The Lab Rats

Genre: Pop
Secondary Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap Columbus, Ohio USA Contact

The Lab Rats are defined by a rock & roll mentality and a blue collar reality; explained within the realm of hip hop, blues, rock & electronica.

Artist Information

Biography

Multi-instrumental musicians from Columbus, Ohio; making genre-bending music that has rap, beats, grooves, keyboards, guitars, scratches, riffs, jams, feedback, sweat, laughs, beers, blues and truths. The Lab Rats are defined by a Rock and Roll mentality and a blue collar reality; explained within the realm of hip hop, blues, rock & electronica; determined to make new music.

Coming from the lower-middle class land of suburbia, lyricist/guitarist, Brian Brown delivers observations taken from his life and the world around him. With 30 menial day jobs under his belt and the loans from his unfinished community college days almost paid off, he has chosen the pen as his weapon to combat the doldrums of a Midwestern, working class lifestyle.

DJ KW is the beatmaking part of this duo. Deeply experienced in the making and DJing of electronic music, KW is steeply entrenched in a multi-instrumental world of keyboards, laptops, guitars, hand percussion. KW loves technology and loves it equally in his studio and on your stage. In addition to blazing his pedal steel guitar, he uses two Numark CD-X digital turntables and KORG synths.

This is the second offering from this Columbus based Hip Hop duo. It’s front porch stories of ghost trains that visit you in the night. It's an existential exercise that explains the purpose of your nervous system. It's a guide to stretching pennies and the art of scratching lottery tickets. It's a deadbeat dad story that would make Oprah Winfrey weep. It's a conspiracy theory from a delirious lyricist. It’s half full ashtrays and half empty glasses. Everything you hear on this record (beats, clinks, riffs, skronks, booms and bips) were performed by the Rats themselves and are the result of a self contained effort. No classic recordings were harmed in the making of this album.
Their first record, "Short Order EP" was called one of the best five releases in 2004 by their hometown, weekly arts paper.

www.Myspace.com/LabRats

Instrumentation

Brian Brown, MC - electric guitar.

Kelly Warner, DJ - two Numark CD-X turntables, Show-Bud pedal steel guitar, keyboards, backing vocals/MC.

Discography

"Short Order EP" Released October 2004. Art by Craig Dransfield.

"Half Full Ashtrays, Half Empty Glasses" Released October 2006.

Audio

  • "Float" from Half Full Ashtrays, Half Empty Glasses
    Listen  
  • "What You See Is What You Get" from Half Full Ashtrays, Half Empty Glasses
    Listen  
  • "Some Day You'll Fade Away" Unreleased.
    Listen  

Lyrics

Video

Photo Gallery

  • lucky lab rats

  • summer fun

  • Album Cover - Half Full Ashtrays, Half Empty Glasses - 2006

  • Live at Skate! Rock! Fest!

  • Brian Brown

  • DJ KW

  • Album Cover - Short Order EP

  • Live shot

  • Monster magnets

  • Banjito

Press

  • Thursday's must see: Midpoint Music Festival 2006 [+ Show ]

    It's easy to tag Columbus-based duo The Lab Rats as hip-hop, but it's so much more. On the group's u...

  • CityBeat previews MPMF 2006 - Critic's Pick: The Lab Rats [+ Show ]

    Talk about your cool hybrids. The Lab Rats work an amazing groove informed by the jammed-out Riff Ro...

  • Recent Show Preview [+ Show ]

    The Lab Rats, Chris McCoy and the Gospel, Salvage; 10 p.m. Saturday; O’Hooley’s, 24 W. Union St. — ...

  • 'To Do List' CityBeat Recommends [+ Show ]

    "Unlike the expected hotbeds that developed around mainstream Hip Hop (Atlanta, L.A., New York), the...

  • Mall Rats - Abercrombie & Fitch Gives Props [+ Show ]

    The Lab Rats drop the hip hop like they ain't just two white guys from Ohio. With their debut releas...

  • CityBeat previews MPMF 2005 [+ Show ]

    A kaleidoscope of Pop culture touchstones informs The Lab Rats' imaginative soundscapes (their bio n...

  • CityBeat reviews The Lab Rats @ MidPoint Music Fest 2005 [+ Show ]

    "MidPoint Music Festival overwhelms downtown with independent, original music... ...Rushing back ...

  • Top 5 Best Local Releases of 2004 [+ Show ]

    Best Albums The Lab Rats, Short Order EP. Columbus has a huge underground hip hop scene, and The L...

  • Top 10 Editor's Pick [+ Show ]

    Editor's Review: Some music brings back memories of your friend in your hometown and The Lab Rats g...

Setlist

All original, alternative hip hop from the Midwest.

www.Myspace.com/LabRats

Basic Requirements

Calendar

There are no upcoming dates at this time.