MUST DIE! Artist Bio

MUST DIE!, real name Lee Bates, is an electronic music producer from Atlanta, GA with a focus on capturing the essence of childhood, manic depression, bad anime, and sleep deprivation. Born in Houston, Bates is associated primarily for his music in the dubstep genre, having released his early works on labels such as Never Say Die, OWSLA, Dim Mak, Subhuman, Play Me, and Mad Decent.

Bates began releasing music under his current alias in 2012. Bates also produced several tracks on Dim Mak Records, including the extended play “Water Temple”. He made his first release on the label Never Say Day Records with the extended play “Fever Dream”.

In September 2014, Bates released his first album, Death & Magic, on Skrillex’s label Owsla. Bates described the album as “equal parts moody and bright”, saying he “wanted to weave between two vast extremes of musicality in order to show a full spectrum of diversity”.

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. In February 2019, Bates released “BLISS 2K” on Never Say Die, a dubstep track with hardstyle influences. This was continued with “CHAOS”, released on May of the same year, and “EPIPHANY RUSH” in June.

Bates announced his second album, titled CRISIS VISION, in April 2021, which was released on Never Say Die Records the following month and featured increasing influences from techno and hard dance. 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 Skream and Akeos.

In November of 2022, he released his third album, FERAL FANTASY, through Create Music Group, which includes collaborations from producers Lil Texas, Descender, and Water Spirit.

Bate’s stage name is inspired by the title of the film ‘John Tucker Must Die’, stating that “I thought that naming myself after something terrible would be a good laugh”. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.