Cassius

Tags: House , electronic , french

There are 2 bands with the name Cassius: an electronic (dance) music duo from Paris, France and a metalcore band from Richmond, Virginia (US).

(1) Cassius is a French electronic music duo comprising of producers Phillipe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, better known as Philippe Zdar and Boom Bass. They started working together in 1994, producing a hip-hop project called La Funk Mob. They started remixing tracks under the Cassius name in 1997, for acts such as Air and Daft Punk, before producing their own original works.

As hard rock and funk fans, Zdar (Philippe) and Boom-Bass (Hubert) first made their mark producing and engineering the sound sought by hip-hop artists - their great passion of the early â€˜90s. But the raves Zdar attended converted him to house music and, with Etienne de CrÃ©cy, he founded Motorbass. British media opinion surveys chose Motorbassâ€™s â€œPansoulâ€� as one of the yearâ€™s best albums, all styles combined.

BoomBass was soon infected by the techno speed-up, and hooked up with Zdar for a new project, called Cassius. The duoâ€™s first album, 1999, is a collection of instrumental tracks recorded over the two previous years.

Their first single was Foxxy, a self-published track, in 1996. In January 1999, they released their first hit single Cassius 1999 on Virgin Records, entering the UK Top 40 chart at number seven. This was soon followed by their debut album, 1999, which had two more single released from it, Feeling For You and La Mouche.

2002 saw their second album release, Au RÃªve. This featured the feverish "empowered female disco" track I'm A Woman, with Jocelyn Brown on vocals, as well as the hit single The Sound Of Violence, featuring Steve Edwards on vocals. This album also had collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah and Leroy Burgess.

Cassius returned to the studio in 2006, for the more experimental single Toop Toop, but the next album, titled 15 Again, featured more vocal collaborations than the duo had done with Au RÃªve.

While rehearsing their 15 Again album tour, Cassius provided the community with the a cappella track of their single Toop Toop and encouraged fans and friends to start remixing the song. It became an immediate success: the band started the Cassius Workshop project and released more a cappellas for remixing purposes. They claim to have received more than 400 remixes.

(2) Cassius formed in the winter of 2003 in Richmond, Virginia. Drawing members from previous local bands, the band began writing new material and playing regional shows. After many setbacks and line up changes, Cassius decided it was time to buckle down and get serious. After recording their debut full length I Am Jim Jones with Chris Dowhan from Red Planet Studios (Scarlet / Twelve Tribes / Black Dahlia Murder), Cassius cancelled the lease on their apartment, bought a van and trailer and began booking whatever tours they could. Hard work and strong friendships brought them to their current position and with focus and determination, Cassius are hell bent on making themselves a house hold name within the metal and hardcore community. Despite not having a record to tour on previously, Cassius has already completed successful tours with bands like Ed Gein, Misery Signals, Ion Dissonance, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, and Despised Icon to name a few.
They signed to Lifeforce Records, and released I Am Jim Jones in January 2007.

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