Lee Austin Bates (born July 2, 1991), better known by his alias Must Die (stylized as MUST DIE!), is an American electronic musician, DJ, and producer. Born in Houston, Bates is associated primarily for his music in the

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

genre. Bates is known for the track "VIPs", a collaboration with American musician

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...

, released on the label

Owsla Owsla (stylized in all caps) is an American record label and creative collective. It was founded by Skrillex, Tim Smith, Kathryn Frazier, and Clayton Blaha in 2011. Skrillex announced the label on August 17, 2011. The label's first release was ...

. Bates has collaborated with artists such as

Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream was an early and influential exponent of the dubstep genre. After producing several singles, he released his first full-len ...

Eptic Michaël Bella (born 9 April 1993), known by his stage name Eptic, is a Belgian DJ and producer. He is most known for his extended play ''Overlord'', which peaked at 22 on '' Billboard''s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Eptic began his career ...

Zomboy Joshua Mellody (born 1 June 1989), professionally known as Zomboy, is an English dubstep music producer, songwriter, and DJ whose mascot is a zombie. Biography Before Joshua Mellody was active under the name Zomboy, he had an Electronicor ...

, and

Boyinaband David Paul Brown (born 24 August 1987), known professionally as Boyinaband, is an English musician, songwriter, rapper, and YouTuber. Brown is known for his song "Don't Stay in School" and collaborations with other YouTubers such as iDubbbz, R ...

, and has produced remixes for Svdden Death,

Seven Lions 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artis ...

, Excision, and

Slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

, among others.

Career

Bate's stage name is inspired by the title of the film ''

John Tucker Must Die ''John Tucker Must Die'' is a 2006 teen comedy film directed by Betty Thomas. The film is about a trio of teenage girls who plot to break the heart of school basketball star John Tucker after they learn he has been secretly dating all three and p ...

'''','' stating that "I thought that naming myself after something terrible would be a good laugh". Bates began releasing music under his current alias in 2012. That year, he released a remix of "The Drop" by

Bro Safari Nicholas Weiller, better known by his stage name Bro Safari, also known as Knick, is an American moombahton, trap music (EDM), trap, and dubstep producer. Biography Weiller was born in Rome, Italy, into a family with three brothers and one sist ...

. In 2013, he released a remix of Candyland's "Get Wild". Bates also produced several tracks on

Dim Mak Records Dim Mak Records is an independent, Los Angeles-based record label, events company, and lifestyle brand founded by Steve Aoki in 1996. The label has released music under the genres of punk, indie rock, hardcore, hip hop, and electronic dance ...

, including the extended play "Water Temple". He made his first release on the label Never Say Day Records with the extended play "Fever Dream", proceeding to release tracks less frequently. Bates first collaborated with American dubstep producer

on the track "Survivors", as part of Zomboy's LP "The Outbreak". In September 2014, Bates released his first album, "Death & Magic", on

's label

. The opening track, "Gem Shards", is described by

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

as containing "giant builds, mammoth drops and piercing noises so sharp that they'll draw blood". Bates described the album as "equal parts moody and", saying he "wanted to weave between two vast extremes of musicality in order to show a full spectrum of diversity". A remix compilation for "Death & Magic" was released in 2015, including remixes from

Ape Drums Eric Alberto-Lopez (born 28 June 1990), known professionally as Ape Drums, is a Mexican-American DJ and record producer. Ape Drums is known for fusing electronic dance music with Caribbean sounds, described by Thump as "Modern Dancehall Music." ...

and

Snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

. Bates collaborated with English musician

as part of a challenge to create an album within a day, resulting in the album "Common Drop". Bates also collaborated with

on the track "VIPs", and proceeded to produce a remix of the track in 2018. Bates continued to release music through Never Say Die Records throughout later years. Bates released the 4-track EP "Forever Digital" in September 2017, featuring a more futuristic style of dubstep, and described as "filled with thunderous percussion and explosive synths". He also appeared in the label compilation "Hype Future II". This was followed by a remix of

and Saymyname's "I Can't Escape", released through Insomniac. In February 2019, Bates released "Bliss 2K" on Never Say Die, a dubstep track with

hardstyle Hardstyle is an electronic dance genre that emerged in the late 1990s, with origins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Hardstyle mixes influences from techno, new beat and hardcore. Early hardstyle was typically written at 140 BPM (''bea ...

influences. This was continued with "Chaos", released on May of the same year, and "Epiphany System" in June. In August 2019, Bates produced a remix of Svdden Death's "Castles". Bates made several more notable releases throughout 2019, including "Misery System", and "Funeral Zone". Bates collaborated with Zomboy a second time on the track "Revival" for the EP "Rock and Roll Pt. 2". In August 2020, Bates released a remix of the song " Another Me" by

, Excision, and

Wooli Adam Puleo, better known by his alias Wooli, is an American riddim and dubstep DJ and producer. He is known for the songs "Island" and " Another Me", with the prior being a collaboration with American dubstep producers Seven Lions and Trivecta a ...

. Bates announced his second album, titled "Crisis Vision" in April 2021, which was released on Never Say Die Records the following month. This was preceded with several singles from the album on the label, including "Nerve Damage", "Hellburst", and "Sorrow Tech". The announcement was followed by the single "LOL OK", a collaboration with dubstep producer

and Akeos. In 2022, Bates collaborated with

on a track on Zomboy's EP ''Dead Man Walking Pt. 1.'' He released the single "ANGELWARE" later in March.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Must Die! Living people American electronic musicians American record producers Dubstep musicians 1991 births