Role One

In 2005, back home in Seattle after a tour of Europe, MC LBD (Little Black Devil) and Stingshark made a decision to blend digital and live rhythms to create digital tracks in the studio then adapt them to a live stage experience with a full band. This was the beginning of the Role One sound. With a strong influence of Beck, Manu Chao, Jimi Hendrix, A Tribe Called Quest, and pure funk groove, LBD (vocals/guitar) and Stingshark (vocals/intergalactic guitar) use their variety of songs to keep the pace going, always taking the listener on a unique musical experience. Lennox Holness on electric bass, Adam Hicks on keys and "Brimstone" on percussion comprise the building blocks that are the solid rhythm section.
Starting out in the funk powerhouse Phat Sidy Smokehouse, Brian Stingshark Ray and Tyrone LBD Lovelace grew up playing together, and have shared the stage with Morris Day and the Time, Fishbone, Parliament/Funkadelic, Digital Underground, Spearhead, Joe Higgs, Eek-A-Mouse, Greyboy Allstars, and the Pharcyde, eventually playing with Lennox Holness in the improv jazz-funk group Marmalade (featuring members of Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Wheedle's Groove, the Tiptons, and Shawn Smith). Stingshark and LBD vision came into focus when they started playing with Adam "Professor" Hicks, who was giging in a band called Hardison; while a chance meeting with flamenco drummer/percussionist David "Brimstone" Levin of the North American touring flamenco troupe Carmona Flamenco adds an underlying Spanish feel. The choice of Lennox Holness as the low-end sonic controller comes naturally, as he and LBD are two of the top funk bass players on the Northwest scene.
The combination of musicians with different backgrounds meeting together on the groove gives Role One the ability to move the crowd like no other. Role One comes in to take the crowd to the highest level they imagined, then even higher... A live show dedicated to pumping up the crowd.