Artist: Mars Bonfire, Album: Faster Than The Speed Of Life, Song: Faster Than The Speed Of Life

Mars Bonfire is a man named Dennis Edmonton.  He grew up in Oshawa, Ontario and joined a band called Jack London & The Sparrows during the early sixties.  The band would eventually become just The Sparrows and recruit an American singer by the name of John Kay.  The band started playing heavy blues rock throughout Ontario and eventually made their way to New York and finally San Francisco.  By then, many of the members were burnt out, including Dennis Edmonton and The Sparrows broke up.  The members split off and carried on in other projects.  The majority of the members remained together and formed the band Steppenwolf.  Many of Steppenwolf's early hits were actual Sparrow tunes that Dennis Edmonton wrote, including a big one called, Born To Be Wild.  Dennis decided to concentrate on his songwriting once he left The Sparrows and released an album as Mars Bonfire in 1968.  It was picked up by Columbia Records and was entitled, Faster Than The Speed Of Life.  The album had a number of tunes that were also released by Steppenwolf like Born To Be Wild, Ride With Me, Tenderness as well as the title track.  You can check out the song, Faster Than The Speed Of Life, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTTPsio8ORs&feature=related).  There is also some video footage of an interview with Dennis Edmonton where he reflects on this period of his career that is worth checking out on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-zY5unYgl0).  You can purchase the album, Faster Than The Speed Of Life, on Itunes.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!