2013 saw New York artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Thunderbird Gerard's first official release on Ed Banger Records. The track, Still Busy, a collaboration with Parisian label boss Pedro Winter aka Busy P, served as the lead single from Winter's solo EP of the same name and was included on the Ed Rec, Vol. X 10 anniversary compilation, finding its way into BBC mixes by Diplo and Brodinski among others. But it was the T.R.O.U.B.L.E EP, a free 5 track release premiered on the VIBE website, where Thunderbird began to define the world of the artist dubbed "the Kerouac of new Hip Hop". Accompanied by three videos directed by frequent collaborator CC Steinmetz, the EP
received critical acclaim with features from SPIN, Huffington Post, BBC Radio 1, Noisey, Pigeons and Planes, i-D, Spiegel Online and
countless others.
Crowned Zane Lowe's "Next Hype", in some ways the EP's very existence was a triumph in itself. After leaving the US at the age of 20, the Queens born, upstate raised MC moved to England where he lived illegally under an assumed name. Cut off from his family, he worked in
kitchens and struggled through years of poverty and homelessness. A chance meeting with budding video director CC Steinmetz and a
publishing deal with BMG brought Gerard to Berlin where he set up a studio and began to document his time “on the road“. His tale of the
journey from Smalltown USA, life on the fringes in Slumtown London to finding love and redemption seemingly struck a chord with listeners.
After stints supporting Macklemore x Ryan Lewis on tour, he resumed work with collaborators DJ Stickle, Dan Dare (Wiley, Giggs), Paul
White (Danny Brown), Olugbenga (Metronomy), Paul White (Danny Brown), and Two Inch Punch, tirelessly honing the intriguing mix of hip
hop, soul and "other" coined "ill wave" by US site okayplayer.
Thunderbird has been announced as an official support for Rizzle Kicks on their Roaring 20s Tour throughout the UK in February 2014.
