Todd Tamanend Clark

Todd Tamanend Clark was born on August 10, 1952 in Greensboro, Pennsylvania, to Frederick Leland Clark (1923–2003) and Hope Ramona Harvey (1925–2001).[1] Author Adrienne Mayor describes him as being Seneca and Lenape.[3] He graduated from Waynesburg Central High School in 1970 and from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Communication in 1983.[1] He then went on to graduate school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania studying art and anthropology.

In 1975, he started to record music under the alias The Stars. Two years later, he formed the Butler, Pennsylvania based rock band The Eyes. The band's album, New Gods: Aardvark Through Zymurgy was released in 1977 and has been called "the holy grail of psychedelic collectibles." In 1978, The Eyes (with two personnel changes) evolved into The Todd Clark Group, who released their "We're Not Safe!" album in 1979.[4]

In the early 1980s, he mutated his psychedelic rock style into a more electronic music-oriented sound. The "Secret Sinema" and "Flame Over Philadelphia" singles, which were released in 1980 and 1985 respectively, became college radio hits. In 1984, Clark released Into The Vision, which featured appearances from Allen Ravenstine of Pere Ubu and Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys, as well as the Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs. During this time, he immersed himself more deeply into his Native American heritage, adopting the middle name "Tamanend", which is what his grandfather called him as a child. In between 1986 and 1999, he stopped releasing new material and devoted his time to his children, although he continued to compose music and perform at occasional concerts.

Between 2000 and 2004, Clark released three interrelated instrumental albums: Owls In Obsidian (2000), Staff, Mask, Rattle (2002), and Monongahela Riverrun (2004).[4] In 2005, his first decade of recordings was collected chronologically on the double-disc compilation album, Nova Psychedelia, through Anopheles Records.[5] In 2014, he released a complexly orchestrated darkly psychedelic cyberpunk album Dancing Through The Side Worlds, which contains many autobiographical songs. The front cover features a painting of Clark shapeshifting into an owl by Steven Johnson Leyba. Clark is currently recording a thematically related follow-up album Whirlwind Of The Whispering Worlds which will be forthcoming in 2020.

A photograph of his son, X Tecumseh Clark (born October 7, 1984), was featured on the cover art of Canadian electronic music band Crystal Castles' second eponymous album in 2010.[4]

Another of his five sons, Sachem Orenda Clark (born February 21, 1988), has his own solo career as a multi-instrumentalist and also plays guitar on some of his father's albums.

Todd Tamanend Clark has resided in Fayette County, Pennsylvania since January 1992.

While an art school student in San Francisco, Todd Tamanend Clark was friends with Wilma Mankiller and participated in the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island.[6] Clark was later mentored into the American Indian Movement by Russell Means. Clark is the Minister of Information for the Pennsylvania chapter of Autonomous A.I.M.

Despite playing a multitude of musical instruments, Todd Tamanend Clark is first and foremost a poet. He even considers his instrumental songs to be tone poems. Poetically, he was influenced by Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jim Morrison, and Patti Smith. His poetry is much more complex than what is usually found in rock music. In a 2006 review, Julian Cope called him "the T.S. Eliot of his time.[7]" Clark also writes essays on Native American cultures and civil rights.

Clark's music in the 1970s was described as "electro-psychedelic glam-rock" and "unique fusion of wild 60s-style experimentalism and proto-new wave synth-freakery."[8] His early influences included the 1960s psychedelic rock of The Mothers Of Invention, The Doors, The Electric Prunes, Jimi Hendrix, and especially the early adopters of analog synthesizers such as The United States of America, Lothar and the Hand People, and Silver Apples, while he was also attuned to the sounds of the proto punk rock scene, such as The Seeds, The Music Machine, The Velvet Underground, The MC5, and The Stooges.

In the 1980s, he switched to an experimental rock sound, taking inspirations from artists like The Residents and Laurie Anderson and the works of science fiction, cyberpunk and stream-of-consciousness writers such as Harlan Ellison and William S. Burroughs. He was also inspired by comic books, most prominently by Turok and Doctor Strange, but also by Batman, Green Arrow, The Haunt of Fear, Shock SuspenStories, Strange Tales, Strange Adventures, Challengers of the Unknown, Adam Strange, The Doom Patrol, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Love and Rockets, Coyote, Aztec Ace, and Scout, as well as 1950s monster movies, most prominently by Forbidden Planet and Creature From the Black Lagoon, but also by It Came From Outer Space, Terror From the Year 5000, The Flame Barrier, Kronos, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.[9]

• Official page on Facebook
• Official page on CD Baby