With an extensive and amazing track record of unique and imaginative
performances featuring his curious instrument and copious amounts of originality,
Mike Silverman, a/k/a That1Guy, has set himself apart as a true one-of-a-kind
talent that rivals any other artist currently in the entertainment industry. Averaging
150-200 shows a year all over North America and Canada, he has been a consistent
favorite at such festivals as: Wakarusa, Electric Forest, Big Day out, All Good Music
Festival, Bella, High Sierra Music Festival, Summer Meltdown, Montreal Jazz
Festival, and many more. He was also the ʻTap Water Award’ winner at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival for best musical act. His legendary collaboration and
multiple tours with Buckethead performing as The Frankenstein Brothers has
further cemented his virtuoso story as a creative visionary.
His innovation continues to soar with his latest tour, That1Guy & The Magic Pipe
Present: An Evening of Musical Magical Wonder... The Likes of Which Ye
Haven't Yet Seen , which kicked off in 2014. Along with his pioneering main
instrument, The Magic Pipe , a monstrosity of metal, strings, and electronics, he
facilitates the dynamic live creation of music and magic in ways only That1Guy can
conjure. You can also expect to see magic seamlessly integrated into the already
clever performance. With the addition of magic in his live shows, he has legitimately
achieved an all-inclusive audio/visual performance unlike anything experienced
before. “So much of my music has miraculous qualities to it because it’s hard to tell
what’s going on. There are lots of slights of hand and sonic misdirection. It feels like
I was meant to do magic”.
Silverman’s back-story is similar to many musicians that have come before him. He
grew up a self-proclaimed music geek, soaked in the influence of his jazz musician
father, and enrolled in San Francisco Conservatory of Music before joining the local
jazz scene himself as a sought-after percussive bassist. This is where the similarities
end though and where That1Guy truly began. “In my case, being a bass player, I just
felt very restricted by the instrument itself,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to sound
different and have my own sound. I was headed that way on the bass, but for me to
fully realize what I was hearing in my head sonically I was going to have to do it my
way”. His influential and innovative double bass style eventually evolved into what
we see today as That1Guy and The Magic Pipe .
As his story continues to develop, Billboard has famously noted, “In the case of
Mike Silverman’s slamming, futuristic funk act... the normal rules of biology just
don’t apply.” In addition, Silverman also has new music and videos in the works for
2015 that will further validate his status as an industry trailblazer. “I like being my
own person”, he says. “I didn’t set out to be a weirdo, but I’m starting to embrace it”.
Ultimately, his motivation can be encapsulated as this: “Human beings do our best
work when we’re challenged and pushed up against the wall”. That1Guy goes on to
further explain, “By nature, we’re hunters and gatherers, spending each day looking
for their next meal. It’s easy to be lazy when you don’t have to come up with
something creative right away.”