USHER, AL/ GUZMAN, LOUIE/ DEMAC, TOM/ MAYER, MIKE - LULLABY/ KEEP IT SIMPLE/ CREWCUTS/ AMANDA

After spending the last few years in Manchester and Barcelona, Tom Demac has returned to the picturesque setting of his native North Wales. Having developed a convincing alter ego, he manages a web development team most days and returns to a familiar guise in his spare time, creating a live collage of his thoughts. Gathering inspiration from the surrounding landscape, a big dose of Detroit Techno, as well as influxes of Electronica, Dub and Jazz, Tom Demac writes and records live electronic music from the soul. From early sessions in a friends garage (containing a few rusty boxes and a four-track), Tom went on to study music technology in Salford University. Since then he has developed his own characteristic sound based on a philosophy of creating music aimed at the dance-floor, but melodic enough to appreciate at home in the living room. After releasing records through Free Rotation collective imprints Mindyourhead records and Mindtours, Tom Demac formed the label' Electronique Audio. The first 3 records echoed his fresh and diverse take on electronic music (Decisions, New Beginnings and Liquid Staircase) and went on to gather international exposure and support. 2006 saw the collaboration with good friend and fellow resident of North Wales, Duckett, and together they recorded the 3 ep’s, Critical Distance (Electronique Audio), Unnecessary Cosmetics (STHLM Audio) and Climate Flu (Disappear Here). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Mike Mayer www.mikehmayer.com I was born in Harvey Illinois. I spent six months there then moved to Huntington Beach, California. My family was uprooted and moved here because my dad (who was working at ARCO) had two choices: to transfer to California or Texas. I went to public school where I had bad grades, was fat, didn’t have many friends, and stayed late to help my teachers. I sort of found a way to feel good about myself in elementary school by being a volunteer helper for my teachers and for the school. I wore a pin that said "computer kid" and would get called out of class frequently to make a printer print. One of the very last days of elementary school there was an assembly in the MPR (Multi Purpose Room for those who aren’t in the know) where they had signups for a new middle school band program. I signed up. Why? I have no idea. After finally entering the sixth grade I had a new chance to gain new friends. Puberty was good to me too- I was blessed with the fortunate side-effect of being skinny all of a sudden. This was good- it made lots of girls like me back in the day. Music I started to play Bassoon in middle school after the band teacher needed someone to fill that spot. He plucked me out of the clarinet section and gave me this big "bong-like" instrument thing. I played it for a few months before I started playing with the Golden West College band. It was fun at the time. I look back on it now with strange feelings. For one thing, I was the only bassoon player- put an incredible amount of pressure on such a young me. Being thrown under the bus of sorts frequently over there eventually built up my confidence as a musician. I started playing Bass about a year after I started playing Bassoon. Decidedly more cool-the Bass was my way into playing in my middle school’s jazz band. Pathetic is about the only word that could be used to describe that mess- a clarinet, a variety of saxophones, and me. Where’s the drums? Piano? Rhythm section? Nope, none here. It was very strange to be the only source of rhythm. I yet again found myself being very exposed to the audience. Building my confidence once again I guess. So this goes on for the remainder of middle school. At some point I entered a Disney soloist competition where I challenged all the tiny Asian girls with their pianos and flutes with my mighty bassoon-ing. Of course they won and one judge said on the tape, "Great start for a hard instrument". Yeah, start… about that… that’s around the time I decided I was done with that. High School Mike from MHS Band 2002 Since I was in the middle school band I was automatically enrolled in the high school band. Either by my choice at some point or by some act of God; I received a call from a band booster who said that the band needed a sousaphone player. I was like, why are you asking me… did I make some indication that I wanted to play that… to be honest I was confused. So I said okay. After all, ever see a marching bassoonist? You might have, but he probably wasn’t having a good time. The summer before I started high school I went over to the band room over at Marina High and asked if I could borrow a tuba over the summer to play. I wheeled that huge instrument in its McDonalds colored case from the school to my apartment. You bet the neighbors loved that. So I played tuba. I joined the drum line when I had a chance during the second semester. In between that time I broke up with my cheating ex-girlfriend whom at the time hurt me pretty badly. I was depressed, but who wouldn’t be. I was 14 and the girl that I was dating for a year? Cheated on me and then left me to burn. Though drum line I was able to meet some new friends-Shawn Taylor being one of them. He figured out somehow that I was some kind of nerd and asked me to stay late one day to mix for his band. His band was named Neopolitan. After a few times of this happening it was obvious that their bass player wasn’t going to work out-mostly due to his bad breath and absence. Little did they know that I was secretly learning their music. One day I filled in for him. That was it- I was in their band. I spent most of high school making fun of other kids mostly in part of my own way to cope with depression that I was having mostly because of the girlfriend that I had though high school. Neopolitan An integral part of what was me in High School was this group. It enabled me to be incorporated in an elitist group of people. I met lots of new people and I played lots of music. It was fun and all that. We wrote 30+ songs and played all over the place. Made lots of money (then gave it all to promoters). I’m afraid that Neopolitan’s final demise may be a majority of my fault. I wasn’t making any money and was having a hard time paying for rehearsals and such in the end. Then my schooling and girlfriend things ended up disrupting my availability as compared to what it was during high school. It was probably better for it to stop for the time being. We have since been too busy to really maintain such a group to a level that it really needed. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.