About Me
I was born 1:37pm September 19th, 1977 to Larry and Kandee Knapp as Gustavius Dyer Knapp. I grew up in Northern California, mainly the east (east) bay area (Lafayette, and San Ramon) until 1987 when he moved to Arnold, CA between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite in the Sierra. I took on my step father's last name and I was know as Gus Aiton growing up. In college, at Santa Clara University, I tried going by my full name but it was too difficult for people to say, or remember. In 1999 I went by Tavius after having reunited with my father and found out he named me Gustavius because he wanted me to be special and unique. Gustavius means God staff, or kingly and noble. Tavius Dyer had been my name until I got married in 2008 and went by my legal last name Aiton. Now, it is Tavius Aiton.
Art and Music
I always had a love of art and music. I used to make my friends mixed tapes all the time. At the age of 16 I traveled to France and started taking photographs. Later they would be published in the 1997/1998 Spring issue of the Santa Clara Review. As a freshman in college I attended a senior English major reading and thought to myself I could do better. I went to my dorm room and began writing poetry and journaling. I have done so ever since.
After Santa Clara I lived in San Francisco and got in to the rave and club scene. Dancing became me. I started spinning records in the scene at DJ Tantric. There I began mixing electronic music before burning out and moving back to the South Bay Area with my Dad. I mixed music incessantly, learning to sample, loop and sequence.
In 2001 I started DJ'ing on the radio at wwww.kscu.org the Underground Sound, where I could play any music, and my radio show was precisely that, varied format, a mix of all genre and sub genre of music. I hooked up with KSCU DJ Delirium, and we had a show together in 2003 "Summer Asylum and The Insanitarium. I also started freestyling over friend "Analyst" instrumental beats while driving.
Later in 2003 I was incarcerated for acting out while under the influence and faced a strike and jail time. I bailed out and picked up another charge again at a bar, and was found past out under a car bleeding to death. I picked up another strike. During my 12 months incarcerated fighting those two strikes, I found recovery and I began writing incessantly, and created the content of my first book "Philosopher Stoned – Incarcerated" through hand written letters in the mail back and forth to my dear friend Ed Basanese.
Upon release, I started a record label "Resonate Frequency Records" and was back on the air promoting the local scene. I helped found "South Bay Live" a non profit aimed at enlivening the South Bay music scene.
In the summer of 2007 I produced singer/songwriter Gerald Lee's solo album "The Return" with Jake Chaplin (now the band "For the Broken) and Jake's alt-rock band "Reflecktiv". I also released my first book Philosopher Stoned – Incarcerated which was the content from letters in the mail while in jail, and it can be downloaded free on my home page.
I kept writing and making music. In September of 2009 I produced my last release as Resonant Frequency Records, my first album and second book, both by the name of Philosopher Stoned – Recovered. It was a simultaneous release! This was a quad EP of several of my music aliases based on different projects. Emote Phelos was my experimental electronica personae. Mc2r(8-t)z? was my spoken word over Analyst beats personae meaning MC Crazy. My vocal over my own music was Jcat walkR, and finally my original club name DJ Tantric was the final EP, a mix of tech house tracks I made. They can all be found on itunes.
In 2010, I made friends with a fellow poet and artist www.zayrayves.com we wrote a lot of poetry together which ultimate lead to my next book. Our mutual friend Joe Mallon supported the idea I focus my work on a central brand rather than so many different ones. Zayra talked me into starting this website, instead of waiting to get my ideas out there academically So, the basis of this website was to allow my work to be public again and to focus the brand while promoting my blogs as well. The blogs are my heart behind this website. I hope people find and follow them as I have much to share about real world experience coupled with a cornucopia of academic influences.
www.artistcollective.biz is my plan to return to a community of artists helping artists be artists instead of a record label. Plans for the website are large so funding is part of the timeline as well as having been getting my third book and second album released. I recently released my third book "Love Lush" through www.aquillrelle.com and am adding the final touches to my second album "Spun 4a Loop" which is composed of spoken word from the book, as well as radio cuts, electronic music and field recordings. It is meant as a sample of this site's content for promotional sake.
Last year, Auguste Coleman from SLO, So Cal, exposed me to Dubstep musician Skrillex and I fell in love. He has become my new favorite electronic artist since Amon Tobin a decade ago. I mixed Amon Tobin in 2003 "Bottled Mixes" which can be found on my music page. Recently, I did a mix inspired by Skrillex "The Hills Have Eyes". This mix can be downloaded free on this website for promotionall sake.
-Tavius