Mark Thwaite
Mark Gemini Thwaite, also known as MGT, is an English musician who has been the guitarist for a number of rock bands and artists, including The Mission, trip hop pioneer Tricky, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, New Disease, Spear of Destiny & Theatre of Hate, Mob Research, and Canadian band National Velvet plus various live and recorded appearances with Gary Numan, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Roger Daltrey of the Who, P.J. Harvey, Alanis Morissette, Raymond Watts and PIG, Primitive Race, Ricky Warwick of Thin Lizzy, Ginger of The Wildhearts, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics, Franz Treichler of The Young Gods, Miles Hunt & The Wonder Stuff, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, American rapper DMX, Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst and Porl Thompson of The Cure and Ville Valo of Finnish band HIM.
Early years
Thwaite was born in Marston Green, Birmingham, and moved to Lichfield in Staffordshire in the early 1970s, attending Christ Church Primary School and then Lichfield Friary Grange comprehensive school from 1977. He formed his first school band with fellow school-mate Steve Ellett, aka Steve Danger from British metal band Wolfsbane. Thwaite later formed Lichfield-based rock band Monteagle with local musicians including Martin Wilkins and Dave Pearson, later known as Computerchemist. Thwaite spent part of 1985 living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, joining Gothic rock band National Velvet, before returning to the UK in 1986. After forming a few bands in the Birmingham area, including The First, he relocated to London in 1989.In 1989, Thwaite joined London-based Gothic group The Children, and performed on the 12" single "Never Get Out Alive", released in 1990. During this time Thwaite was introduced to Kirk Brandon, founder member and vocalist for Spear of Destiny and Theatre of Hate. This began a three-year collaboration between Thwaite and Brandon.
Thwaite performed live with Spear of Destiny in 1990, and replaced original Theatre of Hate guitarist Billy Duffy on the 10th anniversary Theatre of Hate UK tour in 1991. A TOH live album 'Live at the Astoria '91' including Thwaite on guitar was subsequently released by Easterstone records. Thwaite continued as a member of Spear of Destiny, contributing guitars and some bass guitar to their 1992 album Sod's Law and the subsequent tour that same year.
Career
The Mission, 1992–1996
In 1992, Thwaite joined UK Gothic rock band The Mission. During this period, Thwaite also collaborated with Roger Daltrey of The Who on a BBC radio play titled A Fake's Progress, based on the life of Twiggy's manager Justin de Villeneuve. Thwaite also contributed guitars to a remix for Situation 2 release Salvation by UK band Terminal Power Company.Thwaite featured on two studio albums with The Mission during this period, Neverland and Blue, and singles compilation album Sum and Substance before they disbanded in 1996; he would later rejoin the reformed band in 1999 and record on three more studio albums and several live albums and DVDs with the band. He toured with the band throughout this period, which included two broadcasts on German television. Thwaite also performed live with UK band Mice at the UK Phoenix Festival and London's Highbury Garage in 1997, with a lineup featuring All About Eve singer Julianne Regan and AAE/Mission bassist Andy Cousin.
Tricky
In 1998, Thwaite was invited to join Tricky's live band for his upcoming world tour to promote studio album Angels with Dirty Faces. Thwaite continued to work with Tricky, touring with the live band worldwide and contributing to three studio albums and an EP – Mission Accomplished EP, Blowback, Vulnerable and Knowle West Boy and performing with Tricky and P.J. Harvey on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He also performed with Tricky on UK show Later With Jools Holland. He also performed guitar on Tricky's remix of MethodMan's "Judgement Day" single.The Mission, 1999 and onwards
re-formed once again in 1999, with Thwaite rejoining the band to tour the US and Europe. Following the success of the tour, the band continued, undertaking a world tour in 2000 and releasing a live CD entitled Ever After. Thwaite remained with the band to record their next studio album, Aura.During the same period, Thwaite also recorded guitars for Tricky's Mission Accomplished EP – his first for Epitaph records, released in 2000, followed by Blowback, an album which included collaborations between Thwaite and Alanis Morissette, Flea, Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante.
Owing to touring commitments with Tricky, Thwaite was unable to play on The Mission's next tour, and officially left the band in September 2001. He toured the United States with Tricky, as special guests of rock band Tool in 2001. While continuing to work with Tricky, Thwaite also collaborated with Gary Numan on heavy industrial metal reworkings of Are 'Friends' Electric? and This Wreckage for Numan's RIP single and Hybrid album.
New Disease
In 2002 Thwaite formed UK-based rock band New Disease. releasing the Axiomatic EP in 2003, co-produced by John Fryer. In 2004 the band signed to Universal records and released the single Like Rain produced by Canadian producer David Bottrill, the band were later dropped by Universal during a restructure, with the band's debut album unreleased, and Thwaite relocated to the US in 2005. The band would release the posthumous album Patent Life 10 years later in 2014.Peter Murphy
Thwaite toured the United States and Europe in summer 2005 with Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy to promote Murphy's album Unshattered. During this period, Wayne Hussey invited Thwaite to rejoin The Mission for shows in South Africa in July 2005; Thwaite agreed, and played shows in South Africa followed by an extensive Europe-wide tour later that year.In 2006 Thwaite joined New York-based singer songwriter Sarah Fimm for a concert supporting British goth pioneers Bauhaus in Buffalo, New York, which was followed by a week of recording sessions in Woodstock, NY featuring session drummer Josh Freese, best known for his work with Nine Inch Nails and Devo plus Tony Levin on bass, known for his work with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. Peter Murphy also makes a guest appearance on vocals.
MGT would continue to perform with Murphy's band until 2015, recording on his Ninth album and The Secret Bees of Ninth EP, as well as the Mr. Moonlight Tour: 35 Years of Bauhaus live DVD. Thwaite toured once again with Murphy from October 2018 through March 2019 for his 40 Years of Bauhaus Ruby Celebration featuring David J tour of North and South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Russia. This was followed by Thwaite performing guitar duties on Murphy career retrospective residencies in San Francisco in March 2019 and Le Poisson Rouge in New York City in both August 2019 and rescheduled shows in January 2020 following Peter Murphys heart attack.
Mob Research
In March 2007 Thwaite formed a studio-based project Mob Research with Killing Joke / Ministry bassist Paul Raven and Warrior Soul vocalist Kory Clarke. Work on the band's debut album, Holy City Zoo, was halted by Raven's sudden death in October 2007: the remaining band members decided to complete the album in honour of Raven. The album was finally released by Echozone Records in 2009. The remaining band members reconvened three years later in 2012 and released the "Motormouth" EP on Echozone records.The release also featured a collaboration between Thwaite and Franz Treichler of The Young Gods Thwaite also appeared on the Warrior Soul album Stiff Middle Finger, released in October 2012, contributing lead guitars.
Thwaite's ongoing collaboration with Trip Hop pioneer Tricky also continues, with contributions to 2008 studio album Knowle West Boy: he also continued as a member of The Mission, contributing to their 2007 album God is a Bullet, and playing live with them, first to promote the album and then for their four-show "farewell" event and at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London.
Al Jourgensen
During 2009, Thwaite collaborated with Al Jourgensen of Ministry and Revolting Cocks on It's Always Christmas Time, a Christmas-themed single released in November 2009. In December 2009 Thwaite joined Jourgensen in his recording studio in El Paso, Texas to write and record material for a forthcoming solo project by Jourgensen. The Mission released the live video of the Farewell shows recorded in 2008 on the Final ChapterDVD box set, which reached No.6 in the UK Music DVD chart.Thwaite continued to work with Jourgensen, playing lead guitar on the track Filthy Senoritas, from the Revolting Cocks 2010 album Got Cock? released in April 2010. He also played on Voices in My Head and Walkie Talkie, which was made available as a bonus download to those who purchased the 'Got Cock?' RevCo album. Works also commences on a Jourgensen 'solo' album with Thwaite, Mike Scaccia and Tony Campos of Ministry.
In summer 2010 Thwaite resumed touring with Peter Murphy, undertaking the Dirty Dirt European tour and some dates in Canada. During the tour Thwaite joined frontman Andy LaPlegua and his band Combichrist onstage playing guitar during the band's encore at London Electric Ballroom on 5 August 2010. Thwaite had previously remixed a track by the band in 2008 under his Metalmorphosis alter ego.
In 2011 Thwaite joined Peter Murphy and band for a 29 date US tour promoting the studio album Ninth released on 7 June 2011,. In the autumn of 2011 Thwaite also made a guest appearance onstage with his old band The Mission at their sold out 25th Anniversary show at London Brixton Academy on 22 October with special guests Fields of the Nephilim. The concert was filmed and later released as Silver on DVD/Blu-ray.
In 2012 Thwaite also undertook more international touring with Peter Murphy, including a performance at Club Nokia on 15 September in Los Angeles featuring a duet between Peter Murphy and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, with Thwaite on guitar. In 2013 Peter Murphy undertakes a world tour performing a 100% Bauhaus set, billed as 'Mr. Moonlight – Celebrating 35yrs of Bauhaus', including Thwaite on guitar. The tour rates in the top 50 Pollstar US tours of 2013.