DJ Leon Lamont is a New York based DJ, drummer, Filmmaker and Producer in the realms of Electronic and Rock Music. As a DJ, Lamont spins everything across the genre spectrum including Rock-n-Roll, R-n-B, Old School Hip-Hop and various sub-genres within Electronic music including his own original tracks. Lamont is best known for his work as a drummer and has played with various artists on the downtown NYC scene including Melvin Gibbs, Vernon Reid, Joshua Redman, DJ Logic, John Medeski, Chris Wood, Chocolate Genius, Biz Markie and Anti-Pop Consortium to name a few. At present Lamont is the drummer for New York based Rock band Apollo Heights. Known internationally as a producer of Experimental Electronic Music, Lamont is what All Music Guide calls “the difference between an artist and just another beat monger.”
Originally from St. Louis, MO, Lamont started his career as a recording artist in the early 90’s, when he was discovered by then Rollins Band bassist Melvin Gibbs as the drummer and vocalist for the local St. Louis Rock band T.H.U.G.S. After a name change and one release produced by Melvin Gibbs on the small NYC label Rage Records the group disbanded. Following the Rock band’s disassembly, Lamont relocated to New York City and became a favorite drummer among the downtown Jazz scene’s elite which lead to doing many gigs at places like the Knitting Factory, Tonic, Wetlands, Irving Plaza and studio recordings with artists like DJ Logic and Vernon Reid. After finishing the first leg of an American tour with Medeski, Martin & Wood as drummer for DJ Logic’s Project Logic band, Lamont signed a solo artist deal with New York based Wordsound Recordings.
Lamont produced his first solo effort with engineer/producer Scotty Hard who is known for his work with such artist as Wu-Tang Clan, Lisa Stansfield, Prince Paul, De La Soul and Chris Rock. On his solo release titled Breakbeat Mechanic, Lamont took the unconventional approach of producing an Experimental Drum & Bass record that didn’t use any phrase samples and featured Lamont playing the drums live at 170BPM. In support of the release Breakbeat Mechanic, Lamont performed the pieces live with just a MIDI sequencer and a set of drums as he toured Europe appearing in such places as Berlin, Paris, Switzerland, Austria and Poland. After returning to the US from his solo European tour, Lamont evolved from vinyl DJ to digital DJ, which provided him with the freedom to spin and experiment with new original tracks.
