PureVolume

Members: MC Lars, Damondrick Jack, Jon Thatcher Longley, Rob Piccininni Jr., Mike Russo

"In its twenty-something year history, hip-hop has risen off of the streets and made its way into some pretty surprising places. For example take a look at California rapper MC Lars, the laptop MC who's 'Straight Outta Stanford'."
- Kurt Loder, MTV News

"I want to be someone who people recognize and want to come to see, but stayed true to their art and message through their whole career. I want to be able to tour the world and play sold out shows. I'd love to have some mainstream exposure to subversively bring my ideas into the popular eye, as long as I don't have to compromise what I'm doing for the sake of popularity. I want to work with more artists that I admire and be known for having one of the most fun live touring shows that has ever hit the road. I'd like to die having put out one of the most original greatest hits albums in the history of the popular music. That would be awesome."
- MC Lars

Self-proclaimed originator of "post-punk laptop rap" MC Lars, whose recent hit album This Gigantic Robot Kills (out now Crappy Records/Oglio), continues to crush retail and wow critics and fans across the globe. Branded as the ideal label for a cutting edge artist like MC Lars, Oglio has made a name for itself in the past few years by releasing albums from underground legends Kool Keith and Wesley Willis. Oglio teamed up with the Texan pop-punk quartet Bowling for Soup's front-man Jaret Reddick and novelty rockers Size 14's Linus Dotson for their Crappy Records imprint in 2008, and have gone on to successfully promote and back MC Lars as their breakthrough artist of the year.

First week sales of This Gigantic Robot Kills quadrupled the already staggering first week sales of Lars's previous endeavor, The Graduate. The week the album hit shelves, Lars headlined Dutch software company's 4Worx's first annual hip-hop festival, where Lars played to a packed crowd in Amsterdam two days after the release of Robot. The European press descended on the event, interviewing Lars on national television and in newspapers, enticing Lars to spit one of the hottest freestyles ever kicked on Amsterdam radio. Lars then went on to be featured as a breakthrough artist at MarsCon in Minneapolis a week later, rocking heads at the growing sci-fi event that highlights some of the best underground indie hip-hop acts in the world.

Lars went on to rock more faces than humanly thought possible at his March showcases at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Continuing his talks on hip-hop and postmodern culture at high schools and colleges in the spring, Lars has remained a bright light in the world of rap music, proving time and time again that the genre is more than just a vehicle for extolling "promiscuous women, blunts, 40s, and gats." In April, Lars went on to headline his 10th UK tour, receiving incredible press for his new album, as well as garnering the "Guitar Hero Hero (Beating Guitar Hero Doesn't Make You Slash)" video high rotation on English music television and nearly selling out the entire run.

Lars's spring This Gigantic Robot Kills US tour featured shows booked with with rap legends Nas and Ludcaris, as well as a headlining set at the prestigious Rochester Lilac Festival, playing to a sold out arena of 5,000 on a spring evening in upstate New York. A successful East Coast club run followed, where the "Teenage Dirtbag" hitmakers Wheatus joined Lars on stage in Manhattan for a rousing rendition of "True Player for Real". Following the US mini-tour, Lars returned to Australia for the third time, selling out 300-400 capacity clubs across the country, receiving strong press and radio reaction to the Australian release of the record.

In June, Lars headlined the local stage at the Live 105 BFD festival at the Shoreline Amphitheater, playing to thousands of Bay Area fans. As a result of this, "Hipster Girl" has gone on to receive top rotation on mainstream Bay Area rock radio, while the album's title track has topped commercial radio on the East Coast, primarily in upstate New York. Such radio traction was the result of years of hard work on Lars's behalf and his personal connections with regional DJs. Mainstream rock radio is alive and well for MC Lars, as various tracks from This Gigantic Robot have gone on to receive play across the country all year.

This summer saw Lars performing an interpretation of Stanford professor and renowned classical composer Mark Applebaum's "Metaphysics of Notation" score and the Cantor Art Museum at Stanford University. A breakout concert in the world of experimental sound design and performance art, Lars shows that he will never stop pushing boundaries creatively. Fellow rapper K.Flay, a Bay Area hip-hop artist currently being developed by hip-hop legends Zion I, invited Lars to collaborate on an EP with her in June. The EP's breakout title track "Single and Famous" went on to become a YouTube hit with the fans and received prime airplay on Live 105 in San Francisco, spurring more incredible sales of This Gigantic Robot Kills.

Lars headlined the Nerdapalooza festival in Florida in July, impressing the crowd and showing he still had love for a scene (nerdcore) that he had transcended commercially and artistically. At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, Lars signed autographs for post-punk laptop rap fans at the convention center and then headlined the first annual After-Con, a sold out after-party attended by many influential Hollywood producers and Internet taste-makers. In September, Lars completed a song for the American Heart Association, whose marketing team are currently launching a giant national campaign to teach kids about CPR, of which MC Lars will be the main figure.

Lars gears up to return to the UK with old friends Bowling for Soup, and new friends Zebrahead and the Leftovers on his second run of the This Gigantic Robot Kills UK tour. His video "True Player for Real", made entirely from sock puppets, will debut as the iTunes single of the week on October 13th, additionally being promoted by legend "Weird Al" Yankovic on his website and to his million Twitter followers. "This Gigantic Robot Kills", the new video and single, will hit mainstream and college radio this fall, with an ingenious green-screened video to be serviced to MTV by Oglio/Crappy. Lars will be touring for the rest of 2009 and has been offered support slots with bigger bands in early 2010, hitting the festival circuit next summer.

Having been in the hip-hop game for almost a decade, Lars and his team have proven that an independent artist can survive comfortably in the face of a changing music industry and uncertain economy. With successful tours in nine different international markets, Lars has stayed on his grind nonstop, well aware that today's indie artist make a living through constantly playing shows and maintaining an Internet presence. On a shoestring budget, Lars has received exposure from MTV, G4, and mainstream rock radio, as well as laudatory reviews from Rolling Stone to SPIN to Alternative Press. Continuing in the punk rock and DIY footsteps of his heroes and forebearers, Lars has stayed relevant as an iconoclast arbiter of pop and underground culture. It's amazing how far one can go with just a laptop and a dream.

This is just the beginning.