Mevio Music

 

The sounds of Goddamn Electric Bill were never meant
to leave Jason Torbert’s bedroom. But the one-man band, a propulsive
blend of ambient electronic, folktronica and post-rock music, made its
way out to the world anyway.

Since 2004, Goddamn Electric Bill has been
nominated for several San Diego Music Awards, licensed music for
television and film (including the 2010 Sundance Film Festival dramatic
competition film, Douchebag), released two full-length albums
on London’s, 99X/10 Records (run by former The Cure keysman Roger
O’Donnell), including the new 2008 release “Topics For Gossip,” and been
featured in San Diego CityBEAT, Music Matters Magazine and The San
Diego Union-Tribune. But Torbert isn’t new to the musical arena.

Torbert’s suburban childhood was spent playing trombone in high
school and college jazz ensembles. It was at University of Oregon that
Torbert began his seven-year stint as the bassist for a popular punk
outfit called Cigar. The band signed to a label run by Pennywise
guitarist Fletcher Dragge and toured internationally before calling it
quits.  Jason tried his luck at a few other projects, including one
band that signed to Jim Ward’s (At The Drive-In/Sparta) label, Restart
Records, but Torbert figured out that the band life wasn’t for him.

It was the sounds Torbert made on his own – from bass, guitar,
rhodes, sitar, mbira, vocals, percussion and synthesizers – that turned
into Goddamn Electric Bill. And it is those sounds
that Slug Magazine called “jaw-dropping cinematic tracks” and Rip It Up
Magazine called “uplifting in both mood and subtlety.” And it is those
sounds that continue to cause a stir.