Sometime in 1988 Mario was asked to play guitar for an unknown pop-rock band at a London venue as they performed for an audience containing music business people.
A rock journalist from a magazine called Metal Forces attended the gig and liked what Mario did, and then began to feature him in the publication.
Since then, Mario has appeared in numerous mainstream magazines such as Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Metal Forces and the underground guitar fanzine G-Force. He's also appeared in major international guitar magazines and fanzines. Mario has played a 'live' guitar solo on MTV and played 'live' on numerous radio shows around the world.
Between the years of 1985 and 1990 Mario made quite a few 'demo' type recordings, very much underground stuff that hasn't and won't be released, yet it never ceases to amaze him just how far these recordings have travelled. He's heard from guitar enthusiasts from all over the world who have some of these demos, from Europe, South America, India, Japan, North America, Australasia and the Caribbean. He's often asked for transcriptions of some of the demo material (please see the FAQ page).
During the year of 1990, Mario met ex-Marbles/Rainbow/Alcatrazz frontman and vocalist extraordinaire Graham Bonnet who was involved with a band called 'Forcefield'. Graham and Mario became friends and Mario played on two of the 'Forcefield' albums.
It was through this project that Mario recorded a solo album for the same record company, President Records. This album was called The Magician and recorded in 1991.
Through these same connections Mario got to know drum and keyboard legends Cozy Powell and Don Airey.
During the year of 1991, Cozy put together a band called 'Hammer'. The band was Cozy on drums, Neil Murray on bass, Tony Martin on vocals/guitar and Mario on guitar. During this time period, Mario played guitar on the remake of Cozy's 'Dance with the Devil'.
'Hammer' went on tour and Mario has some very fond memories of it and the guys in the band. They had some great moments, but it came to an end due to other commitments.
In 1992 Mario returned to the acoustic guitar and played it almost exclusively. He recorded an unreleased acoustic album that was put to one side due to a number of reasons.
1993 saw him return to the electric guitar with a new project called 'Savage Paradise'. The project remains unfinished as Mario went through a turbulent time in his life. Due to personal reasons, he shied away from the music scene completely.
Five years later, in 1998, Mario met up with his old friend Graham Bonnet in Los Angeles and played on his album The Day I Went Mad. This album also featured guitarists Slash (Guns n Roses), Viv Campbell (Dio/Whitesnake/Def Leppard), Bruce Kulick (Kiss) and John Thomas (Firefly).
Between the years of 1999 and 2000 Mario experimented with guitar music and wrote a lot of material for both the electric and acoustic guitar.
In 2001, he was approached by Liquid Note Records, a specialist guitar label. Mario recorded the track 'Valse Diabolique' for their album The Alchemists.
During 2002, Mario recorded the track 'Hourglass' for Lion Music's album Warmth in the Wilderness II.
Mario's new guitar instrumental solo album Entranced was released on the 14th of April 2007 on his newly formed record label 'MidnightCafe Music'. The album has received great critical acclaim, and put Mario back into the international guitar spotlight. Several other recordings are planned for the future.
Mario Parga lives in Las Vegas, U.S.A. with his wife Shawna and daughter Skye.
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