history

---

once upon a time in the early 1990s, john kihneman was slaving away at tower books in concord, california, when john mabry was hired next door at tower records. they struck up a friendship, and after a couple of years john k. played john m. some of the experimental music he was working on. john m. became so excited by the dangerous, moody feel of the music that he immediately invisioned a new setting of the catholic mass to go with it, which they titled "missa libera."

meanwhile, dinah sanders, a friend of mabry's was working at the fx nightclub in san jose. her boss said he'd love to go to mass on easter sunday if it weren't so damned early. dinah said, "i know this guy..." meaning john m., an independent catholic priest. she called mabry and soon john m. was pestering john k. to premiere "missa libera" in the context of an actual mass--at the nightclub itself (see photo, left). they began rehearsals with bassist ian stoba and ken canedo...and the falling dark sound was born.

the johns began writing songs together soon after, and rehearsing with drummer john cataloni. they collected nearly enough for a cd, but mysteriously, the group broke up.

after a hiatus of four years, the johns linked up again and began writing new songs. from 1997 to the present they have continued to write and rehearse, playing live occasionally in coffee shops and private parties.

finally, in 2001, falling dark is going into the studio to record their first cd.