Darren Petersen is the drummer for EJ von LYRIK.

Darren Petersen was born and raised in Cape Town.   At age eight he started singing lessons,  joined the school choir and took lessons in classical piano. He went on to learn to  play classical percussion at aged nine at Beau Soleil Music College.

He performed in the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra for four years and played on an adhoc basis for the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra during the last two years of his high school career.

He was one of the chosen young performers who auditioned and was allowed to play at the Joy of Jazz Festival with The South African National Youth Jazz Band in 2006, and later was chosen to perform with The National Schools Big Band, which is made of the best young players from all over the country. The band was led by Shannon Mowday that year.

Darren studied towards a bachelor of science in Jazz Performance for two years at UCT.  During that time he performed with The UCT Big Band.

He has shared the stage with the likes of Loyiso Bala, Zwai Bala, Kurt Darren, Nianell, Kabelo, Chad Saaiman, The James Frank Band, Gazelle, Gang of Instrumentals and so much more.

He has performed in music shows at theaters across South Africa which include  ‘Myths & Legends’ , ‘That 80’s Show!’, ‘Footsteps to Freedom’ and ‘Motown Magic’.

He plays percussion and is the resident Drummer at StereoType Records and also for The Champions Band with EJ von LYRIK.

He is currently on tour to perform 18 shows with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra starting off in Miami and ending off in New York City, during February 2011.

http://stereotyperecords.co.za/artists/the-stereotype-records-band/darren-petersen/

Carlo Glenn Thompson is the guitarist for EJ von LYRIK.

He is from Grassy Park, Cape Town, South Africa.  At the young age of five, he learned to play the classical piano at his primary school.

From 2000 onwards, Thompson started teaching himself to play the guitar as he felt restricted by the rigid confines of classical training and found new heroes in Radiohead, The Pixies and Parliment Funkadelic.

In 2004 Thompson started his own band Stereo Zen and they performed live in and around Cape Town mainly.

At the end of 2008, the Stereo Zen and EJ von LYRIK show was voted as one of the top five shows for the year, by Mercury Live and Lounge, a local live music venue in Cape Town. This was a country-wide poll.

Career Highlights:   Stereo Zen at Obzfest 2008 & Ramfest 2010
Teba Shumba – opening for Linton Kwezi Johnson
EJ von Lyrik – Rocking The Daisies 2009

http://www.myspace.com/stereozen

Dubmasta China aka Seven Raggasouljah, is one of Cape Town’s first and most revered reggae dancehall DJ, and is also a contributor to the High Voltage music production machine, having produced tracks for Teba, Jitsvinger, Ginger, Mr Dmus and Ej von Lyrik as well as instrumental dub tracks.

As a ragga/dancehall emcee he is featured on The Cape of Good Dope compilation as well as The Rogue State of Mind project. He specialises in reggae however also combine some hip hop, funk, acid jazz, drum ‘n bass, African and Latino beats into his sets.

He was the lead vocalist of the ragga/ funk group Firing Squad. He traveled and performed with Teba Shumba, Godessa, as well as EJ von LYRIK as percussionist, backing vocalist and DJ.

He’s played with Godessa at the Flanders Film Festival (2004). In 2005 he performed with Teba in Finland. In 2006 he played percussion for Blaq Pearl at the B-Connected Festival in Amsterdam. He also played DJ set alongside Fi Jah Music Crew and Pirates crew at Le Quartier in Gent, Belgium. 2007.

He is currently percussionist for three bands, EJ von Lyrik, Teba and Gazelle, and is also a producer and artist. His style as an an artist is dancehall and roots music.

In addition to being a performing artist, he is also a selector, specialising in reggae.

After playing in many bands for years (Battery 9, Max Normal, Godessa, Lark, Gazelle, EJ von LYRIK & Closet Snare along with a gazillion more), ‘Mr Sakitumi’ (Sean Ou Tim to his mom) branched out to compose and perform his own beat creations.

His music is styled on beats and breaks influenced by the likes of Ninja Tune, DJ Krush and DJ Shadow amongst others and his performances involve live sampling, bass guitar fx and turntable scratching

His performances to date include Earthdance Festival, opening up for DJ Krush at The Assembly and closing the Lark shows around the country earlier this year with ‘Humanizer’.

Myspace

Mpumi is the backing vocalist for EJ Von Lyrik and she started singing and dancing at age of ten.

Nompumelelo “Mpumi” Sizani was born in Gugulethu in Cape Town, in South Africa.

She studied music at the University of Cape Town and has studied speech and drama at New Africa Theater in Cape Town.

She has worked and performed with various musicians at a national and international level.  She has toured Japan as a backing singer for Sylvia Mdunyelwa and has performed in Portugal with Spanish guitarist Faidel from Spain. Mpumi has shared stage with the likes of Sibongile Khumalo, Jimmy Dludu, Shakira and Vivian Jones to Starkey and Banton.

Grenville Williams is the musical brain child behind High Voltage Entertainment, the music production label which brings you EJ von LYRIK and Teba Shumba amongst many others.

Grenville’s work has been released by record labels such as African Dope Records in RSA, Lowlands in Belgium, Chocolate Factory Fireguard in the UK, Acid Jazz Records in the UK, Otravez in Switzerland, Out/Here Records in Germany and Trikont Records in Germany.

He started his career in music, playing the bass guitar for Nine, South Africa’s first black rock band which was active from the late 90′s until mid 2000. Together withNine, he toured and performed live all over South Africa, sharing stages with bands like Springbok Nude Girls, Squeal and Sugardrive.

He is also the bassist for E.J von LYRIK, the enigmatic lady of funk, Teba Shumba, one of South Africa’s leading reggae/dancehall artists, the all female hip hop trio Godessa (now disbanded) who travelled and performed in Cuba, UK, US, Spain, Belgium, Finland, France and Ethiopia, as well Gazelle. He has also shared the stage with artists such as Limp Bizkit, Foo Fighters, Black Eyed Peas, PJ Harvey and Julian Marley amongst others on his various travels abroad.

Amongst Grenville’s many achievements as a musician, he is a an extraordinary music producer. He has also produced music for various TV series in South Africa such as Our House, Masupatsela, Head Wrap and has recently licensed one of his productions to South Africa’s brand new TV station, TOP TV, for one of their ad campaigns.

Grenville Williams is one of Africa’s most prolific and experienced musicians and producers. For more info please check out his Myspace.