Biography
Nearly 20 years after grunge put The Emerald City on the musical map, there’s a whole new “Seattle Sound” blasting into our collective pop consciousness thanks to the explosive emergence of the instrumental phenomenon known as Wunderbugg. Driven by the progressive psychedelic yet also decidedly retro 70’s-80s jam rock band vibe of keyboardist Whidden Flores, the four piece unit—which includes the MIDI sequencing and effects processing of Lorin Atzen,ethereal voiced Ani Johnson and the soulful Lisa Dank—brings a dynamic live rock band perspective to the DJ format. Wunderbugg patterns its live presentation in the vein of The Chemical Brothers, Infected Mushroom, Tori Amos, and The Crystal Method, while taking the hybrid sound further out via exciting and unpredictable improvisations.
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A lot of exciting buzz swirling Wunderbugg’s orbit between the release of its 2008 indie debut Written in Flesh and the group’s highly anticipated follow-up Transgradulate (a made up term that roughly means “to graduate into a new phase of life with joy”). Their first single, "Dreamcatcher," will debut on Billboard radio as a remix in September 2009, by the notorious Klubjumpers, who have over 50 #1 Billboard Dance chart hits and worked with artists like Madonna, Brittany Spears, and Mariah Carey. More are to come.
In the fall of 2008, Written in Flesh was playing in strong rotation at over 150 CMJ reporting college radio stations and received over 35,000 downloads at Nowtorrent.com.
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At CHOQ, it ranked #24 for almost two months in the CMJ top 30 weekly. It was #21 on KUCR’s CMJ’s top 30 for two weeks, and #5 on KZSU’s weekly Electronica charts for three weeks. Wunderbugg even occasionally beat Squarepusher and Cut Copy on the weekly electronica charts. KYRS in 2009 placed Wunderbugg as a featured artist of the month and did a special, airing 3 of their tracks and talking about the band.
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In 2008, they had the amazing opportunity for Darin Epsilon, an international DJ who does remixes for Paul Oakenfold and D:Fuse, to be the opening act for Wunderbugg on the first show of his West Coast tour. Also, the #1 DJ in Seattle, Johnny Monsoon, who has gotten in the top ten Itunes downloads and opened for DJ Tiesto, Paul Van Dyke, Paul Oakenfold and many more, has opened multiple times for Wunderbugg. They’re also set to play this year’s M.E.A.N.Y festival and CMJ Music Marathon with a prime slot showcase from October 20-24, 2009. There are a number of national tour dates to come, scheduled and promoted through the leading marketing and tour production company in the US, UG Strategies (Coachella, Bonaroo, CMJ Marathon, Lollapallooza)
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Wunderbugg currently has endorsements from Radius Headphones, Gamewright, and the Chelsea Hotel in New York. The free download widget at Reverbnation has received over 100,000+ hits since June 23,2009. The band is currently the #12 Top Alternative Band in Seattle, according to ReverbNation.
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Taking the advice of many industry pros, Wunderbugg evolved from a largely instrumental unit into one featuring the rich vocal talents of Ani Johnson, a recent graduate of Seattle’s acclaimed Cornish College of the Arts and who once sang with the Seattle Opera . Whidden herself has played the piano for eighteen years and has trained for several years with Julie Bonk, Grammy artist, Norah Jones’ personal piano coach.
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Still, the alternative music press was over the moon about their vibe on the all-instrumental Written in Flesh. In September 2008, the national electronic punk oriented XLR8R Magazine ranked Wunderbugg their #7 release; the band was also the only unsigned artist on the publication’s list. Progression , another national magazine writes, “ ..like what might happen if Mike Oldfield and Jean-Michel Jarre decided to “get down” at a rave…these kids are definitely going places, and not only around Seattle.” Wunderbugg also received write ups in the Seattle PI, Regen, Skope, Neufutur, and Toronto Exclusive magazine amongst many others for Written in Flesh.
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Other online accolades includes their song “3 Molecules Away” making national status by being a featured artist on the Lip Service (Clothing) Website soundtrack. The same track was also a featured track on the Rainmaker Public Relations Myspace for almost a year. The band was also given a front page interview from Bandsforlabels.com and deemed the #2 Top Unsigned artist from September through December of 2007.
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A popular attraction on the Seattle scene over the past two years, the band continues to promote its mix of intelligent dance music and self-proclaimed “goa rock” to the world—but with a twist this time. Beyond adding vocals to the mix and working for the first time in a full professional studio (Fastback Studios in Seattle, which has hosted Candlebox), Wunderbugg shifts musically with a more upbeat flow with a more energetic and danceable, pop driven sound. The band has had to do what Nirvana did in the early nineties; to make their own scene and drawn the mainstream to them- and they have. They not only won over the crowds, they have won over the skeptical as well with their dexterous feat of multitasking numerous keyboards, drum machines, samplers, lights, and video equipment simultaneously. Whidden often runs five machines plus keyboards herself.
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You can always discern the mass potential of a band by the company it keeps and Wunderbugg has some very cool luminaries in its corner: Mike Garson (David Bowie, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins), Roy Orbison, Sue Ennis (songwriter for Heart), Juano of Sky Cries Mary, Deep Forest, Collide, KJ Sawka, and Mike Koglin. Mrs. Ennis calls the song “Skin” off Transgradulate, “…great musicianship! You really have some fantastic, creative lyrics! Well put together. I loved it.”
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QUOTES:
Really cool and creative. Good luck!- Mike Garson
MERCY!!!!!-Roy Orbison (yes, THE roy orbison)
Dreamcatcher :)!!!!!!- FORD of the Ford Foundation (38 Billboard dance remix hits)
�that CD is absolute money�.I�ve now played it for the 100th time!!�- George of SgoinOn Entertainment (Killers, Faktion, Bullets & Octane)
�I really love your music. Can�t wait to see you live!�- Sam Hofstedt (STUDIO X...worked on Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Alice in Chains)
You guys are UNFUCKING BELIEVABLE!!! OH MY GOD you FUCKING ROCK!!!- drummer of Scum of the Earth after one of our shows
Very nice Sounds!- Collide
I really like your style, very well written- Mike Koglin (Creamfields/Gatecrashers)
I like what I hear....when does your album come out?- Tom Scanlon (Editor of SEATTLE TIMES)
Wicked- Pitch Black
I love it!- KJ Sawka
Rock On and good luck!- Jen Graham (Radio Team at Metalblade Records)
Nice use of the keyboards- Richard Burke (Radio Team of Skateboard Marketing)
I definitely approve- Mark of Synthetic Magazine
If Boards of Canada had punch and was dancable.- Trenton Doyle Hancock (internationally famous Modern artist who lent a piece for WRITTEN IN FLESH)
Instrumentation
Whidden Flores: Keyboards, drum machines and samplers(17 yrs piano, 7yrs live electronics, 4 yrs audio engineer)
Lorin Atzen: Ableton, cinematography (8 years pro DJ, 7 yrs audio engineering/midi synthesis)
Ani Johnson- Vocals
Lisa Dank- Vocals
Discography
WRITTEN IN FLESH was in heavy college rotation from over 100+ college stations throughout the Fall of 2008.
The album also got consistent rotation in June 2008 from core triple A, and important FM station in Spain, Ibiza Sonica.
The album has been charted through several radio stations in the CMJ TOP 30 for a full month, and now CMJ RPM TOP TEN for several weeks at other stations.
CHOQ CMJ top 24 for 1.5 months
KUCR CMJ #21 top charts for 2 weeks
KZSU CMJ Electronica #5 2-3 weeks december 08
KPFTI
KTRU
Links
| http://www.myspace.com/wunderbuggispimp |
| Webpage |