While Mark Plant’s native habitat might be a musty South City basement filled with strobe lights and like-minded musicians, the solo artist behind The Mall spent most of the past three years traveling and performing in venues beyond St. Louis. After a busy 2024 dotted with tours across North America and Europe, Plant plans to take root on the east coast, but not before playing one last show as a “local” on January 16 at Off Broadway alongside Jeff In Leather, Nuxx Vomica, and God.
“I feel like the mall is a dystopian thought now. Kids like me were going and hanging out and not really spending money, but that wasn’t the mall’s purpose. Now, it feels like a huge monument to capitalism’s failure,” Plant says.
Stay up-to-date with the local arts scene
Subscribe to the weekly St. Louis Arts+Culture newsletter to discover must-attend art exhibits, performances, festivals, and more.
Although Plant admits to having the name The Mall in mind for past bands, the moniker finally fit a new solo project in 2019. From a direct approach to songwriting to a combination of throaty punk vocals and densely packed synths, Plant incorporated more than a decade of playing in various groups such as Dentist and Times Beach to create The Mall’s first set of songs.
“I was making stuff on my synthesizers and around the same time I registered punk.bandcamp.com. I needed to put music on that page right away so I could keep the name,” Plant says.
Surprisingly punk.bandcamp.com still leads to The Mall’s discography, which begins with EP Zone, seven tracks of self-described “dark and ethereal mangled dance musik” released in February 2020. Plant performed three shows before COVID-19 protocols were implemented and events were no longer an option. With this new project ready to go, Plant pivoted and focused all efforts on streaming live sets over social media, including one inside of Minecraft.
“It was hard to get feedback in a real way because I was just at my house, feeling awful. Looking back now, I didn’t realize how well I was adapting compared to musicians who were doing nothing. Even now when I’m touring people are still thanking me for doing that stuff,” Plant says.
From collaborations with other musicians to appearances on virtual music festivals, The Mall built a reputation that carried gravitas when Plant eventually returned to performing live in late 2021. Following the addition of a second member, Spencer Bible, The Mall toured North America at a frenetic pace with no more than a month’s break between gigs outside of St. Louis.
The pair’s efforts culminated with full-length album Time Vehicle Earth, a critically renowned set of nine tracks recorded at Plant’s home that was originally released in October 2022 but was reissued on vinyl in spring 2024 by Convulse Records.
“I call it synth-punk because punk is the energy for what I’m doing, but what I really want is to make music to dance to. I want people to feel something too, the emotion is really important,” Plant says.
While Bible left the band in 2023, The Mall has since maintained a relentless tour schedule as a solo act, with appearances at festivals such as Substance festival in Los Angeles, MayDay in Minneapolis, and most recently, Greetings from Barcelona fest. With a move to the east coast on the horizon, Plant is hard at work on an even more personal and creatively ambitious record.
“I’m working with Convulse Records on the new album, and they really believe in what I’m doing. I’m very proud of the other albums, but the next one is going to be on a different level. I know what makes me unique now, and I’m going to lean into that more,” Plant says.
Although Plant planned on taking a break from shows to relocate and finish the new album, the hiatus was disrupted when former tourmates and spiritual allies Nuxx Vomica and Jeff in Leather announced a St. Louis date on their tour.
“Nuxx Vomica is making the music I want to see. So is Jeff, so of course I would do anything to make the best show possible for them. We’re all making dark dance music but coming at it from a different angle. All of us just love to dance,” Plant says.
Plant considers the first The Mall release, Zone, to be an album about isolation that just happened to be written before the pandemic. The nine songs on Time Vehicle Earth carry a range of themes, from reintegration into society to making meaningful contributions and considering what one takes from the world.
“I think the next one will be about changing the world,” Plant says.
If anything, Plant has brought change to the St. Louis music community by helping out in a variety of roles. From teaching peers how to play an instrument to providing audio equipment to other event organizers throughout the city, Plant has worked as a consummate supporter of local bands and performers across a myriad of genres and artistic disciplines.
“Community is why I do anything I do,” Plant says. “The culture is more important than career milestones or professional milestones or anything like that. I’m always going to say that I’m from St. Louis, but I feel like moving around for a little bit and trying things out.”
