Music left its first footprint in the heart of Demonterious at the age of six through the church his family attended in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. He was constantly surrounded by live instrumentation and musical performances, and that immersion created a great desire to play an instrument. Drums were his initial instrument of choice and he honed his craft by playing locally for churches, plays and social events. In 1995 he sought a new challenge and began to learn the bass guitar. Learning this instrument gave him an added advantage because he could now have a first-hand understanding of the two key components of the rhythm section. While still playing in churches and keeping to his gospel roots, the bass guitar gave Demonterious the opportunity to expand his musical knowledge and versatility in other musical genres such as hip-hop, r&b, jazz and rock.
Lawrence is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science. He uses his technical aptitude to enhance his understanding of music and support his creativity through musical technology.
His gift and passion for music has given him the opportunity to travel and perform throughout the country and abroad to such places as Dubai, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Poland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania and many other places throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has served as a cultural ambassador to the United States facilitating workshops on American music through the American Music Abroad program with Jazz at Lincoln Center.
His works as an Atlanta based session bassist were celebrated as his musical contributions helped the album “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City” by Kendrick Lamar sell over a million copies and receive a nomination for album of the year at the 2014 Grammy Awards. He has also contributed in the last few years as a bassist and composer for a few other Grammy nominated and/or critically acclaimed projects by Avery*Sunshine, Lecrae (Anomaly), Anthony David and Phife from A Tribe Called Quest.
Demonterious travels frequently as the bassist for Avery*Sunshine. He has also worked and or traveled with such artists as Anthony David, Angie Stone, Kipper Jones, Eric Roberson, N’Dambi, Zo! and Anita Wilson. When he is not performing, he works as a producer and composer for DETOXXX Music.
Rig or Instrument of Choice: My basses of choice are my Devon J5’s, Fender Jazz, Wyn Bass and my Nordy VJ5. They all have different Nordstrand pickups in them and are all great for different situations. On the rig side of things, I’m usually playing some kind of Aguilar combo.
How did you discover Nordstrand? I’d always be on YouTube and Blogs reading about bass related stuff and I kept running across the Nordy basses. I was just impressed by how amazing each bass sounded. When I discovered that Carey wound his own pickups, I excitedly ordered some NJ5’s and tried them out in a Fender and a Squier that I had at the time. The transformation was massive and almost unbelievable. It was like I had totally different instruments. I’ve been a Nordstrand fanatic since 2012!
I’m currently using a variety of Nordstrand products: NJ5FS, NJ5 (70’s wind), NP5, BigMan 5, Fat Stacks, Custom Dual NJ5(specifically wound for my Devon), and the 3b preamp. What I love is that no matter which model pickup, the tones are clean, tight and even across the fret board. The fundamental presence of each note is present whether I’m using finger style or slap and there is no drop off whether active or passive. Each pickup has its own organic, growly personality that opens up as you dig in or pull back and I absolutely love it!
Artists whom with you are currently working: I’m currently touring with Avery*Sunshine!
Other artists of note whom with you have worked: Kendrick Lamar, Lecrae, Phife (A Tribe Called Quest), Angie Stone, Kenny Lattimore, Kipper Jones and Anthony David
Find more about DETOXXX on the interwebs:
Instagram, Facebook, Avery*Sunshine-website
