Mark Cross is an English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and heavy metal

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

. He has played in many bands in his career and is currently based in Athens,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Mark recorded in 1992 an album with Greek singer/songwriter Michalis Rakintzis named "Etsi Maresei". Cross left

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...

in 2002. He had recorded two tracks with them, both of which featured on their ''

Rabbit Don't Come Easy ''Rabbit Don't Come Easy'' is the tenth studio album by German power metal band Helloween, released in 2003. It is the first Helloween album to feature Sascha Gerstner on guitars, who replaced Roland Grapow. No drummer is listed in the band line ...

'' album in 2003. His comeback was a low-key demo recording with The Supremacy, a project band also featuring Bill Hudson of

Cellador Cellador is an American power metal band based in Denver, Colorado. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, the band was founded in 2003 by Chris Petersen, the band's primary songwriter, as a direct contrast to the overcrowded metalcore and death me ...

and Fernando Giovannetti of Aquaria in 2004. In 2005 he featured as a session and touring musician for

At Vance At Vance is a neoclassical/power metal band formed in Germany. They were formed by vocalist Oliver Hartmann (ex-Centers) and guitarist Olaf Lenk (ex-Velvet Viper) in 1998. Biography With the combined credentials of vocalist Oliver Hartmann a ...

and also appeared on the British rock band Saracen's latest album, ''Vox in Excelso'' and

Winter's Bane Winters Bane are a heavy/power metal band formed in 1990. They have gone through extensive line-up changes throughout their history with only guitarist and sometime-vocalist Lou St. Paul featuring as an ever-present. In their first incarnation ...

's comeback album, '' Redivivus''. With

Firewind Firewind is a Greek power metal band formed in Thessaloniki in 1998. The group is currently signed to Century Media Records and was originally a small project created by guitarist Gus G. to showcase his demo, ''Nocturnal Symphony'', in 1998. Fi ...

he released ''

Allegiance An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign. Etymology From Middle English ''ligeaunce'' (see medieval Latin ''ligeantia'', "a liegance"). The ''al ...

'' in July 2006 and toured with them extensively throughout the world in 2006 and 2007, playing more than 150 shows. With their new album '' The Premonition'', which was released in April 2008 he and Firewind toured Europe and North America with Swedish metallers

Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharist. ...

. On 13 January 2010, Cross announced that he and Firewind had split. Cross has used

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian word that means "shine". Apart from cymbals and gong ...

cymbals,

Tama drums Tama Drums, (from Japanese: (Kanji), (Kana), read as ) is a brand of drum kits and hardware manufactured and marketed by the Japanese musical instrument company, Hoshino Gakki. Tama's research and development of products, along with producti ...

Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion mallet, percussion sticks and mallets. Biography Vic Firt ...

drumsticks,

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

drumheads and

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

s in the shape of

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

es made by Factory Metal Percussion.

External links

Mark Cross' official websiteFirewind's official website
Firewind members Living people Helloween members Tank (band) members Metalium members Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-drummer-stub