What do you want to know about Four Star Mary? "Where did the name come from?" you might ask. Opinions vary: "A drag-queen bar in West Hollywood" Tad offers. "A fortune cookie" is Zu's response. Try: "Does the name mean anything?" Zu: "No, I thought we should've called the band Fortune Cookie."
Dig a little further and you might decide that the strangest thing about Four Star Mary is that it exists at all. None of FSM's members grew up within a hundred miles of each other. Tad is from Texas, Zu grew up in the San Fernando Valley and Steve was raised near San Francisco. Add to the logistical improbabilities of simply meeting a healthy dose of divergent musical backgrounds, and you start to see why at least one journalist has accused FSM of possessing "more sense and sensitivity (plus a dose of mighty melodic intuition) than they have any right to." - Johnny Whiteside, LA Weekly.
Despite the odds, the members of FSM met, and the resulting synergy of minds and music led to a group which is not only prolific, but (unlike most of its brethren) actually writes as a group. According to Steve, "Four Star Mary is the most collaborative musical effort I've ever been in. Everyone in FSM is a good songwriter in his own right. And almost more importantly, everyone listens to everyone else. The only aspect of our songs which doesn't represent a combined effort by all of us are the lyrics, which are Tad's private domain." The result of this collaboration has been a slow but steady growth of Four Star Mary's profile within the overwhelming multitude of bands which comprise the L.A. scene. And in addition to their live shows, recent use of Four Star Mary songs television shows such as Fox's "Party of Five," MTV's "The Real World" and the WB's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has started to raise the band's profile internationally.
Indeed, Four Star Mary has practically become the "house band" on Fox's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", providing music for the popular character Oz's fictitious band "Dingoes Ate My Baby" on several episodes, as well as providing source music for key scenes for seasons 2 through 4 of the popular TV series. The result of this exposure was a deluge of fan email and soaring sales of Four Star Mary's self-titled EP.
*Found at FourStarMary.com.*