BASSNECTAR

Lorin grew up in a San Francisco and initially found a love of the visual arts rather than music, creating movies with his dad’s camera when he was just 10 years. Bassnectar's original musical influences included metal and rock bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Nirvana so some may find it hard to believe that he pursued an electro/drum & bass career but those early influences are still evident on tracks such as 'Seek & Destroy' and 'Boomerang'. A real reason he became affiliated with the genre was due to his enjoyment of raves in the mid-90's, where he found the house/dance vibes so exciting and inspiring that he began to create his own brand of genre bending electro and has continued to develop on these founding inspirations ever since.

He cut his teeth on the house party circuit of San Francisco's Bay Area under the name DJ Lorin, this basement quality is still evident in his live mixing qualities today. Bassnectar is famed for his live performances and light shows. In 2005, he began touring constantly in the States as well as all over the world, these included a regular stop at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 as well a special performance each New Year's Eve. His performance for New Year's Eve 2011 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville sold out to 13,000 fans+, and a sequel event has taken place every following year to date, with Bassnectar performing from a rotating stage at the center of the arena which allowed every member of the audience get a fantastic view of his spectacular show. Bassnectar also performs regularly at a variety of music festivals, including Bonnaroo, Coachella, the Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, and Wakarusa. In 2012 Bassnectar sold a quarter of a million concert tickets excluding festival performances.

Despite not having any real commercial success with his albums, Bassnectar has managed to create a community who have a shared adoration for his momentous electro and ambitious live performance which has been known to incorporate musical collaborators and circus performers.

It was in 1990 when M-1, journeyed to Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, to enrol at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, which is where he met stic.man. They became close friends and had a common interest in music and leftist political ideology. It was a couple of years after finishing university that the two hip-hop artists came together in New York where they would later be discovered by Lord Jamar and signed to Loud Records. On board this platform, they built up a fan base from their over the top performances, where they’ve been known to ignite dollar bills and toss apples into the audiences, declaring that they must eat healthily. Before the released of their debut album in 2000, they had already contributed songs to film soundtracks and featured on high profile albums. It was their very first recorded song “The Game of Life (Score)” that appeared on the 1997 soundtrack to the film Soul in the Hole.

Their debut album “Let’s Get Free” was released on March 14th 2000, on Loud Records & Columbia Records. Critical acclaim described it as a return to politically conscious rap and the most politically conscious rap since Public Enemy. Rolling Stone gave the album four stars and lauded its equation of “classrooms with jail cells, the project with killing fields and everything from water to television with conduits for brainwashing by the system” The album peaked at #72 on the Billboard 200 and #22 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums Charts.

Between their first and second albums, they released two mixtapes “Turn Off the Radio: The Mixtape Vol.1” in 2002, and “Turn Off the Radio: The Mixtape Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin’”. Taking a new direction with their second album under Sony Records, they released “Revolutionary But Gangsta” on March 30th 2004, which peaked at 14 on the US R&B chart.

Both M-1 and stic.man, were pursuing their own careers alongside dead prez with stic.man releasing an album called “Manhood” on October 23rd 2007, and “The Workout” on April 12th 2011” and M-1 releasing “Confidential” on March 21st 2006. They have also collaborated with a number of artists such as Outlawz, Young Noble, Bonnot, Kentyah, Brian Jackson & The New Midnight Band.

On Mother’s Day 2010, they released a remix entitled “The Beauty Within” which is a remix of B.o.B and Bruno Mars’ #1 single “Nothin’ on You”, and most recently released an album called “Information Age” on October 16th 2012.