SPRC

The story of Solar Powered Race Car started when Ed Lee, guitarist and lead singer, had a dream about playing guitar one night during his days as a student at UCLA. The dream proved itself to be an omen when he was given a classical guitar later that same day. He then taught himself to play along to the music of legends like the Beatles, Weezer, Bush, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and lots of Smashing Pumpkins. His first band, Bluesquare, released a demo and played a few shows around LA before disbanding after a year. After another year of trying to start a new project, he met Marcus Verwoerd, a drummer originally from Louisville, Kentucky. His unique style, a blend of jazz, soul, and rock influences, is thanks to his eclectic taste in music, which ranges from Sade and Tori Amos to Steely Dan to Massive Attack. Together, they formed Solar Powered Race Car, and spent the next several years writing and perfecting songs before playing their first show in 2012. Fate had more in store for SPRC, it seemed, because in the audience was Justin Pederson, who was invited to the show by an acquaintance of Ed’s. Very impressed after their set, Justin introduced himself to the duo, mentioning that he was a bassist and would like to fill out the band’s sound. With his love of bands like Primus, Metallica, Queens of the Stone Age, and Napalm Death, he contributed a hard rock undertone to the band’s melodic alternative sound. Each of SPRC’s members brings a very different set of influences together to form a sound that ranges from airy and soulful to gritty and grungy, with lyrics about every aspect of the human condition: pain, sadness, hope, rage, life and death.  They live in Los Angeles.