Artist description Hailing from Glassboro, NJ, Bezerker’s Happy Hour began out of a chance meeting at Rowan University between three students in 1999. Violinist Vadim Tsires, guitarist Judson Berger, and percussionist Steve Cooper joined up for the sole purpose of snagging $200 in a local talent contest, and won. Since then, their music has taken them up and down the East Coast. As an instrumental collision of classical, metal, jazz, rock, and various ethnic styles, the trio (occasionally complemented by a fourth member) manages to raise eyebrows wherever it goes. Their music draws from early metal such as Faith No More and Metallica, and newer acts like Tool and Meshuggah, coupled with the influence of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jean-Luc Ponty and others. From humble beginnings releasing their abrasive sound regularly at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch, NJ, Bezerkers Happy Hour moved on to join up with the Philadelphia-based dance company, Court, after performing with the company’s director, Paule Turner, in Frostburg, MD. Turner commissioned the band to score the music for his upcoming production, Medea: Love is the Devil, which Turner describes as an interdisciplinary deconstruction of original music, text, dance and theater. Accompanying Court, which Dance Magazine labeled as one of the “Top 25 to Watch” and which Philadelphia Magazine tagged as “Best New Dance Company,” Bezerker’s Happy Hour wrote and performed its original music alongside fearless dancers and actors during the company’s “work-in-progress tour.” Pieces of Medea were premiered in Martha’s Vineyard, Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater, Glassboro, and Richmond’s Carpenter Theater, sometimes to crowds of over 2,000. Described as “a work of bone-rattling intensity” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Medea was able to pry from its audiences a subservient response of unrestrained sexuality combined with the pleasant, visceral sensation of being hit head-on at 80 miles per hour. In the minimal, trademark garb of shirtless, duct-taped nipples and over-the-top makeup and hairstyles, Bezerker’s Happy Hour throttled the show with its searing violin leads, crunching rhythms and “driving back-beat” (also as described in the Inquirer), as the other performers slam-danced and ran circles around them. Still playing locally, the band has also appeared in an interview on Monmouth University radio, and has been sampled on various college radio stations in the area. Their debut album, I Can’t Breathe, is available through MP3.com. For more information see www.mp3.com/bezerkershappyhour or courtculture.com

Music Style Progressive Rock/Metal/Fusion/Instrumental

Musical Influences Tool, Faith No More, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Metallica, Alice In Chains

Similar Artists Tool, Mahavishnu Orchestra

Artist History Manifested in November of 1999 in Rowan University for a lack of better social lives. Anyway, so Bezerker's Happy Hour's lack of social lives eventually led them to such grand gigs as those they put on at The Stone Pony, The Pontiac Grille, The Saint, The Krome, The Wilma Theater, The Carpenter Theater, and many other venues. They played well, and there was much rejoicing.

Group Members Vadim "Bezerker"-Violin Judd "Jew"-Guitar Steve "Looper"-Drums

Instruments Violin, Guitar, Drums

Albums I Can't Breathe

Additional Info We also sell bubble gum.

Location Glassboro, NJ - USA

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