Method Of Defiance

Methods of Defiance is a musical project founded in the mid-2000s by prolific bassist Bill Laswell, drummer Guy Licata, and drum ‘n’ bass DJ/producer Kurt Gluck aka Submerged. The group is known for its unique blending of drum ’n’ bass, dub, electronica and jazz. Initially, it was yet another musical side-project for Bill Laswell, but it grew into something far more substantial. Between his roles as musician, label head and producer Bill Laswell's fingerprints are on hundreds of albums and over a thousand songs, with many bearing his signature fusion of funk and dub with punk energy. Born in 1955, Laswell started out as a guitarist but made an early switch to bass. He cut his teeth playing in funk bands in the Detroit area before moving to New York in the late 1970s. There, he founded the group Material and made it a home for his wide-ranging, experimental musical outpourings. On a commercial level, Laswell broke out when he produced and co-wrote Herbie Hancock's “Rockit”. Through the 1980s, Laswell's production talents were lent to artists including Mick Jagger, Nona Hendryx and Laurie Anderson, while as a performer he was involved with the likes of Massacre, Deadline and Last Exit. In the 1990s, he was in charge of the Axiom label and co-founded Subharmonic, shifting his output to ambient dub in the form of Divination and Automaton. Material, meanwhile, shifted its output to experimental hip-hop, while another project of Laswell's, Praxis, put out funk-metal. With Method of Defiance, took another step into a new musical direction. Apart from the three core members, the band’s line-up changed with each album, bringing in guest musicians when the opportunity arose. Their debut album, The Only Way to Go Is Down, was released in 2006. Their sophomore release, Inamorata (2007) featured guest appearances from Pharoah Sanders, Buckethead, Herbie Hancock, Bernie Worrell, and others. After setting up their own label, M.O.D. Technologies, they released several albums including Jahbulon (2010), Incunabula (2010), Nahariama (2013), and Column 3: Babylon Deconstruction (2017).