Nero, aka North West London producers, remixers du jour, DJs and artists Dan Stephens and Joe Ray, now one of the biggest names in both dubstep and drum and bass released their indie/dubstep hybrid smash single Promises on August 8. Promises stormed straight to the top of the UK charts, knocking Cher Lloyd off the top spot. Their debut album “Welcome Reality” followed the week after and did the same. Released on Chase and Status’ label MTA, “Welcome Reality” is quickly approaching gold. The album features the global smash Me and You, underground hit Innocence and recent single Guilt. Following this success, Nero announce their debut live tour in both the UK and US.
This summer saw Nero DJ on tours through out the UK and US and appeared on various dates on this summer’s Identity Festival, plus all major UK music festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival, Reading, and Wireless. To celebrate the release of their debut album they are about to premiere their monster of a new live show in North America and are booked for an intensive run which includes stops at Webster Hall and Monster Massive in Los Angeles. The live show sees Dan and Joe performing on keyboards, touch screen lemurs and laptops, and are bringing along guest performer Alana on vocals. It is a visual led performance and see’s them performing from a custom build booth consisting of Ghetto Blasters, retro TVs, old amps and an arcade machine centerpiece. Additional DJ dates are also announced.
In addition, Nero are proud to reveal “Welcome Reality – The Game”, the first time a game has been combined with an album sampler and integrated into Facebook to put you in the game. Inspired by the arcade game featured in the video for hit single Me & You, this classic retro beat ’em up features 6 tracks from the album, offering fans a tantalizing first listen to “Welcome Reality”.
Following their UK headline dates through October, Nero will be supporting Tinie Tempah on his autumn arena tour and are about to release their brand new single Crush on October 17.
Nero recently teamed up with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Joe Duddell (the composer behind Elbow & the Halle for 2009 Manchester International Festival) to perform a new commissioned piece titled Dubstep Symphony on Monday 6th June. The unprecedented collaboration was simulcast live from 7pm across BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra and co-hosted by Zane Lowe and MistaJam.
Guilt charted at number 8 and Me and You charted at number 15 and was the most played record on Radio 1 for three weeks in a row. Nero featured on the BBC’s Sound of 2011 music poll and various other influential tips for 2011 lists. In 2010 found Nero winnning Beatport Awards for Best Dubstep Act and Best Dubstep track for Act Like you Know, and receiving nominations for BBC’s Sound of 2011, XFM’s Sound of 2011, and Music Week’s Top 15.
Catch them live at:
October 26 – Burlington, VT at Memorial Auditorium (dj set)
October 27 – Vancouver, BC at Commodore Ballroom (dj set)
October 28 – Magna, UT at The Great Saltair (live)
October 29 – Los Angeles, CA at Monster Massive (live)
October 31 – Denver, CO at 1st Bank Center (live)
November 2 – Milwaukee, WI at The Rave (live)
November 4 – New York, NY at Webster Hall (live)
November 5 – Baltimore, MD at Soundstage (live)
November 6 – Atlanta, GA at The Masquerade (live)
Sweet, I just discovered these guys via Spotify and LOVE THEM! Good stuff! Will def put them on my “must attend” concert list.
Oh, I know. I LOVE Spotify. If you do see them live, see them “live” and not as a “DJ set”. The difference, is well… amazing. And did you try the Facebook game? It matches their beats. Unreal! They one of the first and only artists to combine a video game with their music. It truly blows my mind… see that? Mind blown! Thanks for listening, for reading, and for commenting.