Shifty
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Shifty Shellshock is the pseudonym for Seth Brooks Binzer (born August 23, 1974), the co-founder/front man of Crazy Town.
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[edit] Life
Binzer was born in Boston to Jean Brooks and Rollin Binzer. His father was an artist and filmmaker who did album covers and directed The Rolling Stones' Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stone movie.
His family moved to Hollywood, California during his childhood. At the age of 12, Binzer began writing rhymes and then later rapping. During adolescence, he immersed himself in the West Coast hip hop scene and became a graffiti artist around Los Angeles with Westwood Village and Hollywood among his targets. It made sense, "I got into all the biggest graffiti crews 'cos no one could believe what I would climb up into and write on. I was like a monkey. I would climb onto the tallest buildings."[citation needed]
It was through those crews that he became friends with Scott Caan and The Alchemist, and became a member of late 80's/early 90's hip-hop outfit The Whooliganz. He toured as the band's hype man at the age of 15, alongside the bands Cypress Hill, Rage Against the Machine and House of Pain.
[edit] Crazy Town
In a L.A recording studio in 1995 Binzer met Crazy Town co-founder Epic Mazur. Binzer and Mazur began working together under the name The Brimstone Sluggers. The Sluggers never signed to a label or released a CD. Binzer and Mazur also split their time doing production work for other bands, most notably the Black Eyed Peas.
Between late 1998 and early 1999, Binzer and Mazur assembled the band Crazy Town. Crazy Town recorded and released its first album "The Gift of Game" in the same year and scored a #1 hit with their single Butterfly in early 2001. Reportedly, the song was written by Binzer about a recent break up with his long time girlfriend, Cynthia Mittweg.[citation needed]
Crazy Town split up in 2003, after receiving little success from their sophomore album Darkhorse.
[edit] Other Work
In 2002, Binzer contributed vocals to the Paul Oakenfold song "Starry Eyed Surprise," which made the top 10 in the UK. In 2004, he released his debut solo single, "Slide Along Side," as well as his debut album, Happy Love Sick.
Binzer has appeared in two films, one was Clifford in 1994 and the other was a short film called Willowbee released in 2004 starring Amy Smart.
Binzer has also begun working on a new band called Cherry Lane.
[edit] Trivia
- Binzer has a son named Halo.
