Mark Reeder

Mark Reeder (born 5 January 1958) is a British musician and record producer.

He grew up in Manchester, England.

At a young age, Reeder became interested in progressive rock and especially early electronic music.

In his teens, he worked in a small Virgin Records store in Manchester city centre.

Mark Reeder formed the punk band The Frantic Elevators together with Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) and Neil Moss in Manchester, early 1977.

Reeder has been living and working in Berlin since 1978.

He is the founder and owner of the German electronic dance music labels MFS and Flesh.

In 1978, he decided to leave Britain and move to West Berlin.

While living there he became Factory Records German representative promoting the label's bands, Joy Division and A Certain Ratio, simultaneously he worked as a sound engineer for bands like the all-girl avant garde group Malaria!

(who he also co-managed) or punk band Die Toten Hosen.

Due to his extensive knowledge of the music industry, he has participated and chaired panels at various international music conferences since the late 1980s.

In 1981, Reeder formed the synthpop-rock duo Die Unbekannten, together with Alistair Gray, and then drummer Thomas Wydler (who later played in Die Haut and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) joined, Die Unbekannten became a trio.

After Wydler left to play in Die Haut, he still remained as Die Unbekannten guest drummer for the occasional live gig.

They released two very dark and depressive 12" EPs between 1981 and 1982. Debut EP, Die Unbekannten (1981) which consisted of 3 tracks "Radio war", "Casualties", and "Poseidon", Their second EP Dangerous Moonlight (1982) which had 4 tracks "Don't Tell me Stories", "Perfect Love", "Against the Wall" and "The Game". Dangerous Moonlight was repressed with a different cover design in 1983.

He eventually helped to bring Die Toten Hosen over to East Berlin for their two secret gigs in 1982 and 1988, the 1982 gig being the first concert by a western punk band in East Berlin, disguised as a religious service.

In 1983, Reeder helped put together the Berlin Special of The Tube, a UK Channel 4 TV pop programme, which he co-presented together with Muriel Gray.

This show featured music from both sides of the walled city (debuting bands like "Die Ärzte" and featuring "Die Tödliche Doris" and "Die Haut") and for the first time ever, a young East German band he'd literally discovered on the street, called "Jessica" appeared on a UK TV show, fronted by Tino Eisbrenner.

It was also the first time that a British TV crew had ever filmed a pop programme both in the GDR (East Berlin) and West Berlin.

In 1984, "Die Unbekannten" changed their name to "Shark Vegas" and toured Western Europe with New Order.

In 1986, Shark Vegas released one of the most sought after Factory 12" single You Hurt Me (FAC111) which was produced by Bernard Sumner (a founding member of Joy Division, New Order, and later Bad Lieutenant). This single was also released in Germany on the Toten Hosen Totenkopf label (TOT11) with different versions of the song. Both releases of the single were some of the first 12" to be designed by Mark Farrow who went on to design covers for The Pet Shop Boys.

The only other track Pretenders of Love (FAC US 17) was featured on the only US factory compilation.

Reeder had contacts to the East Berlin underground new wave music scene and travelled a lot to East Berlin for concerts.

In summer 1989, he was officially asked if he would produce the album Torture, for up-and-coming East German indie band Die Vision for the East German state-owned record label AMIGA in East Berlin.

This was probably the first east–west joint venture.

Reeder is recognised as the only Englishman ever to have had the privilege to make a record in the East, because literally days after finishing recording the album, the notorious Berlin Wall fell.

Due to this album production, Reeder had made useful contacts at AMIGA the (now former) East German state-owned record label, now renamed ZONG.

He managed to convince them to allow him to set up a new electronic dance label office in the "Abhör Raum 101" situated in the building directly behind the Reichstag.

In December 1990, Reeder founded his own electronic dance music record label "Masterminded For Success" or later known as MFS.

The name MFS was taken from the initials of Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in East Germany.

Reeder had a gift for uncovering the hidden talents of many early techno and trance artists.

He once stated in an interview together with DJ Paul van Dyk,

In 1991, Reeder discovered the teenage Paul van Dyk, guiding and paving his way to build up his now international DJ superstardom.

Dave Haslam's book Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: The Rise of the Superstar DJs describes how Reeder initiated and successfully outlined van Dyk's early career from 1991 until 1999, and through Reeder's respected status and extensive music industry contacts, van Dyk was able to climb the ladder to success and reach his current superstar status.

Reeder's career has spanned more than four decades.

He has been a participant and behind the scenes influence for many now-famous artists, spread over a wide cross-section of contemporary musical genres.

In March 2005, Die Unbekannten released the limited edition vinyl LP Don't Tell Me Stories (on vinyl only) featuring the above 2 EPs and some unreleased material.

A music review concluded that

''Die Unbekannten is of course an 80's band.

They combine the best of new wave, gothic rock and post-punk''.

Meanwhile, Smirnoff Wall of Sound film 2008 described Reeder to be one of the Godfathers of the early electronic music and gothic rock scene.