Following his recent return to live performing, co-founding STS9 bassist David Murphy has announced a new project, For My Peeps. The new group includes guitarist Kevin Donohue (SunSquabi), keyboardist Scott Hannay (Mihali), drummer Rohan Prakash (Rohansolo), and percussionist Phil Ordonez (Space Kadet) and will celebrate classic Tribe songs and introduce Murphy’s new original compositions.
“For the past few years, I’ve deeply missed playing music,” Murph wrote in a social media post announcing the project. “My time with STS9 shaped me. It came from a lifelong passion of playing music with friends, and that passion hasn’t ever faded—it’s only evolved. That’s why I’ve decided to form a new group and bring those classic Sector 9 songs to life—songs that are the core to who I am. Music and art aren’t owned; they’re shared. Artists create to express love, joy, sadness, hope—and to help people feel and think.”
David Murphy will debut For My Peeps live at Terminal West in Atlanta on September 11th [get tickets]. The band’s show will draw from STS9’s early catalog including the seminal Artifact (2005) and its first two albums, Interplanetary Escape Vehicle (1999) and Offering Schematics Suggesting Peace (2000). For My Peeps will weave these songs into Murph’s emerging solo catalog, which draws influences from Nine Inch Nails, Daft Punk, Pink Floyd, Empire of the Sun, Tame Impala, and Herbie Hancock & The Headhunters.
Related: STS9 Dusts Off “Dark Star” To Close Triumphant Return To Grateful Dead Country [Videos]
“It’s been years since STS9, and in that time, life has been humbling, beautiful, and full of new lessons—but my love for music has only deepened,” Murphy concluded. “I’m ready to share that, with the humility of someone who remembers the 19-year-old kid who just wanted to travel the world, play music, and bring the funk to the peeps!”
Murphy co-founded STS9 outside Atlanta in Snellville, GA in 1997 with guitarist/keyboardist Hunter Brown, keyboardist David Phipps, drummer Zach Velmer, and percussionist/keyboardist Jeffree Lerner. They became pioneers of the emerging jamtronic movement that combined jam-rock instrumentation with electronic elements. Murphy released six studio albums with the band—including Artifact, which peaked at #12 on Billboard’s Top Electronic Albums chart—before splitting with STS9 in 2014, replaced by current bassist Alana Rocklin.
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STS9 — Boulder Theater — Boulder, CO — 3/17/07 — Full Video
[Video: Scott Brown]