Dean Spunt

Dean Spunt is the drummer/vocalist for Los Angeles punk duo <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a>, and also the founder of the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Post+Present+Medium%22">Post Present Medium</a> label. In addition to his more visible role in <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a>, Spunt has sporadically issued solo material, and in 2022 joined forces with noise artist <a href="spotify:artist:2r9bwqUxLhc8ktBYtiyR6V">John Wiese</a> for the release of collaborative effort The Echoing Shell. The electronic excursion Basic Editions appeared in 2024.

Dean Allen Spunt was born in 1981 and was active in punk bands throughout his youth and early adulthood. In 2001 he launched his record label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Post+Present+Medium%22">Post Present Medium</a> and used the imprint to release 7"s by D.I.Y. punk bands like <a href="spotify:artist:54EAnSzIaso1DN9VuyA2Un">the Intima</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1xKMrj7v0OUREVQ42Nvex8">Mika Miko</a>, and Wives, the band Spunt was in at the time. Spunt was the bassist/vocalist for Wives, but when the band broke up during a 2004 tour, he and fellow Wives member Randy Randall quickly regrouped as <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a>. Formed in 2005 in Los Angeles, <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a> found Spunt moving over to drums and vocals, serving as half of the band, with Randall on guitar as the other half. <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a>'s exciting blur of punk energy and noisy electronics caught on quickly, and their interesting sound, coupled with their perpetual touring, quickly made them one of the more popular acts to rise out of D.I.Y. circles in the latter half of the 2000s.

In the next decade and onward, <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a> would release music with high-profile labels like <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22FatCat%22">FatCat</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sub+Pop%22">Sub Pop</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Drag+City%22">Drag City</a>, all while maintaining a punk ethic and complete creative control of their sound. Spunt's activities outside of <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a> and label operations at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Post+Present+Medium%22">Post Present Medium</a> included playing bass for the short-lived hardcore band <a href="spotify:artist:6rhOBKUROFCDXShcMs6BTc">C.R.A.S.H.</a> and occasionally releasing solo material under his own name in the form of limited-run cassettes or other harder-to-track-down mediums.

In 2018, Spunt released his most formalized solo work up until that point with the album-length EE Head. The approach on EE Head was far more experimental than even <a href="spotify:artist:72acCeElLYGL9nBHcZzX1h">No Age</a>, with Spunt focusing on abstract electronics and heavy rhythmic repetitions more than traditionally structured songs. Another of Spunt's more widely accessible projects came with the 2022 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Drag+City%22">Drag City</a> release of The Echoing Shell, a record made with noise veteran <a href="spotify:artist:2r9bwqUxLhc8ktBYtiyR6V">John Wiese</a> that consisted of two long, heavily processed pieces. Basic Editions, an abstract electronic album created using E-MU synth modules, appeared in 2024. ~ TiVo Staff, Rovi