Mark Bonasera - Musician/Composer/Producer
Mark Bonasera, who works under the moniker Electric Mustard, has written music for string quartet, choir, organ and rock groups. His music studies started at age 9 with the Saxophone. The Sax lessons did not last long and soon he was studying the drums. His early influences included drummers Neil Peart and Bill Bruford. In 9th grade he started his first band called Obsession. By the 11th grade his band was playing the local club scene. Upon entering college, he chose to pursue a major in Music Education. He was broadening his musical spectrum with piano lessons. He started exploring orchestral music and would listen to the works of Debussy, Bartok and Steve Reich. Mark was also fully immersed in Jazz and Jazz Fusion, listening to Jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. It was also around this time that he discovered Chick Corea. Chick’s music has since been a major inspiration throughout Mark's music career.
After College Mark played in a couple of semi-pro bands in the Chicago area while teaching percussion. Years of playing clubs ensued until 2000. Mark decided that it was time to do his own type of musical creations. Using a 4-track recorder he started laying down demo songs with guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. As technology improved and recording equipment became less expensive, Mark started putting his own studio together and finally in 2005 completed the first Electric Mustard EP. In 2006 he released the first full length Electric Mustard CD - “Synthetic Mind”. Synthetic Mind encompasses many influences from electronicia, ambient, IDM, rock, and orchestral music.
In 2008 Electric Mustard's latest album "Kaleidoscope" was released to favorable reviews. Kaleidoscope took off from where the previous album left, but this time Mark used small group of different musicians to complete his vision.
Mark continues to write and produce Electric Mustard music. He has opened his studio to fellow area musicians. As a drummer he is currently playing with a Chicago blues band and does occasional studio work. Mark teaches drums/percussion at Dundee Music in Dundee Illinois. He has been a teacher there since 1986, teaching all styles of music from Jazz and Rock, to Symphonic and Marching band.