For hundreds of years, Oakland, California's POREST (aka Mark Gergis) has exploited reckless composition, performance and worldwide documentation via multi-instrumentation, field recordings, perverse cut-uppers, dirty bomb audio downers and whatever else gets in the way. On full-length albums released by Seeland, Resipiscent and Abduction records, Porest has issued a confounding collection of music and audio works ranging from mangled pop and surrealist radio-dramas to highly unrequested and diabolical protean folkloric ear-wash. Gergis is a contributor to the Sublime Frequencies label, producing collections of rare music, film, field and regional radio recordings from the Middle East, Asia and beyond. He is also a founding member of the shape-shifting Bay Area group MONO PAUSE and its Southeast Asian permutation, NEUNG PHAK.

Porest Chronology/Discography

1993 Prude Juice For the Heritage Swinger (first version) -Self released cassette
1998 Switchgrass -Self released cassette
1998 Toywar Lullabies Compilation CD (etoy) -Featuring a cute song from a child molestor’s viewpoint.
2003 Prude Juice for the Heritage Swinger CD (Seeland 528/Electro Motive Records)
2004 Giardia Gain CD (Ltd. edition of 100)
2005 Mood Noose CD (Resipiscent 006)
2006 Porest -Live at CCA, San Francisco
2006 Porest Day Care Trio -Live at the Hemlock, San Francisco 4/06
2006 Tourrorists! CD (Abduction 034)
2006 "How Things Work" & "The Key and the String" on "Femme Toupee"-issue #1 compilation book/CD-R (Femme Toupee)
2006 "Dim Timplet" & "Halfway to Palestein" on Japanese compilation "Hip Hop Shop Sweepers Vol.1" CD-R (777was666)
2007 Porest LIVE on soundcrack.net
2007 Porest Day Care Trio -Live in Portland/Seattle
2007 "Live For WORM in Rotterdam 11.23.07" film/webcast for wormweb.nl
2007 "Orient Distress" Track on "This is WORM" Dutch CD compilation (WORM/Rotterdam)
2008 Porest interview by Jorge Boehringer and short film "Syria Dabke Hama" issued on O Sirhan O Sirhan #2 magazine and DVD

Other Porest-related releases

On Sublime Frequencies:
2003 I Remember Syria 2xCD (SF 009)
2004 Cambodian Cassette Archives CD (SF 011)
2005 Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan CD (co-produced w/ Alan Bishop) (SF 019)
2005 Choubi Choubi: Folk and Pop Sounds From Iraq CD (SF025)
2006 Radio Thailand: Transmissions From the Tropical Kingdom CD (co-produced w/ Alan Bishop) (SF028)
2007 Omar Souleyman - Highway to Hassake : Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria CD (SF031)
2007 Thai Pop Spectacular (1960s-1980s) CD (co-produced w/ Alan Bishop) (SF032)
2007 Molam: Thai Country Groove From Isan Vol. 2 CD (co-produced w/ Alan Bishop) (SF033)
2008 Sumatran Folk Cinema - DVD - a film by Mark Gergis and Alan Bishop(SF040)
2008 Shadow Music of Thailand LP(SF042)

Elsewhere:
1996 Deep North - CD & book by The Twelve Steppes w/ Erik Gergis (Porestsound 001)
1999 Soundtrack to Greg Serpa’s film “Hero”
2004 Kabar and Aavikko “Eye of the Leopard 7” (Muysic for Peoples 05)
2004 Aavikko - History of Muysic CD (features "Eye of the Leopard") w/ Kabar (Muysic For Peoples 03)
2005 Entschlossenheit (as "dj J.") w/ Steffen Frech
2005 Uncle Jim - “Superstars of Greenwich Meantime” LP & CD (Black Velvet Fuckere Records LP /Abduction CD 2006)


The color red says it’s unavailable


Selected History of Groups and/or involvement


2005-----Liz Allbee & Porest (recordings to follow)
2004----- Diatric Puds and the Blobettes - Post-Mortem Mutant dinner parties w/ Odessa | Elmer D | Count Loach | Pussy P
2004----- Pussers Pihn -Thai Molam offshoot of Neung Phak’s offshoot of Mono Pause
2004----- Rut Ro and the Logs - Improvised etherial serial quintet
w/ Liz Allbee | Mark Gergis | Matt Ingalls | Rose Meyer | Jake Rodriguez
2004----- Kabar (with Aavikko)
2003----- Exploding Briefcases of Cairo -All knowing secret organization of patsies and prophets
2003-2004 Mount NB -Defunct mob mentality retard performance/noise band with sense of humor?
2003----- Murder Murder - Emotional terror mime
1999----- People Like Us - German mini-tour with Vicki Bennett
1997----- Tone Locusts - A Mono Pause trio w/ Mike Shizuru/Peter Conheim/ Mark Gergis
1994----- Twelve Steppes - Gergis brother pop duo
1993----- Mono Pause/Neung Phak/The White Ring - Long running mega-band. Often refrigerated...always on fire
1991----- Porest - The Alpha and the Omega