Guitarist Ted Kraut and his band The Mars Hall are in the process of releasing their new album 'Planet Ted'. It is the culmination of a writing partnership between Ted Kraut and Marshall Thompson that began four years ago. The other band members are Katrina Leigh on bass and vocals and Bo Werner on drums. The album has a definite Wilco meets Pink Floyd vibe to it.
Ted recently recorded a new cd with a band called Mother Jones www.motherjonesband.com check out the new album "Union" Marshall and Ted have know each other since the early nineties, playing on different gigs together. Both play in Mother Jones. The two first recorded together in 1995. It was around that time that Ted co-founded the band Radio I-Ching. Radio I-Ching's first album, "Emo's Choice," was released in 1994 and was highly acclaimed by the college music scene, launching the band into 5 years of non-stop touring throughout the U.S. "Emo's Choice" received national air-play and charted next to major label acts such as Radio Head, Dave Matthews, and Sound Garden. The group's follow-up album, "Sigh," was equally popular landing two cuts with Columbia Tri-Star for use on the popular late 90's T.V. show "Party of Five." The album "Sigh" also hit the charts becoming the ..7 most added record in the country on December 7, 1998, according to C.M.J. New Music Report. As the Leader and principal songwriter of Radio I-Ching, Ted Kraut toured all over the U.S. logging 150 shows a year. The band played major festivals such as High Sierra Music Festival and has been billed with top touring acts such as Moe, Mother Hips and The String Cheese Incident. Radio I-Ching regularly packed clubs In L.A.
Ted Kraut first appeared on the L.A. music scene at the ripe old age of sixteen booking and performing at venues across Southern California. Ted became a founding member of Geffen recording artist Half-Way Home, a band who played to packed houses across the southland, including The Troubadour, The Country Club and Madam Wongs. Ted left the band to pursue his musical education at The Musicians Institute, where he studied with Jazz luminaries Joe Pass, Joe Diorio and Ron Eschette, as well as a host of other great guitarists.
Upon graduation, Ted joined the hit 60's garage psychedelic band The Music Machine, best know for their hit song "Talk Talk", and performed at major venues around the west coast. The Music Machine was named one of the top 100 guitar bands of all time by Guitar World Magazine. Later, Ted became the lead guitar player for Terry Stafford, best known for penning the Country hit "Amarillo by Morning" for George Strait and having a ..2 Billboard hit on his own with "Suspicion".
