The Hub is an American "computer network music" ensemble formed in 1986 consisting of John Bischoff, Tim Perkis, Chris Brown, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Mark Trayle and Phil Stone. ... The Hub grew from the League of Automatic Music Composers: John Bischoff, Tim Perkis, Jim Horton, and Rich Gold. The Hub was the first live computer music band whose members were all composers, as well as designers and builders of their own hardware and software. In 2018, The Hub was awarded the Giga-Hertz Prize for lifetime achievement in electronic music by ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany.
John Lee Bischoff (b.1949), is an American composer, musical performer, teacher and grassroots activist best known as an early pioneer of live computer music. He also gained fame for his solo constructions in real-time synthesis as well as his ground-breaking work in computer network bands. After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts in 1971 and his Master of Fine Arts from Oakland's Mills College in 1973, he studied composition with Robert Moran, James Tenney and Robert Ashley.
Tim Perkis has been working in the medium of live electronic and computer sound for many years, performing, exhibiting installation works and recording in North America,Europe and Japan. His work has largely been concerned with exploring the emergence of life-like properties in complex systems of interaction. He has taught at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and the California College of the Arts (CCA).
Chris Brown is a veteran illustrator of children's non fiction, and maily works for the Oxford University Press. This is the first book he has illustrated on his own, and he is especially fond of his bonny female pirates.
Scot Gresham-Lancaster (b. 1954), is an American composer, performer, instrument builder, educator and educational technology specialist. He uses computer networks to create new environments for musical and cross discipline expression. As a member of The Hub, he is one of the early pioneers of "computer network" music, which uses the behavior of interconnected music machines to create innovative ways for performers and computers to interact. He performed in a series of "co-located" performances, collaborating in real time with live and distant dancers, video artists and musicians in network-based performances.
Phil Stone is one of the six original members of the ground-breaking computer network band The Hub, and has played in venues throughout the United States and Europe with them since 1987. He regularly accompanies the Laura Pawel Dance Company of New York with live electronic music, and plays bass for The Uncovered.
Stone studied experimental music at Wesleyan University and Mills College, and has been a professional software developer for over thirty years. Career highlights include development of some of the earliest commercial music software in the early eighties, as well as work in virtual reality and three-dimensional sound localization at NASA-Ames in the late eighties and nineties.
A resident of the bicycling paradise of Davis, California, he works as a programmer/analyst for UC Davis.
Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (1955 – 2015) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music, improvisation, installations, and compositions for chamber ensembles. His work has been noted for its use of re-engineered consumer products and cultural artifacts as interfaces for electronic music performances and networked media installations.
