San Diego Reader

Bart "Bartman" Mendoza: Bass guitar, Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric), Keyboards, Vocals | Gregory Page: Bass guitar, Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric), Vocals | Robert Boynton: Keyboards, Vocals | Billy Lovcki: Bass guitar, Vocals | Hector Penalosa: Bass guitar, Vocals | Dylan Martinez: Bass guitar, Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric), Keyboards, Vocals | Mike Kamoo: Bass guitar, Drums, Guitar (acoustic), Guitar (electric), Keyboards, Vocals

Genre: Rock

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• Cover Story: "Big in Spain" · March 9, 2006

Synoposis

Inception: San Diego, 2000

Background:

If ever a group was destined to have a volatile lineup, it was Mission: To Mars. The concept was to bring together front men of several different local groups to see what the musical collaboration might yield. In the end the group lasted less than a year but still recorded an album and a handful of outtakes, as well as several rehearsal tapes and films.

Though the band had many lineup changes, only the core trio of Mike Kamoo (the Stereotypes, the Loons, the Melanies), Dylan Martinez (Static Halo, Rookie Card, Broken Dial Radio), and Bart Mendoza (Manual Scan, the Shambles, True Stories) made it to the recording stage.

The first lineup consisted of that trio, plus bassist Billy Lovcki (the Cables), though other commitments saw him exit after only a few weeks. Troubadour Gregory Page soon took his place (switching to guitar for his own tunes), and the group spent several evenings in December 2000 rehearsing for their live debut: opening for Superdrag on January 1, 2001, at Brick by Brick.

Page left  a few weeks after the show to concentrate on the Hatchet Brothers, with Hector Penalosa (the Zeros, Flying Colour) taking his place and Robert Boynton (If Tomorrow) joining on keyboards. This line up performed at the 2001 Adams Avenue Street Fair, but the group soon split.

Mission: to Mars was always planned to be a side project, which almost surely proved the main reason behind its speedy demise.

Discography