Ben Annand - Moontribe - Nov 2007

Biography of Ben Annand

Ben Annand's interest in electronic music dates to 1995, when he began attending clubs and parties some 3-4 times per week while earning his living as a high-school substitute teacher. It was a source of great amusement to him that his day would start with writing 'Mr. Annand' on the chalkboard, and end dancing the night away in a nightclub. When Ben began learning how to DJ he decided to play on the classroom-to-nightclub theme by choosing to be Mr. Annand in both roles. Thus, Mr. Annand's DJ career was born, a career he dreamed would someday allow him to spend his life playing music all around the globe.

Working diligently on his mixing skills, Mr. Annand landed his first local DJ gig in March 1997. In December 1997 he played his first out-of-town gig, in Hartford, CT, and just one year later played his first international event in Quito, Ecuador. Mr. Annand's popularity has snowballed since this time, bringing his music to over 60 cities in 8 countries on 4 continents worldwide. Some of the highlights include a summer residency in Mexico City, closing the jazz stage of the Acapulco World Sound Festival, closing the 20,000 person Festimad in Madrid as part-of a 4-country European tour, 10 visits to Moscow's famous Propaganda club, and greeting 2002 at the Rave Goa, held in a huge bullfighting arena in Madrid. He has appeared on numerous broadcast and internet radio programs and appeared on Russian Music Television (MUZ-TV), viewed by over 2 million people in 320 cities across Russia.

In addition to managing his hectic road schedule, Mr. Annand has become one of the most respected DJs and promoters in Los Angeles. Currently he holds residency with Moontribe, an eleven-year running full moon party held in the Southern California desert, and organizes and djs at Tropical, LA's top underground house event for over 6 years running. In 2003, Ben moved into a downtown Los Angeles loft space, and since then has held Tropical downstairs from his bedroom and living area. He took Tropical to a new level in 2004 by organizing 3 boat parties from Long Beach harbor - these were easily the most talked-about house events of the year in Southern California. In 2005 he continues to branch out by organizing the talent on the outdoor stage at the annual Shasta Gathering in Northern California in June and taking Tropical outdoors in Southern California later in the summer.

Since first being inspired by the electronic dance community in 1995, Mr. Annand has always felt the dance scene should participate in and contribute to the larger community around it. To the end he has helped organize southern California's annual Gathering of the Tribes Conference and Festival, has donated DJ services frequently for charity benefits, and has contributed over $2700 to charitable organizations on behalf of Tropical. In April 2005 he coordinated a full moon boat party benefit for Nextaid, an organization combating the problem of AIDS in Africa, and hopes to increase Tropical's charitable contributions to environmental organizations over the rest of the year.

Over the years, Mr. Annand's music has continually evolved towards its present range from deep jazzy house to banging tech-house and tribal. His taste steers away from remixes and obvious vocals, favoring tracks with depth and mood and vocals that are open to interpretation. 'I like to think of the human voice as another instrument, an incredibly beautiful instrument which I use to conjure a mood rather than tell people a specific story. I like it when 5 people hear a vocal and have five different interpretations of it. That's what was so different about electronic music to me when I first heard it - the endless possibility for interpretation. I feel that a lot of electronic music coming out now relies on rehashing the familiar but I prefer to create a sound that preserves the uniqueness and possibility that drew me in the first place.'