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Rx: Prescription
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With Rx, Rubbernekkerz deliver an hour-long introspective range of alt-rock songs that create an emotional mood from a layering of sounds. Natural and synthetic textures blend to create a spacey backdrop for lyrics that circle around reflective and often melancholy themes. The styles borrowed from range from dark-wave to prog-rock. The topics dealt with in the lyrics include collisions of opposites (such as Machine vs. Animal, and Babylon), and laws that compel speech. Quite intentionally, the tune that addresses that latter topic has no words, and is likely the strongest statement on the album (Compelled Speech). A quirky dark sense of humor is seen throughout, such as in the song Van Goth, which appeals to the listener to show compassion for a strange goth character who seems to parallel Vincent van Gogh.
Chief Rubbernekker, Mark Harrington is joined on the song Wait a Minute by vocalist Simon Caine, who enjoyed fame in the early 1970s. Speaking of the past, one of these songs (Pictures of Red) was written by Mark in 1987!
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" [Rubbernekkerz] songs are lot more interesting arrangement-wise than
dark-synth bands like Joy Division or Depeche Mode."
-- Jaimie Vernon, President, Bullseye Records / Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia, Aug. 2006”
In 2006, Mark Harrington first released music from his alter-ego, Rubbernekkerz. He previously released 3 CDs under his own name before shifting focus to a somewhat more edgy, moody sound under the moniker Rubbernekkerz. Mark's voice has drawn comparisons to David Bowie, and Peter Murphy. One press article accurately described him as a "perennial and voluntary outsider".
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In the late 1980s, Mark played in the electronic rock trio Heik and the Shakes. Subsequently, he co-founded the Toronto Experimental Artists artist-run cassette label with filmmaker Ed Sinclair in 1988. He also formerly served as the Canadian correspondent for )ism(, a chapbook & writing distribution network. He has written bios for other musicians.
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