Tom Shear

Tom Shear, 2008

Tom Shear (born November 12, 1971 in State College , Pennsylvania ) is an American musician and record producer and founder of the solo future pop / electro project Assemblage 23 .

Shear now lives in Seattle , Washington.

background

Shear has acquired his musical skills autodidactically . After teaching himself to play the piano , he took piano lessons for a few months, which he stopped when he felt he was going backwards. In 1994 he graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in television and film production .

While still in high school in the late 1980s, he began composing instrumental synth-pop music at home under the name Man On A Stage . He also played live bass in a punk- influenced band called The Advocates .

Shear himself describes the band Depeche Mode as the greatest influencing factor on his musical career in the direction of electronic music . A defining experience happened when he attended a Depeche Mode concert in 1988: Shear was so impressed by the industrial / dance performance of a DJ from the opening act that from that point on he also integrated industrial influences into his work. As part of this creative change, his project Man On A Stage was renamed Assemblage 23 .

Assemblage 23

Shear worked on Assemblage 23 while in college . His occasional attempts to draw attention to himself with demos had little effect. At the same time he worked with his friends Matt Guenette and Mike Ukstins on the synth-pop project Procession , which brought him further experience with live performances.

In 1992, Shear published a collection of his own pieces under the name Wires , which aroused some enthusiasm from smaller radio stations and underground magazines, but failed to arouse the interest of record labels . In the mid-1990s he produced techno tracks for his side project Nerve Filter , with which he met with a certain amount of interest at the record label 21st Circuitry . The first official publication as assemblage 23 can be found with Graverobber on the compilation Construction No. 009 from Arts Industria. Shear continued writing songs for Assemblage 23 and, despite his frustration with the lack of interest from the record industry, never tired of sending out demos. The main reason he later named was the support and encouragement from his early fans.

In 1998 his persistence paid off when the Canadian label Gashed Records signed Assemblage 23 and released the first album Contempt in 1999. In the same year, Shear's father committed suicide and the pain and loss that came with it was obviously musical processing in the second album Failure , which was released in 2001. Both albums were very well received by critics and particularly enjoyed some popularity in dance clubs .

Shear left Gashed Records and signed with Metropolis Records , which in addition to the new editions of Contempt and Failure also released the albums Defiance (2002) and Storm (2004). The track Let The Wind Erase Me from the album Storm even appeared on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles chart .

Shear himself describes his project Assemblage 23 as "melodic, danceable electronic music".

Further work

Shear is, among other things, producer of the band backandtotheleft and released their album Obsolete in 2004 under his own label, 23db Records . In addition, he occasionally makes guest appearances as a singer for other musicians.

Web links

• Tom Shear website