Simply put, the past few years have been nothing short of amazing for STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9). The band released a live concert DVD titled Live As Time Changes, a 1320 Records MIX-TAPE featuring STS9 and a grip of other artists as well as two albums... Artifact & Artifact : Perspectives. All of which were released under their self-owned independent label (1320 Records) to critical acclaim and commercial success including being named in iTunes Best of 2005. On the touring front, ticket sales for the bands undeniably stellar live shows increased dramatically and earned the band a spot on Pollstar Magazines PULSE charts as the number 29 touring artist in the country for their Artifact tour and number 30 for their Perspectives tour while consistantly ranking in the top 50 touring acts in the USA for years. The band has played hundreds of shows including appearances at Austin City Limits Festival, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Winter Music Conference, Vegoose Festival and headlined a sold out Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado returning this year to play TWO nights at the famed venue in front of 12,000 fans. The band also hosted their own festival in North Carolina dubbed RE:Generation bringing over a dozen acts to the sold out weekend.
The press accolades have been countless for STS9. XLR8R proclaimed "...this unique collection of artists and musicians has become one of the country’s most intriguing, innovative outfits around, Remix Magazine announced This band is making electronic music relevant again, and people from all over the musical map are taking notice, as they did when such acts as Chemical Brothers and Prodigy brought something new to the table back in the 90’s. Both of STS9s studio albums released in 2005, Artifact and Artifact: Perspectives, saw a considerable amount of critical acclaim. Regarding Artifact, Amplifier commented, ...proof positive that technology and soul can work together in a single musical form without sacrificing the personality of either in the process." Pitch Weekly urged "Don’t wait until the end of the year for critics to tell you that STS9’s latest album, Artifact, ranks up there with feed-your-head classics from Floyd and Radiohead." In regards to the live show, DRUM! Magazine may have summed it up best when they urged catch STS9 live and bring a bandage for when your chin hits the floor."
STS9 combines varied musical influences, genius live instrumentation and the latest in music technology. As Electronic Musician described, STS9s music an eclectic stew of electro-acoustic pop, funk, drum n bass, hip-hop, ambient, dub and, and more integrates rhythm-section instruments with samplers, drum machines and soft synths. This unique blend of musical angles has earned the band and its music numerous features on television and radio, notably CSI and NPRs All Things Considered Another benefit of STS9s incredibly diverse music is the artists who want to share the stage with them. The past year alone has seen such acts as Jurassic 5, Tortoise, Digable Planets, RJD2, De La Soul, The Brazilian Girls, Prefuse 73, John Butler Trio, Blackalicious, G. Love & Special Sauce, Saul Williams, Soulive, Cut Chemist and Xavier Rudd perform with STS9 across the country.
Always wanting to give back to the community, STS9 have been endlessly devoted to their humanitarian efforts. They work closely with Conscious Alliance and organize food drives for the hungry at every show they play. The band often play benefit concerts as well, helping the Hurricane Katrina victims by raising over $20,000 as well as supporting programs like Mariposas Art in Northern California, helping to raise $10,000. A benefit in South Carolina for the JefJel Foundation raised $10,000 as well. Also, the bands Live As Time Changes tour in 2006 raised nearly $20,000 through per ticket charity fees. To date, STS9 has donated nearly $100,000 to various causes both domestically and abroad. The band also hosts Peaceblaster.com, a web-site dedicated to bringing tools for democracy togther in one place and encouraging their fans (and others) to raise their voice.
STS9 continues their heavy touring schedule with sold-out shows averaging 1,000s per city in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Denver, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Austin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Atlanta, New York City and with countless others, the future is sure to bring the band to bigger and better venues to accommodate their ever-growing fan base and live production. To respond to the demand of their live performances after the fact, STS9 also launched STS9Music.com, a digital download site that releases dozens of shows per tour that allows fans to purchase high quality soundboard recordings just hours after each event. The band also releases a number of shows from their archives as well as original tracks via STS9Music as well.
Fans of STS9 can look forward to continued touring, a brand new studio album, a number of film projects and other releases from their record label 1320 Records.
