The first time he heard Ska was at the Sylvania Hotel in 1982 when he saw the Allniters and a new interest kicked in (...insert bad Ska’d for life pun here). Over the next few years he regularly saw other local and interstate bands such as Strange Tenants, Naughty Rhythms, The Leftovers, Off the Shelf etc.   It was seeing this Ska Live and listening to the 2-Tone bands out of the UK has been the longest lasting musical influence.   Going back to the Jamaican roots of this music and taking a side step into Reggae, Punk and Rockabilly has also happened.

Mark moved to the South Coast for about 8 years married Sue and they had two girls, Jacinta and Erin.   These days all four of the "Skanking Heather Clan" make regular appearances at all ages gigs.   Nowra had nothing much to continue his interest in music (or much else for that matter).

During ’98, after coming back to Sydney, Mark learned that Ska was still alive and kicking in Sydney with bands like Dr Raju and The Bedlam Beggars.   He started getting along to a few gigs and found that bands he’d heard on the radio, like "The Mighty Mighty Bostones", were considered 3rd wave Ska and after a while he became a regular at gigs.   One of his biggest interests is seeing new ska bands starting and trying to give them some support.

Thanks to encouragement from Sue, at the start of 2000 Mark bought a Tenor Sax and started getting lessons off Spike Mason.   Ten months and ten lessons later he debuted with as a guest with The Last Hemeroids at the Vic on the Park.   After several more gigs with them the Hemeroids had once again gone from a 4 piece to a 5 piece.

When Mark arrived at the January Punks Picnic he was met by Marvin, who said "We’re in another band".   This day was probably the birth of Riot City which had been conceived some time earlier by King Ruffy (...that’s a horrible image isn’t it).   There is a range of Ska, Reggae, Punk .. stuff that Mark listens to, but you’ll very often find him listening to the local bands he sees each week. He also maintains the Sydney Monkey Business Ska Gig Guide.