Songs of the Third and Fifth in 2012. They have since undertaken several tours of Australia and played at several festivals. The Mark of Cain were formed in mid-1984 by siblings Josie (guitar) and Kim Scott (bass guitar), with Rod Archer on vocals and Gavin Atchison playing drums. In 1985, Archer left the group. Josie Scott took on the lead vocal role and the group has remained a trio ever since. The Scotts have been the core of the band, which has featured ten different drummers over the years, including former Helmet member, American drummer John Stanier between 2001 and 2013. Eli Green stood in for Stanier from 2013 and is playing with them as of 2026[update]. They continue to write songs and rehearse together, with plans to release more songs. The Mark of Cain were formed as a punk rock group in Adelaide in mid-1984 by Rod Archer on lead vocals; Gavin Atchison on drums (ex-Spiral Collapse); Josie Scott on guitar (ex-Spiral Collapse), and her younger brother Kim Scott on bass guitar. Their name references the Hermann Hesse novel Demian (1919), which in turn recalls the Genesis story regarding the mark of Cain. Josie had read Demian, which featured "a loner who thought his dark feelings were there for anyone to see as he walked down the street – the Mark of Cain." Atchison and Josie's earlier group, Spiral Collapse, broke up as Josie was concentrating on her university course; she also wanted a "new, harder sound" and disliked that band's lead singer. Josie helped Kim develop his bass guitar skill and met Archer at one of Spiral Collapse's last gigs. By the end of 1985, Archer had left and Josie Scott added lead vocals to her guitar work. The band replaced Atchison with a succession of drummers: David Graham, Roger Crisp, John Rickert, Neil Guive and then Campbell Robinson by late 1988. During 1987 they supported an Adelaide gig by United States group Big Black during their Australian tour. The band's first release was a single, "The Lords of Summer", issued on Sydney label Phantom Records in September 1988. It was co-produced by the group with Anthony Bannister and was recorded at Adelaide's Soundtrack Australia studios in January of that year. They covered two tracks by former Phantom groups, "Journey by Sledge" (the Visitors) and "Seein' Double" (Shy Impostors) for a gig give-away album, Assorted Desecrations and Magnificent Mutations (by various artists), in October, to celebrate the label's tenth anniversary. Phantom's owners "had heard something different in the group than what they wanted to deliver, and their progress was periodically interrupted as they kept changing drummers." The band signed with Adelaide label Dominator Records, which issued their debut album, Battlesick, in August 1989. It was co-produced by Stuart Sheldon and the group, and was recorded at Artec Studios in Adelaide in February and March of that year. Ox Fanzine's Joachim Hiller opined that it "combined gloomy early eighties sounds with brachial, bass-heavy Noiserock." Their second album, The Unclaimed Prize, was released in March 1991. It was recorded at Artec Sound Vision Productions during January to May 1990. McFarlane felt the album "offered up more sonic blasts of rough-hewn guitar riffs and booming drums." The Scott siblings each took sabbaticals from the band during 1990 (Josie) and 1991 (Kim) to undertake a "work-related project", including travelling to Chicago. The group reconvened in mid-1992. Steve Albini (of Big Black) produced their next release, a six-track extended play, Incoming, which was released in June 1993. Albini had met the Scott siblings in 1987 when The Mark of Cain supported his group's tour. The EP was the recording debut for Robinson's replacement, Aaron Hewson (ex-Order of Decay, Grunter), who had joined on drums after the release of The Unclaimed Prize. The tracks were recorded at Artec Studios and Soundtrack and Chicago Recording Studios, from 1988 to 1991. Early in 1994, the group performed on the Big Day Out tour and in February released a non-album single, "Tell Me", on the Insipid Vinyl label. The Dominator label released their next EP, The Killer Within, in July 1995. The group had supported a run of international visiting groups: Rollins Band, Fugazi, Helmet, Albini's Shellac, Butthole Surfers, Killdozer, All, Pavement and Primus. In 1995, Dominator issued Battlesick and The Unclaimed Prize as a 2× CD set. Battlesick was also released in the US by Henry Rollins. Albini's involvement with The Mark of Cain led to Henry Rollins (of Rollins Band) financing and producing the band's 1995 breakthrough album, Ill at Ease. It was recorded at Nesci Studios, Adelaide, in July–August of that year and released in November. Ill at Ease became the band's first release to chart in the ARIA Top 100, peaking at number 73. It gained wide radio support for the group with the national youth broadcaster, Triple J, providing the singles "First Time" and "LMA" with substantial airplay. Tharunka's reviewer opined that "LMA" is "One of the weaker songs on an album that's as heavy and intense as a death in the family. Verging very close to a ballad, 'LMA' displays all the trademark MOC stop/start syncopation at a much reduced tempo, showing that beneath the hard and tough engineering bloke exteriors they have sentimental sides." A national tour followed, after which Hewson left and Campbell Robinson returned.[citation needed] In December 1996, The Mark of Cain released Rock and Roll, a compilation album of remixes of the group's early material. McFarlane described the work as comprising "off-kilter remixes" of "band favourites." The group contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the Australian feature film Idiot Box (1996): "Hindsight" and a cover version of "Degenerate Boy" (originally by early Australian punk band X). The latter track was issued as a single and was voted at No. 78 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1997. Robinson was replaced by Stuart Baguley on drums in late 1998. Baguley was replaced in turn by John Stanier (ex-Helmet, also member of Tomahawk and Battles) in early 2000. He provided the drumming on The Mark of Cain's next album, This Is This, which was co-produced by Andy Gill of Gang of Four, one of The Mark of Cain's early influences, and Phil McKellar (Grinspoon, Regurgitator, The Cruel Sea). It was released by BMG in mid-2001, with the announcement that Stanier was the band's permanent drummer.[citation needed] Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll declared it his Album of the Week for 30 June 2001, explaining "With each album they reach deeper into that well of human darkness, trying to finish what they started... [this] album finds the Scott [siblings] linking arms with [Stanier]... The thoughts of the outsider, which have fascinated literature forever and are at the core of rock and roll. When we lose that, rock and roll will be just entertainment." Jasper Lee of Oz Music Project opined that "[it] sees a more refined anger that is shown in particular by the drumming prowess of new drummer [Stanier], which adds to the intense vocals of [Josie] Scott... the sound on this album is clear and crisp, bringing down the line all the bile and angry bits to be expected of the band with many a reeling, robust audio left hook that blasts the listener through the speakers." This is This peaked at number 26 on the ARIA charts.[citation needed] The Mark of Cain started recording a new album, Songs of the Third and Fifth, with engineer Evan