Mr. Blotto was born in Chicago as an off-night vehicle for musicians who loved each others playing but were in different bands at the time. The only rule was that they would only play what they loved. That philosophy continues today and has led Mr. Blotto into unique musical situations.

Mr. Blotto takes the Jam band asthetic into areas unfamiliar to the standard Jam Scene. They have been known to cover entire albums by Led Zeppelin and the Who as well as perform entire shows of Country and Reggae. Artists as diverse as the Grateful Dead, the Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson and The Velvet Underground have seen their material interpreted by Mr. Blotto in the 2000+ shows the band has performed in the last 15 years, yet covers only pepper the bands hefty catalog of original material stemming from five studio albums and other unreleased crowd favorites.

D. Bess is a one-man band who loops all his licks live. Born and raised on Oahu, the roots of his Hawaiian upbringing can be heard in his original mix of reggae, ska, blues, folk, hip-hop and dance funk. No pre-recordings, no laptops: just pure D. Funk, recorded and rocked live. Get you some.

“Bess dazzles as a one-man band, writing, playing and singing everything into an ambitious, genre-tripping groove-athon… a shape-shifting hybrid of dub, hip-hop, ska, reggae, funk and classic early ’70s soul.” – No Depression

“D. Bess (as he’’s known on stage) creates his unique tunes from the ground up as he builds the music on itself tier by tier using a stage’s worth of pedals and instruments. The labor-intensive results set an emotive backdrop for high times, low times and the unyielding roller coaster in between, creating positive pieces of poetry and winding loops for the listener to dissect.” – Flagstaff LIVE