Biography
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Years Active
2011 – present (13 years)
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Members
- Shawn O'Brien
Above This is a two-man internet band consisting of American Shawn O’Brien (vocalist) and Russian Nicholas Shtyrlov (composer and instrumentalist).
The band was formed with five members in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The band consisted of vocalist Shawn O'Brien, lead guitarist Thomas Buser, rhythm guitarist Wes Jenkins, bassist and keyboardist Brandon Lawrance and drummer Johnny Bay.
O'Brien and Buser started the project in 2010. They released a couple of singles online. When O'Brien decided that he was going to become a solo artist, he had set up several different projects across the nation with many different people. But none of those projects had topped Above This. The name comes from the experience that one may face when dealing with rejection, misjudgment, or denial from their friends or family. When O'Brien got kicked out of his first legit band around 2009, he told himself that he wouldn't join another band anytime soon, but after meeting the other members of the band and connecting, they became a band.
Some time later, Jenkins, Lawrance and Bay left the band and Buser took over the role for producing the instrumentals while O'Brien did the vocals. During these years, they released two albums "7L7" in 2010 and "Titanium" in 2013, and two EPs, "Empire" in 2012 and "Hyrax" in 2015.
Eventually Buser also left the project, and O'Brien continued on with the project with different collaborations. The album "Alloquy" was made with Zachary Stitleler in 2015, and the album "Chapter 7" was made with Cameron Ayala and Nicholas Shtyrlov in 2016.
Shtyrlov eventually became a more integral part of the band, now producing all instrumentals for Above This.
O’Brien has built an empire consisting of producers, designers, promoters and engineers that have helped him successfully release several albums since they started. O’Briens ability to recruit talent via social media has allowed the internet band to monetise its music worldwide. Over the years the project has experimented with a variety of sounds including rapping and edm/trap and O’Brien continues to work on future projects amongst different genres.
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