Thundercat - Biography
Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner is an American bassist, singer, songwriter and producer. He is the son of jazz drummer Ronald Bruner, Sr. who played with the Temptations, Diana Ross, Gary Bartz and Gladys Knight, and he's the younger brother of Grammy Award winning drummer Ronald Bruner, Jr.
As a teenager, Bruner was recruited for the boy band No Curfew. The group was signed to Universal/Polydor Germany and had minimal success in Europe. Bruner's first major gig came when he joined his brother Ronald as part of the L.A.-based punk band Suicidal Tendencies. Bruner, who was only 16 years old at the time, replaced bassist Mike Trujillo, who left the band to join Metallica. Also that year, Bruner toured with Stanley Clarke in Japan. Bruner became one of L.A.'s go to session players, working with Erykah Badu, J*Davey, Shafiq Husayn, Snoop Dogg and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.
In 2010, Bruner contributed bass and vocal tracks to Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma album. This subsequently led to Flying Lotus executive producing Bruner's 2011 debut, Golden Age of Apocalypse (Brainfeeder), which he released under his moniker, Thundercat. The duo teamed up again to record and produce Thundercat's sophomore album, Apocalypse (Brainfeeder, 2013), which came in the wake of the passing of Bruner's close friend and collaborator Austin Peralta, a young Brainfeeder musician who was the keyboardist/pianist on many songs on Golden Age of the Apocalypse. Apocalypse delves deeper into the free jazz, modern soul/funk that Flying Lotus and Thundercat have been pioneering throughout the Los Angeles music scene, blurring the lines between pop, funk, electronica and rock. Thundercat is currently working on another album with Flying Lotus, as well as playing bass, singing, and writing for Wiz Khalifa, Syd (from The Internet), and Mac Miller.
