Misha Mansoor (born October 31, 1984), also known as Bulb after the name of his solo project, is an American musician, best known as the founder of and one of the three guitarists in the
progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...
band
Periphery
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
.
He is also a part of the projects Haunted Shores and Four Seconds Ago, previously having been a part of the projects Of Man, Not of Machine and Snuggles.
Mansoor is considered to be one of the forerunners of the
djent
Djent () is a subgenre of progressive metal characterised by its use of off-beat and complex rhythm patterns. Its distinctive sound is that of high-gain, distorted, palm-muted, down-tuned strings. The name "djent" is an onomatopoeia of this s ...
movement and is often erroneously attributed with the invention of the word itself (whose invention he attributes to
Meshuggah
Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer To ...
guitarist
Fredrik Thordendal
Fredrik Thordendal (born 11 February 1970) is a Swedish musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the extreme metal band Meshuggah, of which he is a founding member.
Along with Meshuggah's rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagst ...
). With Periphery, Mansoor has recorded, produced, and released six studio albums: a
self-titled debut, ''
Periphery II: This Time It's Personal'', ''
Juggernaut: Alpha'', ''
Juggernaut: Omega'', ''
Periphery III: Select Difficulty'', and ''
Periphery IV: Hail Stan''. Mansoor has been named one of the Top 20 best guitarists of the 2010s by ''
Guitar World'' magazine.
Early life
Mansoor was born on October 31, 1984, to Ali Mansoor, an economist associated with
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
who served a term as Secretary to the Minister of Finance in
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
. Mansoor is
Mauritian
Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably ...
by descent but was born and raised in the US. He is also Jewish and can speak French. Mansoor attended the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
, originally majoring in sociology before switching to philosophy, eventually dropping out to pursue his passion for music.
Career
Bulb (2004–present)
Mansoor first seriously started writing and producing music when at college at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
. It was here that he and a friend decided to form a band called Bulb, and started posting demos to
SoundClick in 2004. While the project ultimately did not work out and the friendship faded, Mansoor adopted the name Bulb as his online alias and continued to post demos to the Bulb SoundClick account. Mansoor would regularly post his music to the
Meshuggah
Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer To ...
,
John Petrucci
John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with former member Mike Portnoy before he departed the band in 201 ...
SevenString.org,
Andy Sneap
Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaime ...
Ultimate Metal online forums. Eventually, Mansoor's reputation as a songwriter and a music producer in the metal scene began to grow. After Mansoor founded
Periphery
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
in 2005, he would often transfer songs between the two projects. With the international success of Periphery, Mansoor still continued to release demos and new music under the Bulb name, but at a lesser frequency than before. In May 2013, Mansoor announced that he would be working on his first solo album, which would be written, performed and produced entirely by himself.
Starting June 2020, Mansoor released all of the Bulb Material in his ''Archives'', a set of 10 albums that would be released bi-weekly, starting with the newest Bulb material and going back to the oldest, with 2 of the albums being filled with purely orchestral and electronic music. Mansoor has also announced that he is currently working on his long-awaited Bulb solo album, which is due in 2021.
On May 14, 2021, Mansoor released the single "Parabolica", along with its accompanying music video, and announced that the Bulb solo album, titled ''Moderately Fast, Adequately Furious'', will be released on July 16, 2021, via 3DOT Recordings. Mansoor, an avid racing fan, named the track "Parabolica" as a reference to the ''Curva Parabolica'' turn on the
Monza Circuit
The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit af ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
Periphery (2005–present)
Mansoor formed Periphery in 2005, originally starting out on drums for the band before transitioning to guitar. Periphery went through numerous lineup changes before settling on a lineup of Mansoor, Jake Bowen, and Alex Bois on guitar,
Matt Halpern
Matt Halpern (born June 21, 1983) is an American drummer best known for his work with progressive metal band Periphery.
Biography
Born in Baltimore, Halpern took an interest in music at a young age and got his first kids drum set aged 3, befo ...
on drums, Tom Murphy on bass, and Spencer Sotelo on vocals. Periphery released their
self-titled debut album in 2010 to critical acclaim. In 2011, Bois and Murphy left the band, eventually being replaced with Mark Holcomb and Adam "Nolly" Getgood, solidifying the core Periphery lineup. Periphery went on to release five more studio albums (''
Periphery II: This Time It's Personal'', ''
Juggernaut: Alpha'', ''
Juggernaut: Omega'', ''
Periphery III: Select Difficulty'', and ''
Periphery IV: Hail Stan'') and two EPs (''Icarus'' and ''
Clear''), all to critical and commercial success.
Haunted Shores (2009–present)
In 2009, Mansoor joined the Mark Holcomb-led project Haunted Shores, with the project eventually evolving into solely being the duo of Holcomb and Mansoor. In 2010, Haunted Shores released its first set of new music with Mansoor on a split EP with Cyclamen. The project went on unannounced hiatus from 2010–2017, but became active again with the release of the ''Viscera'' EP, with features from
Jørgen Munkeby
Jørgen Munkeby (born 3 September 1980 in Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz and heavy metal musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, known as the frontman in the band Shining and former member of Jaga Jazzist.
Career
Munkeby formed ...
and
Devin Townsend
Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...
.
Four Seconds Ago (2018–present)
In 2018, Mansoor formed the electronic side project Four Seconds Ago with fellow Periphery guitarist Jake Bowen. Their debut album ''The Vacancy'' was released in 2018.
Of Man Not of Machine (2008–2011)
Mansoor, along with current Periphery and then-Haunted Shores guitarist Mark Holcomb and current Good Tiger and former
TesseracT
In geometry, a tesseract is the four-dimensional analogue of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of six square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of e ...
and then-
Sky Eats Airplane
Sky Eats Airplane was an American post-hardcore band from Fort Worth, Texas. The band was signed to indie label Equal Vision Records and most recently released their self-titled full-length album through the label in July 2008. In March 2012, th ...
lead singer Elliot Coleman founded a side project called "Of Man Not of Machine" (abbreviated OMNOM) that released music from 2008–2011. The project became inactive due to Coleman joining TesseracT in 2011 and with Holcomb and Mansoor finding further success with Periphery with the release of ''
Periphery II: This Time It's Personal''.
Snuggles (2011)
In 2011, Mansoor and then-Periphery bandmate Adam "Nolly" Getgood released a set of 3 hardcore punk-themed songs under the side project name Snuggles. The project is currently inactive.
Other work
Mansoor and
Steve Vai
Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...
were selected to contribute the ''
Halo 2 Anniversary Original Soundtrack''.
Mansoor was also selected to contribute to the soundtrack of ''
Destiny: Rise of Iron''.
Mansoor's career as a producer started when he produced and co-wrote the
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent b ...
' debut
self-titled album and since then he has produced bands such as
Veil of Maya
Veil of Maya is an American metalcore band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, by members Marc Okubo and Sam Applebaum in 2004. They are currently signed to Sumerian Records and have released six studio albums. Their first four albums are considered ...
,
Born of Osiris, Being and
Stray from the Path. He formed a production company called Top Secret Audio in 2013 with Adam "Nolly" Getgood, his former Periphery bandmate. Mansoor also has produced or helped to produce every one of Periphery's studio albums.
Business ventures
Mansoor, along with Periphery members
Matt Halpern
Matt Halpern (born June 21, 1983) is an American drummer best known for his work with progressive metal band Periphery.
Biography
Born in Baltimore, Halpern took an interest in music at a young age and got his first kids drum set aged 3, befo ...
and Adam "Nolly" Getgood and Good Tiger guitarist Derya Nagle founded the company GetGood Drums (abbreviated GGD), in 2016, with the company name being a pun on Nolly's last name. GGD's primary product focus is amplifier simulation plugins, drum libraries, and drum groove packs. Mansoor regularly composes the music for GGD demos as well as posts video playthroughs of the demos.
In 2016, Mansoor founded Horizon Devices, a guitar pedal and gear company, with friends Mehtab Bhogal and Brian Gilmanov. Horizon Devices has released many guitar pedals and accessories such as strings and picks and is endorsed by artists such as
Yvette Young
Yvette Young is an American musician from San Jose, California. She is the front-woman for the math rock band Covet.
History
Young is of Chinese heritage and comes from a musical family: her father Phil is a singer, accordionist, and composer, ...
,
Ola Englund
Ola "The Swede" Englund (born 27 September 1981) is a Swedish guitarist, record producer, YouTuber, and the owner of Solar guitars. He is a founding-member of the band Feared, plays lead guitar in the Swedish metal band The Haunted, and is a fo ...
, and Keith Merrow.
Mansoor is a partner in 3DOT Recordings, along with Periphery bandmates Spencer Sotelo, Jake Bowen, Mark Holcomb and
Matt Halpern
Matt Halpern (born June 21, 1983) is an American drummer best known for his work with progressive metal band Periphery.
Biography
Born in Baltimore, Halpern took an interest in music at a young age and got his first kids drum set aged 3, befo ...
. The label releases material created by Periphery, all of its associated side projects, and third party bands signed to the label.
Mansoor, along with all of his Periphery bandmates, run a merchandise line called Bottom Ramen. Mansoor also has a partnership with Joey Sturgis Tones and has his own signature plugin Toneforge Misha Mansoor.
Equipment
Guitars
Mansoor currently is a signature artist for
Jackson Guitars
Jackson is a manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson. The company was acquired by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 2002, which manufactures Jackson-branded guita ...
, with his signature USA-made Juggernaut HT6 and HT7 guitars having first been released in 2015. Mansoor also regularly uses a relic
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...
made by the Jackson LA custom shop. In 2017, Mansoor and Jackson released his more affordable Indonesian-made version of the Juggernauts for the Jackson Pro Series line, and in 2021 Mansoor and Jackson released a Japanese-made version of Mansoor's custom relic So-Cal/Stratocaster as a part of the Jackson MJ line. Before being a Jackson signature artist, Mansoor used guitars by
Mayones,
Ibanez
is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as ...
,
Ernie Ball
Ernie Ball (born Roland Sherwood Ball; August 30, 1930 – September 9, 2004) was an American entrepreneur and musician who developed guitar-related products. Ball began as a club and local television musician and entrepreneur, building an inte ...
Music Man, Blackmachine, Strandberg, and various other brands.
Mansoor is also a signature artist for
Bare Knuckle Pickups, with his signature Juggernaut and Ragnarok Sets having been released in 2013 and 2017, respectively.
Amplifiers
Mansoor is a signature artist for
Peavey Electronics
Peavey Electronics Corporation is an American company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets professional audio equipment. One of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, it is headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi.
H ...
, with his signature 120 Watt Invective amplifier head being introduced in 2017 and a 25 Watt mini version (the MH) being released in 2019. Mansoor also extensively uses the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx amplifier modeler for studio use and touring. Mansoor also uses amps by EVH, Friedman,
Mesa/Boogie
Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering) is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969.
Mesa was started by Randall Smith as a sm ...
, and various other companies.
Personal life
Mansoor is an avid motorsport and
F1 fan, and regularly posts pictures of his car collection, which include a McLaren 765LT Spider, a 991.2
Porsche 911 GT3 Touring, and a Subaru BRZ. Mansoor is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
Influences
Mansoor cites several musicians as influences from a wide range of genres. Notably, he cites
John Petrucci
John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with former member Mike Portnoy before he departed the band in 201 ...
,
Allan Holdsworth,
Ron Jarzombek
Ron Jarzombek is an American guitarist best known for his work with WatchTower, Spastic Ink, and Blotted Science, featuring Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse. His most recent project is Terrestrial Exiled. He released a brand new song, "Bey ...
and
Fredrik Thordendal
Fredrik Thordendal (born 11 February 1970) is a Swedish musician, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the extreme metal band Meshuggah, of which he is a founding member.
Along with Meshuggah's rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagst ...
as being important to his development as a guitar player. Other notable artists and bands include Meshuggah,
Devin Townsend
Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...
,
Nevermore
Nevermore was an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1991. The band has been inactive since 2011, due to personal issues between the band members. In April 2015, lead singer Warrel Dane confirmed that Nevermore had n ...
,
Guthrie Govan
Guthrie Govan (; born 27 December 1971) is an English guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands the Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, the Young Punx and the Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes. More recently, he ha ...
,
Opeth,
Gojira,
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...
and
Textures.
Discography
With
Periphery
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
* ''
Periphery
Periphery or peripheral may refer to:
Music
*Periphery (band), American progressive metal band
* ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery
* "Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...''
Gaming and entertainm ...
'' (2010)
* ''Icarus EP'' (2011)
* ''
Periphery II: This Time It's Personal'' (2012)
* ''
Clear'' (2014)
* ''
Juggernaut: Alpha'' (2015)
* ''
Juggernaut: Omega'' (2015)
* ''
Periphery III: Select Difficulty'' (2016)
* ''
Periphery IV: Hail Stan'' (2019)
As Bulb
* ''Archives: Volume 1'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 2'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 3'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 4'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 5'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 6'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 7'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Volume 8'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Orchestral'' (2020)
* ''Archives: Electronic'' (2020)
* ''Moderately Fast, Adequately Furious'' (2021)
With Haunted Shores
* Split EP with Cyclamen (2010)
* ''Viscera'' (2015)
* ''Void'' (2022)
With Four Seconds Ago
* ''The Vacancy'' (2018)
As a producer/songwriter
*
Stray from the Path – ''
Make Your Own History'' (2009)
*
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent b ...
– ''
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent b ...
'' (2009)
* An Obscure Signal – ''Creations EP'' (2010)
*
Veil of Maya
Veil of Maya is an American metalcore band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, by members Marc Okubo and Sam Applebaum in 2004. They are currently signed to Sumerian Records and have released six studio albums. Their first four albums are considered ...
– ''
Eclipse'' (2012)
*
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent b ...
– ''
The Joy of Motion
''The Joy of Motion'' is the third studio album by American instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders. It was released on March 24, 2014, in Europe, March 25, 2014, in North America and on March 28, 2014, in Australia and New Zealan ...
'' (2014)
*
Volumes
Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The defi ...
– ''
No Sleep'' (2014)
* "Breaking the Covenant" and "Follow in Flight" on ''
Halo 2 Anniversary Original Soundtrack'' (2014)
* For Mankind (Credits Theme) – ''Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Original Soundtrack)'' (2016)
*
Animals as Leaders
Animals as Leaders is an American instrumental progressive metal band from Washington, D.C. It currently consists of guitarists Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka, having been formed by Abasi in 2007. They are a prominent b ...
- ''
Parrhesia'' (2022)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansoor, Misha
Living people
Progressive metal guitarists
1984 births
Seven-string guitarists
Periphery members
American people of Mauritian descent
Jewish American musicians
Jewish heavy metal musicians
21st-century guitarists
American people of Indian descent
21st-century American Jews