The Disco Biscuits are an American jam band from Philadelphia. The band consists of Allen Aucoin (drums), Marc "Brownie" Brownstein (bass guitar, vocals), Jon "The Barber" Gutwillig (guitar, vocals), and Aron Magner (keyboards, synths, vocals).[1] The band incorporates elements from a variety of musical genres with a base of electronic and rock. Their style has been described as trance fusion.[2][3][4]

The Disco Biscuits
The Disco Biscuits performing at Red Rocks Amphitheatre 2010
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Livetronica psytrance jam band
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Independent Label Group/Diamond Riggs
Members	Jon Gutwillig Marc Brownstein Allen Aucoin Aron Magner
Past members	Sam Altman
Website	discobiscuits.com

History

The Disco Biscuits formed in 1995 at the University of Pennsylvania. Brownstein, Gutwillig, Magner, and the original drummer, Samuel "Sammy" Altman, shared an affinity for psychedelic rock, electronic music, soul, blues, jazz and classical music. Their shared interests led them to develop and perfect a distinctive style of live electronic music known as 'trance fusion'. The term references the band incorporating elements of trance music - repetitive drum beats and melodic sections - into the instrumentation and conventions of a live jam-band, where guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums play structured songs with sections for exploratory improvisation. The band honed their style playing bars in the Philadelphia area in the mid-1990s and received particular acclaim in the jam-band fan scene during their 1999 tours. This era (sometimes referred to as 'the nine-nine' by Disco Biscuits fans) featured energetic musical improvisation that explored new musical styles while still remaining listenable to a general jam-band audience. In 2005 drummer Sammy Altman left the band to pursue a career in medicine.[5]

The band began a search for their next drummer ending with a two-night, sold-out drum-off concert at the Borgata's Music Box in Atlantic City.[6] In December 2005 Allen Aucoin was announced as the newest member of the band.[7] Aucoin knew members of the Biscuits' road crew and had opened for the Biscuits in the past.[8] In 2006 the band purchased the Old City Philadelphia studio space that had previously belonged to DJ Jazzy Jeff. The space became a place for local musicians to congregate and work, culminating in the unique collaborations recorded in recording studio efforts known as the Planet Anthem sessions. Around the time Planet Anthem was released, the Biscuits also collaborated with noted hip-hop producer Damon Dash working on a variety of projects.[9]

Camp Bisco

Camp Bisco
Genre	Electronic music,
Location(s)	Indian Lookout Country Club in upstate New York, Montage Mountain in Scranton PA
Years active	1999-present
Founded by	The Disco Biscuits

The first Camp Bisco took place in August 1999 in Cherrytree Pennsylvania, the band seeking to combine the creative effects of electronic DJs with improvisational rock. Over 17 years Camp Bisco has grown by leaps and bounds, with its lineup expanding to include acts such as Shpongle, Lotus, Pretty Lights, Bassnectar, Gramatik, and STS9.[10][11] The band celebrated its fifteenth anniversary of the festival during July 2017 on Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[12]

Camp Bisco was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band participated in the drive-in "Pavement Rave" concert series at the same venue as a replacement event. The 2021 festival was also canceled, citing that it could not be organized in time without compromising the experience. Two concert dates in Philadelphia were organized as a replacement, headlined by the band and Lotus.[13]

Rock Operas

Brownstein and Gutwillig have each written rock operas. Gutwillig was first, writing the Hot Air Balloon sometime before it debuted on December 31, 1998, at Silk City in Philadelphia. Brownstein wrote the Chemical Warfare Brigade in early 2000 while on hiatus from the band. It debuted at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia on August 19, 2000 along with his side project Electron. The Disco Biscuits played the Chemical Warfare Brigade for the first time at the Vanderbilt in Plainview, New York on December 30, 2000.

Philanthropy

The Disco Biscuits are involved in a number of charitable efforts including food drives and raising money for hurricane relief.[14] In 2004, Browstein (along with Andy Bernstein, author of The Pharmer's Almanac) founded HeadCount, a national, nonpartisan, non-profit, organization that partners with musicians to promote participation in democracy in the United States by registering voters at concerts. In 2010, the keyboardist Aron Magner was named to the Board of Directors for the Philadelphia Young Playwrights theatre arts program.[15]

Discography

• Encephalous Crime (self-released, 1996)
• Uncivilized Area (1998)
• Bisco Lives (2000)
• They Missed the Perfume (2001)
• Bisco Lives 2: Freedom Boulevard (2002)
• Señor Boombox (2002)
• Trance Fusion Radio Broadcast Vol. 1-4 (2003)
• Under the Influence: A Jam Band Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd (2004)
• The Wind at Four to Fly (2006)
• Rocket 3 (2006)
• On Time EP (2009)
• Widgets EP (2009)
• Planet Anthem (2010) US #157 Heatseekers #5
• Otherwise Law Abiding Citizens (2011)

Band members

• Jon Gutwillig – Guitar, Vocals
• Marc Brownstein - Bass, Vocals
• Aron Magner - Keyboards, Vocals
• Allen Aucoin - Drums (2005–present)
• Sam Altman - Drums (1995-2005)

Filmography

• Live at the Palladium (2004)
• Camp Bisco IV (2005)
• Jam in the Dam (2006)
• Progressions (2007)
• Bisco Inferno 09/10 (2011)

See also

• List of electronic music festivals
• List of jam band music festivals

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Disco Biscuits.

• Official website