| Ari Herstand | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ari Seth Herstand |
| Born | June 1, 1985 |
| Origin | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Genres | Acoustic rock Pop Folk Jazz |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter Guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals Acoustic guitar Piano Trumpet Vocal percussion |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Proud Honeybee Productions |
| Associated acts | This World Fair, Breanne Düren, Roster McCabe |
| Website | http://www.AriHerstand.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Slap Acoustic Guitar, Loop Station | |
Ari Seth Herstand (born June 1, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California (previously Minneapolis, Minnesota) who specializes in live-looping of the guitar, piano, trumpet, vocals, and percussion.
Herstand is an eclectic artist with multiple and varied stylistic influences, including folk, hip-hop, jazz, and acoustic rock. He is popular in the United States where he has played at Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI and the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, TX, as well as Carnegie Hall.[1][2] He has played with various major artists including Ben Folds, Cake, Sister Hazel, Phil Vassar, Matt Nathanson, Joshua Radin, Eric Hutchinson, and the BoDeans.[3][4][5] His music has been played on popular TV shows such as The Real World[6] and One Tree Hill.[7]
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Ari Herstand grew up in both Madison, Wisconsin and Shorewood. He is self-taught on the piano and began playing guitar at 14. He picked up the trumpet in 5th grade.[8]
Ari briefly studied music education at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. In 2004, he transferred to McNally Smith College of Music (MusicTech at the time) in St. Paul, MN and began his career as a singer/songwriter. While there he played coffee shops and club shows extensively at and around the University of Minnesota usually with cellist Lucas Shogren. Through grass roots promotion and a buzz generated from live performances on the UMN campus Herstand gained popularity.
Herstand's music gained wider acclaim in 2006 when his songs were played on The Real World.[9] He performed at the 2006 and 2007 South by Southwest Music festival in Austin, Texas and the 2006-2010 Summerfest festivals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
For full band performances, Herstand currently plays with a rotating cast of musicians including Zack Carroll, DJ House, Jay Corkran, Alexander Young and George Hadfield. His current full band makeup includes a drummer, bassist and lead guitar player while Ari plays acoustic guitar, keyboards, trumpet, tambourine, beat boxes and utilizes a loop station.
Former band members include: Lucas Shogren (cello), Tim Kloster (trumpet), Johnny Timm (bass), Casey Palbicki (drums), Brian Palay (lead guitar), Rachel Holder (vocals/keys), Joey Wedel (drums) and David Burney (bass).
Herstand is best known for his live looping technique. His shows consist of melding the acoustic guitar, keyboards, trumpet, vocal percussion (beat boxing) and tambourine.[10][11] Herstand primarily tours solo and uses his looping technique on most of his songs during the show.
Herstand has been reviewed positively, where he has been noted as breathing "much-needed warmth and verve into the acoustic rock formula" with "impressive" talent.[12][13][14] Grammy winning producer Kevin Bowe has also stated that "the positive, intimate nature of Ari's writing and singing bring to mind artists such as Cat Stevens, but his style is current enough to sound right at home on the radio."
Herstand recently completed a 50+ date tour with Zach Berkman and MySpace phenomenon Ron Pope.[15] The tour began on March 23rd, 2011 and ended on May 26th, 2011 at The Bitter End in New York City. The tour included venues in the following states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and Massachusetts.[16] While Pope was the headliner for the tour, he had never toured nationally prior to the Whatever it Takes Tour. Herstand booked all the dates for the tour.
After graduating McNally Smith College of Music, Herstand started Proud Honeybee Productions (PHP), a music production company. PHP oversees business aspects of various Minneapolis-based artists, including Roster McCabe.[17] PHP was responsible for Roster McCabe's Billboard Magazine placement and Herstand's placement on One Tree Hill. The name of the company was based on Herstand's song 'Proud Honeybee' from his first studio album, Baby Eyes.