This Atlanta, GA-based band seemed to have, during their heyday, connected the dots between Bauhaus & Smashing Pumpkins, as well as celebrating diverse genres in-between. Formed in 1987 by former members of The Children: Clinton Steele & Sven Pipien and Kentucky transplants: Steve Gorman & James Vincent Hall, Mary My Hope was a post-punk/hard-rock conglomerate that aligned their sensibilities with bands such as Love and Rockets & The Swans, (who Steele later joined).
Mary My Hope's rock & roll recipe included heaping helpings of goth & metal with liberal dashes of folk & psychedelia. At a certain point, Gorman defected to join the proto-Black Crowes outfit, Mr. Crowes Garden and was replaced by Steve Lindenbaum. The band was snapped up by Silvertone and released a string of compelling releases: 1989 brought on the debut LP, 'Museum', with the singles 'Wildman Childman', then 'It's About Time' (vinyl-only with unreleased b-sides sent out to college radio), followed by the brillliant 'Suicide Kings' EP (featuring a lo-fi, self-produced number & live tracks). The dawn of the nineties saw a more proper, if not, similar release: the expansive 'Monster is Bigger than the Man' mini-LP, boasting familiar artwork but more hard-rocking material that was likely unfamiliar to the uninitiated. The album contained one last, stellar 'Museum' b-side & a faithful Brian Eno cover that would surely convert anyone in doubt of this bands' greatness.
Great or not, Hall felt the need to split the band & follow his true muse after Mary My Hope's promotional tours with The Godfathers and Jane's Addiction. James moved to New Orleans for a new start, picked up a fine band, recorded solo albums & brought an intense live show wherever he went.
Mary My Hope ventured onward at the insistence of one, Donn Aaron who came aboard to play second guitar. Karl Vone, another Kentucky connection of Clint's came aboard to handle vocal duties after a stint with Nashville's Rumble Circus. New demos were recorded for a proposed seven album record deal with Imago & Chameleon Records. Sadly, no further releases had emerged and the band quietly dissolved.
Clinton Steele performed and recorded with Michael Gira's Angels of Light, Swans & World of Skin and went on to engineering the recordings of prominent Atlanta bands. Karl Vone, Sven Pipien & Steve Lindenbaum hooked up with guitarist Josh Pine to form Caramelize. Pipien & Lindenbaum, further, were in a band called Needle for a short time. Vone and Pipien also had a band called Raybell, before the latter hooked up with Steve Gorman & The Black Crowes, enjoying the fruits of that affiliation, including their stint as Jimmy Page's live Zeppelin tribute band in the late nineties. Lindenbaum played drums for Joybang! in his time before Groupie. Donn Aaron has re-emerged as a singer/songwriter. James Hall morphed his solo act into a full-fledged band named for his underappreciated mid-nineties Geffen debut 'Pleasure Club'. That band fought the good-fight for four great years until dividing in 2005, ending a decade's-plus partnership with bassist Grant Curry. He has picked up his solo career where he left off, in addition to performing and recording with the band Player/Kommander.
In the fall of 2008, the original line-up performed together for the first time in 18 years at Masquerade Music Park & Club to benefit the recently formed Atlanta Music Museum and celebrate the former Metroplex & 688 clubs twenty-year reunion.
