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Arkaea is an industrial metal supergroup formed in 2008 featuring members from Threat Signal and Fear Factory.

Formation[link]

The band was formed by Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera (formerly of Fear Factory) who had recorded a demo for a new band. They sent the demo to Threat Signal vocalist Jon Howard and Arkaea was spawned. They tried to obtain Sam Rivers for bassist, who was all for it but then decided to back down due to location. Ryan Martinie of Mudvayne then offered his services for the album but it was felt it would be too difficult for another bassist to replicate his unique basslines live as he could not tour due to Mudvayne commitments. After some time spent searching for the perfect bassist, another Threat Signal member, Pat Kavanagh, was finally chosen. Their debut entitled Years in the Darkness was set to be released on March 3, then March 10^[1] but was not released until July 14, 2009,^[2] selling roughly 980 units in its first week.^[3] Half of the songs that appear on the album were originally intended to be for a possible new Fear Factory album. In addition to a 5 minute long sampler the band posted the opening track "Locust" on their Myspace.

Members[link]

• Jon Howard - vocals (Threat Signal)
• Christian Olde Wolbers - guitar (ex-Fear Factory)
• Pat Kavanagh - bass (Threat Signal)
• Raymond Herrera - drums (ex-Fear Factory)

Discography[link]

Sources[link]

1. ^ "ARKAEA: Video Footage Of Live Debut Available". Roadrunnerrecords.com. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=112880. Retrieved 2011-12-10. 
2. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "ARKAEA: 'Years In The Darkness' First-Week Sales Revealed". Roadrunnerrecords.com. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=124025. Retrieved 2011-12-10. 

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Christian Olde Wolbers (born 5 August 1972, Antwerp, Belgium) is the guitarist of the metal band Arkaea. He is the former bassist and guitarist of the industrial metal band Fear Factory, and is now in Beowülf.^[1]

Biography[link]

Olde Wolbers was born in Belgium (though he has Dutch citizenship), and moved to the United States in 1993. He was asked to join Fear Factory in December 1993 as a bass player. He recorded five albums with them. The group disbanded in 2002 and when it reformed in 2003, Olde Wolbers had switched to guitar, replacing Dino Cazares. In 2009, Olde Wolbers and drummer Raymond Herrera parted ways with Fear Factory when vocalist Burton C. Bell chose to reform Fear Factory with Dino Cazares, bassist Byron Stroud, and drummer Gene Hoglan.^[2]

Olde Wolbers is currently working on musical project Arkaea with fellow ex-Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera^[3] and Jon Howard and Pat Kavanagh of the band Threat Signal. On 14 July 2009, Arkaea's debut album, Years in the Darkness was released.

Olde Wolbers is now in Beowülf, where he co-produced their 2011 album Jesus Freak.

Contributions[link]

He contributed upright bass to Devin Townsend's second album Infinity in 1998. In 2006, he helped produce and mix Mnemic's third album, Passenger, and also produced Bleed the Sky's Murder the Dance and Threat Signal's debut album, Under Reprisal. In 2008, he produced End of the Rope's new album, Till It Bleeds and in 2009, Wolbers produced Years in the Darkness for Arkaea. He filled in as live guitarist for Korn for the first three shows of their European tour. He appears as a guest guitar player on the EP This World by breakbeat production group The Autobots.^[4] He produced the vocals for God Forbid's Earthsblood, co-wrote and played bass on Snoop Dogg's album Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss. He helped Cypress Hill with their rock outfit and wrote songs for their Stoned Raiders and Skull & Bones albums. He also played on two songs on Soulfly's debut in 1998.

Equipment[link]

Olde Wolbers was endorsed by Jackson, and has a number of custom guitars made for, including seven-string guitars, his first two seven string guitars were built by Jackson's master builder Mike Shannon in 2003. Besides his production Signature 7 and 6 string models (colors: Black, Desert Camo, Red Blue Pearl, Silver Burst), Jackson built at least 12 Custom shop 7 string guitars for Christian, most of which he received, that includes: Soloist: Natural finish - Mahogany (used in the "Bite The Hand That Bleeds" video); Black - (used in the "Cyberwaste" video); Red (now with a sticker next to the bridge); Silverburst with Floyd Rose bridge (used in the "Archetype" video); Silverburst with Floyd Rose bridge and blue led inlays;

King V: Black Black with a floyd Rose;

Kelly: Burst with a Floyd Rose;

The guitars that Christian did not get: Soloist Black with black hardware; Soloist Desert Camo - Christian got it with a broken headstock and it was later repaired sold on eBay; Soloist Silverburst with a TOM bridge; Red King V;

He also had 2 seven-string guitars made by ESP That belonged to Stephen Carpenter and one custom made by Hufschmid Guitars.^[5] He uses Randall amplifiers, including a V2 Guitar Amp Head and an XL Series RS125XL 260W, 2x12. Randall released an Olde Wolbers signature amp, the V2 Archetype.^{[citation needed]} Before the Randall endorsement, he used a Marshall JMP-1 preamp with a Marshall power amp, which was also suggested and given to him by Carpenter. This was used for Archetype, but was later abandoned in 2005 when he received a Krank Amplification endorsee, using their Krankenstein amps. His main amp was a prototype head that belonged to Dimebag Darrel. The Kranks were used for Transgression, and later sold in 2009, a few year after receiving his Randall endorsement.

In his bassist days, he used a Japanese Ibanez Soundgear SR-885 bass, and his photo with it was printed in Ibanez catalogues. Later on, he began using custom-made Fender 5-string Jazz Basses and customized Roscoe Beck 5 strings with only 1 pickup. This Fender endorsement later led to them making him his Jackson custom shop 7 Strings.

Discography[link]

With Fear Factory[link]

• Demanufacture (1995) (live bassist)
• Obsolete (1998) (bassist)
• Digimortal (2001) (bassist)
• Archetype (2004) (guitarist/bassist)
• Transgression (2005) (guitarist/bassist)

With Arkaea[link]

• Years in the Darkness (2009) (guitarist)

Guest appearances[link]

• Devin Townsend - Infinity (1998) (upright bass)
• Roadrunner United - The All Star Sessions (2005) (bass on The Dagger, Independent (Voice of the Voiceless), The Rich Man and Army of the Sun)
• Threat Signal - Under Reprisal (2006) (additional keyboards and vocals)
• On the "Bones" version from the Skull & Bones album by Cypress Hill.

Production credits[link]

• Threat Signal - Under Reprisal (2006)
• Bleed the Sky - Murder the Dance (2007)
• Mnemic - Passenger (2007)
• End of the Rope - Till It Bleeds (2008)
• Arkaea - Years in the Darkness (2009)
• God Forbid - Earthsblood (2009)
• Our Last Enemy - Fallen Empires (2010)
• Beowülf - Jesus Freak (2011)
• Sunflower Dead - (2011)

Sport[link]

As a teenager Olde Wolbers was a goalkeeper at the youth academy of Belgian professional football soccer club Germinal Ekeren, and was the team's reserve goalkeeper for several games in the Belgian Second Division. He was suspended for having long hair and tattoos at the age of 17 due to the conservativeness of the club, and chose instead to concentrate on his music career. Since moving to the United States, Olde Wolbers has played regularly for the Los Angeles-based amateur team Hollywood United, and currently plays for Angel City FC in the semi-professional Los Angeles Premier League.^[6]

Olde Wolbers is also the founder and owner of Aviata Sports,^[7] an international sportswear company which specializes in manufacturing goalkeeper gloves. Aviata gloves are worn in Major League Soccer by Josh Saunders of Los Angeles Galaxy, the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, La Liga, Eredivisie in the Netherlands, the Barclays Premier League, and many more leagues all over the world.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Christian Olde Wolbers at MySpace
• Christian Olde Wolbers guitar rig including Guitar World scan

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Raymond Herrera (born December 18, 1972) is the drummer for industrial metal band Arkaea. He is a former member of the industrial metal band Fear Factory and Mexican metal band Brujeria.

Biography[link]

Raymond Herrera is an award winning composer and producer of music for video games, television, feature films and transmedia. An RIAA certified Platinum-Selling recording artist, Herrera recorded his commercial album debut with his first band Fear Factory in 1992, Soon after the album's release, Herrera began a nearly two decade long recording and touring schedule that included over twelve commercial album releases and numerous world tours.

In 1996 Herrera started to secure music licensing of Fear Factory's music for dozens of video game titles, this allowed Herrera to branch out and create Herrera Productions (Became 3volution Productions in 2003 with videogame industry veteran Laddie Ervin) as cross-genre composer-producer working on numerous videogame projects. His experience writing and producing rock, metal, industrial and rap music combined with orchestral, techno and other genres lead him to work on projects for many top videogame publishers and developers in North America, Japan and Europe including Microsoft, SEGA, Sony, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, THQ, Midway, Capcom, Namco, Atari, Majesco and others.

Some of Herrera's notable game projects include: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (1 and 2), Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Scarface: The World is Yours, MX vs. ATV Reflex, NFL Gameday 2004, WWE Smakdown vs. Raw 2006, Alpha Protocol, Test Drive 4, Too Human and Iron Man 2. Projects he has worked on have sold more than 30 million units in combined sales and have been nominated for various awards including the BAFTA award for game of the year.

Herrera has produced, composed or performed with notable recording artists including: Fear Factory, Arkaea, Cypress Hill, Shavo Odadjian (System of a Down), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Everlast, DJ Lethal, Frank Black (The Pixies), Stephen Carpenter (Deftones), Puddle of Mudd, Gary Numan, Wayne Static (Static-X), Pat Lachman (Damageplan), Doug Carrion (Circle Jerks), Megadeth, The Prague and Magik Magik Orchestras, Jeff Kendrick & Mike Spreitzer (Devildriver) and Junkie XL.

In 2006 Herrera created Temple Studios LLC, which is a recording studio located in Chatsworth, California. It is a partnership between 3volution LLC and B-Real's (Cypress Hill) Audio Hustlers Inc. Production Company. X-Zibit became a partner in the summer of 2011. Together they record, Produce, Mix and Master on their state of the art equipment and facility to produce top notch music, voice over and sound effects. for all entertainment mediums.

in 2006 Herrera co-created a Beverage company called Redux Beverages LLC, Which is a fully owned subsidiary of Redux Enterprises Inc. and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, Redux Beverages created the wildly popular, Cocaine Energy Drink. Within 90 days, Cocaine claimed the distinction of being the fastest globally branded Energy Drink product in history.

In 2008 Herrera played drums with Arkaea along with former Fear Factory band member Christian Olde-Wolbers along with Jon Howard and Pat Kavanagh from Threat Signal. The band release an album entitled Years In The Darkness.

In 2009 Herrera started Alt-Strum Productions. (ASP) is in the forefront of the new age of digital distribution and artist promotion for the music and gaming industries. Participating as part of the newly launched Rock Band Network initiative ASP authors and programs existing audio and custom audio content which is then sold as playable Rock Band tracks to a video game audience of millions.

In 2010 Herrera co-created Freedom To Rock and is on the board of directors. Freedom To Rock is a 501c3 non-profit organization (Loretta Palacios CEO) has become a strategic partner with The United States Entertainment Force Inc, a 501c3 non-profit, proud home of The Hopes and Dreams Project (Jerry Payne, CEO, and former USO producer). Freedom To Rock touches the lives of our military through Music, Art, Film and Services. This partnership will bring two entertainment organizations; with over 25 years of experience in serving our Armed Forces. Freedom To Rock will be a yearly event to the Military installations featuring Bands and Artists to entertain our troops.

Gameography[link]

Discography[link]

Style[link]

Herrera's drumming is considered to be a key part of Fear Factory's signature sound and their appeal to fans. Herrera is known to use triggers on his drum set. He is also known for his high speed playing, particularly his double bass technique, which involves the use of tuplets and other embellishments rather than the blast beats commonly found in extreme metal percussion. Herrera's bursts of double bass often share a dualism with Dino Cazares's fast palm muted staccato guitar notes, resulting in the machine gun-like sound found in many Fear Factory songs.

Equipment Endorsements[link]

• Pro-mark drum sticks
• Zildjian cymbals
• DW pedals (5000 series)
• Remo drum heads
• Tama Drums

References[link]

External links[link]

• 3volution Productions LLC
• Redux Beverages LLC
• Cocaine Energy
• Freedom To Rock
• Cocaine Energy Merchandising
• Cocaine Energy Web Store

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Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill performing at Bonnaroo in 2006
Background information
Also known as	DVX (Devasting Vocal Excellence)
Origin	South Gate, California, United States
Genres	Hip hop, rap rock, alternative hip hop, west coast hip hop
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Ruffhouse, Columbia, Sony Music, Priority, EMI
Associated acts	Soul Assassins, Tom Morello, Everlast, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Slash, House of Pain, Xzibit, Funkdoobiest, Adil Omar, Young De, Travis Barker, Psycho Realm, La Coka Nostra, Rusko, Rage Against the Machine, Fergie, La Coka Nostra
Website	CypressHill.com
Members
B-Real DJ Muggs Sen Dog Eric Bobo
Past members
Mellow Man Ace

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Cuban-American/Latino hip hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide. It is one of the most well-known groups in West Coast rap and was critically acclaimed for their first two groundbreaking albums.^[1]

History[link]

Formation (1988)[link]

Senen Reyes (also known as Sen Dog) and Ulpiano Sergio Reyes (also known as Mellow Man Ace) are brothers who initially lived in South Gate, California. In 1971, their family had immigrated to the United States, settling in the Los Angeles neighborhood of South Gate. In 1988, the two brothers teamed up with Lawrence Muggerud (also known as DJ Muggs) and Louis Freese (also known as B-Real) to form a hip-hop group named DVX (Devastating Vocal Excellence). The band soon lost Mellow Man Ace to a solo career, and changed their name to Cypress Hill, after a street in South Gate.^[2]

Early works and mainstream success (1989–1995)[link]

After recording a demo in 1989, Cypress Hill signed a record deal with the major label, Columbia Records. Their self-titled first album was released in August 1991. The lead single was the double A-side "The Phuncky Feel One"/"How I Could Just Kill a Man" which received heavy airplay on urban and college radio. The other two singles released from the album were "Hand on the Pump" and "Latin Lingo", the latter of which combined English and Spanish lyrics. The success of these singles led to the album selling two million copies in the US alone. The group made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.

Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also, with their debut still in the charts, they became the first rap group to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.

The band headlined the Soul Assassins tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teaming up with Pearl Jam on the track "Real Thing" and Sonic Youth on "I Love You Mary Jane".

The group later played at Woodstock 94, introducing new member Eric Bobo, son of Willie Bobo and formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Rolling Stone magazine named the group as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They also appeared on the "Homerpalooza" episode of The Simpsons. Prior to Bobo joining the crew, Panchito "Ponch" Gomez sat in as a percussionist when not acting.

Their third album III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995, selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air".^{[citation needed]} Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.

Continued career (1996–2002)[link]

Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based rap rock band SX-10.^[3] Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Soul Assassins: Chapter 1 featuring contributions from Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" off Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and contributed to an album entitled The Psycho Realm with the band of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on group efforts, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.

Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. In 2000, Cypress Hill then fused genres with their fifth album, Skull & Bones, which was a two-disc album. The first disc, "Skull" was composed of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. Following the release of the album, Cypress Hill (along with MxPx) landed a slot opening for The Offspring on the Conspiracy of One tour. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Francisco) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.

[edit] Till Death Do Us Part (2003–2007)

Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for WWE as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "The Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy of Mobb Deep and producers the Alchemist and Fredwreck.

In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato", which was produced by Pharrell Williams.

In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoahe Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, Slightly Stoopid, and Hangar 18.

[edit] Departure from Sony and Rise Up (2008–present)

On July 25, 2008, Cypress Hill performed at a benefit concert at the House of Blues Chicago, where a majority of the proceeds went to the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.^[4]

In August 2009, a new song by Cypress Hill, titled "Get 'Em Up", was made available on iTunes. The song is featured on the Madden NFL 2010 video game.^[5]

In November 2009, a new version of Guns N' Roses classic "Paradise City" performed by Cypress Hill, Slash and Fergie was made available as a bonus track to Slash's single "Sahara" off Slash's solo album Slash.

Cypress Hill's eighth studio album, Rise Up, features contributions from Everlast, Tom Morello, Daron Malakian, Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Mike Shinoda.^[6] The album was released on Priority Records/EMI Entertainment, as the group was signed to the label by new Creative Chairman Snoop Dogg on January 15, 2010. The album was finally released on April 20, 2010.^[7] The album's introduction single, "It Ain't Nothin'" was released as a free download from the group's official website. The song "Rise Up" was featured at WWE's pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber, as the official theme song for that event, and was released as the third single for the album, with "Armada Latina" being fourth. The song also appeared in the trailer of the movie The Green Hornet.

Cypress Hill commenced its Rise Up tour in Philadelphia on April 10, 2010. Julio G had replaced DJ Muggs for the tour. Muggs had been absent due to working on several other projects, including separate albums with B-Real and Sen Dog. The group was supposed to stop in Tucson, Arizona but canceled the show in protest of the recent immigration legislation. At the Rock en Seine festival in Paris on August 27, 2010 they said in an interview that they would wait and see what happens with the legislation before going back there.^[8] Cypress Hill performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in late August 2010, on the 28th at Leeds and the 29th at Reading.

In summer 2012, Cypress Hill and Dubstep artist Rusko will be releasing a collaborative EP entitled 'Cypress X Rusko'.

Style[link]

Rapping[link]

One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals.^[2] In the book Check the Technique B-Real describes his nasal style, saying his rapping voice is "high and annoying... the nasal style I have was just something that I developed... my more natural style wasn't so pleasing to [DJ Muggs and Sen Dog's] ears"^[9] and talking about the nasal style in the book How to Rap, B-Real says, "you want to stand out from the others and just be distinct... when you got something that can separate you from everybody else, you gotta use it to your advantage."^[1] Sen Dog's voice is deeper, more violent and often shouted alongside the rapping; his vocals are often emphasized by adding an additional background/choir voice to say them. Sen Dog's style is in contrast to B-Real's, who says, "[Sen's] voice is so strong", and "it all blends together" when they are both on the same track.^[9]

Both B-Real and Sen Dog started writing lyrics in both Spanish and English and B-Real was inspired to start writing raps from watching Sen Dog and Mellow Man Ace writing their lyrics,^[9] and originally B-Real was going to just be the writer for the group rather than a rapper.^[9] Their lyrics are noted for bringing a "cartoonish" approach to violence by Peter Shapiro and Allmusic.^[2][10]

Production[link]

The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is notable for its spooky sounds and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a pitched-altered horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.^[2][10]

The band is also known for involving rock instruments. In their songs – this has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rap rock group.^[2] The double album Skull & Bones consists of a pure rap album ("Skull") and an entire CD of rap/rock songs ("Bones"). Also in IV, there is "Lightning Strikes" which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. In the live album Live at The Fillmore some of the old classics are played in a rock/metal version, with Sen Dog's band SX-10 and Eric Bobo playing the rock instrument.

The band's music is constantly subject to change: while the first album and Black Sunday follow a more minimalistic and funky sound, III (Temples of Boom) has a very dark, spooky atmosphere and heavy beats, sometimes approaching hardcore rap. IV introduced more diverse sounds on the beats while maintaining the hardcore edge. The first albums are mostly influenced by psychedelic music, but the band eventually got closer to modern rap as it is today while still experimenting with rock from time to time, like on "Skull and Bones" and "Stoned Raiders".

The band involves horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. "What's Your Number?", "Trouble", "Tequila Sunrise", and "(Rock) Superstar" have become some of the band's most popular songs featuring these elements.

Side and solo projects[link]

Eric Bobo is part of the group Sol Invicto with producer Richie Londres and Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones. Eric Bobo is also a main member of Cultura Londres Proyecto which is a Spanish Hip Hop group from London, England. In 2008, he released his first solo album "Meeting Of The Minds" on Nacional Records. In 2011, he joined up with Chilean DJ Latin Bitman to form the group Ritmo Machine & in November 2011 they released the album "Welcome To The Ritmo Machine" on Nacional Records with special guests Sick Jacken (Psycho Realm), Ana Tijoux, Sen-Dog, Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys), P-Nut (311), Pato Machete & Chali 2na (Jurassic 5).

2009 saw the releases of both B-Real and Sen Dog's solo efforts Smoke N Mirrors and Diary of a Mad Dog. B-Real is also part of a super-group called Serial Killaz with both Xzibit and his protege Young De. B-Real started his own production company called Audio Hustlaz, with which he has worked and featured on tracks with Kurupt, Young De, Xzibit, Adil Omar, Snoop Dogg, Bitza and others, and has also done guest appearances for La Coka Nostra, Ill Bill, Prozak, Akrobatik, The Outlawz, Nipsey Hussle and Apathy.

Other notable side projects include B-Real's rap metal group Kush with members from Deftones and Fear Factory who are as yet to release any official material.

Sen Dog has released one album with his rap metal group SX-10.

Muggs has released collaborative albums with Sick Jacken, GZA, Planet Asia, Ill Bill and others.

Discography[link]

• Cypress Hill (1991)
• Black Sunday (1993)
• Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom (1995)
• Unreleased and Revamped (1996)
• Cypress Hill IV (1998)
• Skull & Bones (2000)
• Stoned Raiders (2001)
• Till Death Do Us Part (2004)
• Rise Up (2010)

Awards and Nominations[link]

Grammy Awards

MTV Video Music Awards Awards

Band Members[link]

Current Members

• B-Real – lead rapping (since 1988)
• DJ Muggs – turntables, production (since 1988)
• Eric Bobo – drums, percussion (since 1993)
• Sen Dog – rapping (since 1988)

Former Members

• Mellow Man Ace - rapping (1988)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Cypress Hill interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' April 2010
• Cypress Hill interview, August 2010, Radio France Internationale
• Cypress Hill on Velvet Hammer Site
• Cypress Hill at Legacy Recordings (Sony Music)
• Eric Bobo video interview