Steven Thépaut (VOCALS, programming) Gurvan Thépaut (GUITARS, bass, drums, programming, backing vocals) Geoff Haba (DRUMS) (contact us by e-mail: lotanbaba @ hotmail.fr)
Influences
U2, Van Halen, Alice In Chains, Elvis, Pantera, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Dire Straits, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Hendrix, Neil Young, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Guns N' Roses, Korn, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Queen, The Cure, Metallica, Faith No More, Slayer, The Lonely Bears, Tony Hymas, Down, Massive Attack, Stevie Wonder, Living Color, Rage Against the Machine, Phil Spector, Serge Gainsbourg, Deftones, Indochine, American Head Charge, Dan Ar Braz, White Zombie, Nine Inch Nails, Jeff Beck, Isaac Albeniz, Entombed, James Brown, Motorhead, Coldplay, Elton John, Meshuggah, Kyuss, DevilDriver, Rick Ross, Snot, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Staind, Coroner, INXS, Milli Vanilli, Pearl Jam, Sepultura, Devin Townsend, Yes, Genesis, Alan Holdsworth, The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Justin Timberlake, My Bloody Valentine, Billy Idol, Phil Collins, Queens of the Stone Age, Louis Armstrong, Ice Cube, Britney Spears, Madonna, Rihanna, Claude Debussy, Steve Reich, Karma To Burn, Vanilla Ice (Hard To Swallow), Bob Marley, John McLaughlin, The Prodigy, King Crimson, The Chemical Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Tool (Aenima), Aphex Twin, Ice Cube, Eminem, Snoop Doggy Dog, 50 Cent, A-Ha, Depeche Mode, Planxty, Luther Allison, George Michael, Rammstein, Dr Dre, 2Pac, Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, Prince, Ravi Shankar, Green Day, Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, Megadeth, Blur, P.O.D., Mudvayne, The Pixies, The Strokes, Talk Talk, etc.
Plus some writers, painters, drawers and thinkers: Stephen King, William Gibson, Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Luke Rhinehart, Philip K. Dick, Jack Vance, Stendhal, Charles Bukowski, Chester Himes, Raymond Carver, Brett Easton Ellis, Tsutomu Nihei, Yukito Kishiro, Katsuhiro Otomo, Mamoru Oshii, Masamune Shirow, Sigmund Freud, Jeremy Bentham, Donald Winnicott, Wilfred Bion, Françoise Dolto, Peter Singer, etc.
(illustrated biography; click on photos for related goodies)
Steven Thepaut (Lotan Baba’s singer) was born in 1974 in Rennes, Brittany (the Celtic region in western France). His brother Gurvan (Lotan Baba’s guitar player) was born in 1976 in Quimper, also in Brittany. They were brought up in English, American and Celtic music from a young age, their parents being fans of Neil Young, Elvis Presley, The Supremes, The Ronettes, Louis Armstrong, Dan Ar Braz, Planxty, etc. They used to speak French and Breton. Their father is a child psychologist (and a great painter and gardener) and their mother is an English teacher (she has a beautiful voice and used to sing a lot at home and while driving).
Steven began playing classical piano at the age of eight and started attending music school until the age of 17, playing mostly Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy. However he preferred writing his own songs and pretending he was Elvis, his idol. During his teens, he listened over and over again to his Dire Straits and U2 CDs. In France, at that time, the golden age of radio had started. The first private radio stations were launched and he discovered incredibly well-written songs: Depeche Mode, Michael Jackson, The Cure, Billy Idol, Madonna, Duran Duran, A-Ha, Alphaville, The Police, Eurythmics, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Elton John, Queen, etc.
Gurvan started playing guitar at age 9, and bought his first electric guitar (a Yamaha SE211) at age 11. The same year, stunned by U2’s epic "Rattle and Hum", he began to work on The Edge’s guitar scores. He also transcribed the riffs and guitar solos he heard on the radio or on his favorite records: "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith/Run-DMC (first solo he ever transcribed), songs from INXS, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, The Cure, etc. He started his first band at age 12 with a couple of school friends and started performing covers as well as his own songs.
At the age of 13, Gurvan started taking lessons with Gilbert Quélennec, who offered him a broader view of music. At the age of 15, he bought a 7 strings Ibanez Universe.
He was then been practicing several hours a day in order to be able to perform riffs and solos by Eddy Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Allan Holdsworth, Jimmy Hendrix, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Steve Morse and Marty Friedman.
Gurvan performed guitar hero classics on stage, with Steven doing vocals, as well as covers of grunge and metal bands they were discovering at the time (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Pantera, Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Zappa brothers…). He also studied improvisation, harmony, and researches classic and contemporary classical music, as well as African and Indian music (he plays the sitar). He taught himself bass guitar, the piano, drums and vocals, and recorded and mixes his own compositions on a four-track Fostex. Ever curious, he continued to explore new music styles: hip-hop, dance, electronica, drum 'n' bass, etc.
Steven graduated from a top French business school, and set up a meeting reporting company with a partner. This company employed twelve people in 2009. However, music remained his priority, and he continued to write and produce hundreds of songs with Gurvan in his home studio.
Fascinated by psychoanalysis, Gurvan studied medicine and became a psychiatrist in 2004. He then practiced in various clinics. Along with Steven, he continued to write, record and produce songs, his aim still being to become a guitar hero.
Over the last twenty years, Steven and Gurvan have written and recorded on Cubase software well over 600 songs and instrumental pieces, the most sophisticated of which they performed live.
In 1995, they sent a demo to French radio host Francis Zegut, the then pope of rock music on radio station RTL (it was he who popularized Metallica in France). He did his best to get a record company to sign them up. Sony France was interested but asked that the lyrics be sung in French – however all sensible people know well that rock is not sung in French.
They then decide to start their own independent label, "WOM Records" (for War On Majors), and produce the first albums of French bands Carnival In Coal and Dead Pop Club, both achieving good sales in the European underground market. They also publish in France a New York spoken word by Beat Generation writers Hubert Selby Jr. and Nick Tosches.
They released their first album on WOM in 1999, "Deep Space Rock", as Nijal ("fly" in Breton). Their work was critically acclaimed, but the label’s lack of financial means and its limited distribution network did not allow them to reach the mass market. Mark Mynett, composer and guitarist of British band Kill 2 This, believed that they were at the time "ten years ahead of the current musical landscape".
During the summer of 2008, several of their songs are chosen as the soundtrack of the "Lucky Chance" mini-series, directed by Adam Mason and broadcast during primetime on TNT. Still unsigned, they then became known as Lotan Baba, a tribute to the Indian holy man promoting peace by rolling his body along the ground (he has travelled 18,000 miles so far).
They turned vegetarian ten years ago.
In 2009, they decide to try their luck in LA with new songs, more refined than ever. They finally reach the country that has influenced them most, and to which they feel the closest culturally. It is also the country which they believe to be their main market.
They’ve just turned vegan (and this is why:).
Their style is hard to describe, since it draws on one side from U2, Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains, and on the other side from electro-hip-hop artists such as Rihanna, Flo Rida, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. With a certain megalomania common to artists, they suggest defining their style as "ultimate rock". Their music is concerned with simplicity, sincerity, power and universality. They hope their songs will allow their listeners to travel far, far away – in time and space. They aim to offer something very new, fresh and deep.
They are ready!
Producers and recording engineers we dream to work with:
Just listened to the new tacks. Sounds awesome. I see you guys are here now. If you need a gun for hire I'm right here. I would mesh very well with you guys. Good luck and Peace.
hey you!! how is it going? i don't think I wished you a Happy new Year yet!!! So, before the end of January haha...i wish you a wonderful year,& a rock'n'roll one!! still waiting to see you live!! & still love your tunes!!! bisous!
hello. can you put that song you used to have on here back up? Can't remember the name of it but it started off with just bass, drums, & vocals, the first line was (I think) "Once upon a time.." & then went into a screaming, manic chorus. It's awesome & I've missed hearing it. Hope things are good.
No. But I do Play the guitar. However i was verbally abused and forced into fetal position by cocky remarks from a band member. Ha ! Im doing very well. Hope you are the same. How can I get 'The Ritual' for my Ipod or can can I get a disk per mail or ? . . .
On est du coté de brest. Encore une fois merci bien pour les conseils. C'est toujours bon a prendre. Et ce n'est que comme ça qu'on avancera. Je pense qu'on va essayer un enregistrement piste par piste la prochaine fois. Ce sra certainement plus propre.
merci pour l'ajout. Ouai c le chanteur la. Promis jmapliquerai la prochaine fois! merci pour le comment en tt k. c un enregistrement répé dc on ne peut que faire mieux. Slt.
Avec mon nouveau groupe Kazimir Gluton, on a fait une nouvelle demo. Je vous invite à aller l’écouter à partir du lien en dessous. Bonne écoute ! C'est cool de vous réécoutez des fois, ouais ouais je vous oublie pas...vraiment une chouette musique.
salut les mecs!!!on aime bcp votre son ici...on sent le boulot...perso the ritual c'est un énorme titre, avec des échos de king krimson... à plus tard La bise Mr Drumond
Hello!!! my dear fellows!!!! I hoppe all the succes in this world!!! I ve been talk with my friends about you I expect that they know your music very soon!!!! and the new songs are great!!! Mexican kisses for all of you!!!!
%20Meddle.jpg "Space trip with Pink Floyd")
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