Otherwise

Gradually created in the summer of 2005, Otherwise stems from the collaboration of two artists who have historically worked closely together on separate projects. Iisei and middleman (lower case by choice...not by lack of composition fundamentals) have been writing, producing, performing, and promoting music in the NorthWest scene for almost 10 years, with strong followings in Seattle and Bellingham, Washington. Their music influences and comparative sounds vary with each of their backgrounds.***Ian Flambures, OTHERWISE known as Iisei (pronounced eesay) grew up in a variety of surroundings including the greater Seattle and Portland surrounding areas, the East Bay area, and Belligham, Washington. These places had a strong influence on Iisei's love for Hip Hop Culture. Prior to meeting middleman, Iisei started performing at the age of 15; both singing with a local group "The Prisioners of Poetry", and becoming strongly involved in Jazz dance, and breakin. He also was heavily into acting, gaining roles in a variety of plays and movies. In 1995 Iisei relocated to Bellingham, WA and attended Western Washington University. It was there that he began focus on writing, and fine tuning his poetry and battle rhymes. Over the next few years, he gained a solid reputation as one of Western's premier Emcee's. In 1999, Iisei formed "The Paradyme" with emcee's Exile and Smoke Diggah. The Paradyme's originality was due to a variety of Hip Hop artists that inspired their diverse sound; with influences ranging from Blackalicious to Jay-Z. They entered the scene with a bang, opening for The Pharcyde, Souls of Mischief, and Prince Paul at Westerns Hip Hop Festival on May 15th. The Paradyme then proceeded to do a variety of shows around the Northwest, which included opening for a variety of acts, such as; RaeKwon, Casual, Del, Ras Kass, and many others.***Sean Christensen, OTHERWISE known as middleman spent his early life in the Sacremento, CA area and eventually graduated high school in Mount Vernon, WA (20 minutes south of Bellingham). He became extremely involved in all aspects of Performing Arts; including acting, singing, musicianship, and writing. These talents eventually lead him to co-star in various independant films. He found his first mainstream success with the Alternative Pop group "5NY" in New York City,1996 - 1999. 5NY signed to BMG as a music group, but also achieved television success with a mini series about their lives. Their unexpected break up later on, lead Sean London where he collaborated with Clifford Gilberto (Ninja Tune) on his first hip-hop EP entitled "middleman". Sean then moved back to the Northwest to focus on audio production (film score and album production), and eventually lead to the creation of "homeskool productions" (once again preferring lower casing) in 1999. Homeskool doubled as a production studio, as well as a live outlet for performing. This 4 - 10 piece Jazz/Hip Hop group had a sound that was heavily influenced from icons like Thelonius Monk, The Roots, Miles, Coltrane and Digable Planets. They began playing a large amount of shows in Northwest, including performing w/ Clifford Gilberto (Ninja Tune) @ the Commodore Ballroom @ the 2001 Vancouver B.C. Jazz Festival.***In the winter of 2001, Iisei and middleman met at one of homeskool's weekly shows at The Factory, in Bellingham. They instantly clicked, and eventually formed the collaboration of homeskool productions and The Paradyme. This collaboration eventually lead to middleman joining The Paradyme full time in the fall of 2001, as their primary producer, and also as an emcee.***The Paradyme continued to perform and record in the Northwest for the next 2 years, and put out there solo, self titled album just before their break-up (due to differences in creativity and direction) in December of 2003.***In July of 2004, middleman joined forces with Iisei once again and produced the majority of tracks on Iisei's first solo album "Uncommon Ground". Released on January 28th of 2005, the creation of this CD is what ultimately lead to the eventual creation of OTHERWISE. ***As separate artists, Iisei and middleman have opened for acts such as; Slick Rick, Tha Liks, Sir Mix A Lot, Moby, Run DMC, NSync, and Snap. Together as a new group, OTHERWISE has shared the stage with a variety of Northwest acts, including; H-Bomb, Ra Scion, Below Average Productions, RocketOne, Clockwerk, Vitamin D, and DJ Top Spin.