User Profile

Okay, the abridged history of Jsun R. Bruner...

I was born on May 24, 1977 in Falls Church, VA to be the son of Russell and Irene Bruner. They instantly recognized me as a VERY energetic youth, and supported my all of my creative endeavors. I spent most of my early years growing & learning in northern Virginia until the age of 7, when I moved to souther Missouri. This is where, I got my first taste of music, in various forms. Most of the music I heard here was traditional & modern country, and pop music. This is when I picked up an acoustic guitar for the first time.

After a 2 years, my family relocated back to N. Virginia, to a world that had completely changed for me... I went to school and discovered a new kind of music. Rock.

Years advanced, grades dropped, and mullet grew out. Before long, I found myself in high school. By this time, I had subjected myself to many various forms of modern rock music. Soon came the "grunge" explosion, and I then found myself extremely obselete socially. I had people constantly making fun of my hair and tacky "hair metal" t-shirts. This bred a new feelings in me; feelings of depression, isolation, and loneliness.

I was up watching Headbanger's Ball late one night, nursing my parent's stash of Bacardi, and all of a sudden I saw this animated video of the loudest, fastest song I had ever heard. It was the "Drug Against War" video by KMFDM. I went to the record store later that month and finally found it filed in the "Techno" section. This greatly puzzled me at the time, because I didn't understand how a song so fast & guitarry could be filed under "Techno". I asked the clerk at the counter why this was so, and he replied, "This is Industrial. It's a form of Techno, but it's much more dark and agressive." I was only a feeble 16 year old who didn't know much about the world of underground music, so I took his word for it. I went home, strapped on the earphones (a regular ritual for me at that point), and began to listen.
Between the distorted vocals, sequenced drums, and sampled guitars of the "Angst" record, I knew my life was going to change forever because of this.....

A year later, I had amassed a small but impressive collection of CDs from the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Chemlab, Stabbing Westward, Front 242, and KMFDM (whom I had seen live at that point and declared the "greatest band in the world"). Being that I now drove, I began hanging out at a coffeeshop in Fairfax, VA called Dharma where "social anomalies" convened. I had chopped off the back end of my mullet, and was proud of it. I didn't feel as much like an outcast anymore, but more of like a part of a small social elite. I graduated high school that year a much different person than when I had entered.

I went to college to discover yet another thing that became a major influence on my life: drugs. I had tried drugs back in High School, but had never let my life get taken over by them. I began spending time with Deadheads on campus because they always had drugs readily available. Because of this, I began listening to older psychedelic rock as well. My parents had given me a 1983 Gibson Les Paul Standard for a graduation present, and a Roland R-70 drum machine that Christmas. With the equipment in hand, my collective musical influences, and a steady supply of chemicals, I began making music. I had written a folk song earlier that year which I applied a simple drum machine beat to called "Lady Wednesday"... I began penning more songs with a mixture of psychedelic folk and "industrial" influences. I filed these under my project's name "Mellow #5". After the end of the first semester at college (which I failed miserably due to my lack of attention span brought on by drug abuse), I went home to find a part-time job, go to a local community college, and record my music. This was the leitmotiv of my next 2 years; working various part-time jobs, doing rather poorly in community college, getting high, and making bad music. At this point, I had started going clubbing (which I still LOVE doing to this day). I had recorded several original songs (and some covers) on a tape called "13 Shades of Mellow". I played this for some friends of mine. The Deadheads couldn't stand the electronics, and the goths/rivetheads found the cheeky lyrics and my high-pitched whiny vocals laughable. I kept working on my music, regardless of negative feedback.

On July 5, 1997, I wrecked my 1989 Grand Am (Poxie... RIP). At this point, I was unemployed, out of college for a semester, and strung out almost every day. My parents were tired of my abusing their generosity. They gave me 3 months to find another place to live. Being all my friends had no room for me, I was forced to join the military.

I left for basic training on November 10, 1997. My life, once again, was forever changed.

Whilst in basic training, we were given a choice on Sundays; go to church, or stay in the barracks and clean. So, I decided to attend a Buddhist service they held there. After my first meditation, a VERY large weight was lifted off of me. Drugs, depression, stress... after a meditation, these things don't matter any more.
After enduring basic training, I entered tech school & had my parents ship my guitar & my roland to me. I then wrote a new song, which wasn't chirpy at all. It was called "The Toy", a rather melancholy song about the abuse a loved one can do. It was inspired by a girl who I had been pursuing for several years who seems continually hurt me. This didn't fall under the normal guise of a Mellow #5 song, and the project's name only irritated me now, because I associated it with my mindless drug abuse. So after more meditiation & researching more into the subject of Buddhist philosophy, I had decided on a new title for the ongoing project:

dharmata101

The word "dharmata" in Sanskrit literally means "the true state of the world as it is", which is what I wanted my music to convey from day one. I think of the 101 as like a college class, being an "introduction to" something, and I feel like I had cheated myself out of knowing so much in college. So if one asks me what "dharmata101" means, I tell them "the introduction to the true state of the world as it is".

Well, I got my first set of orders to Germany, and I freaked! I had always wanted to go to Germany since I had bought that first KMFDM CD. There I spent the 2 happiest years of my life (when off duty). I bought a Yamaha RM1X sequencer to fuel my music (the Roland R-70 was damaged in shipping, and wouldn't work anymore.. the official demise of Mellow #5), and made another tape, "The Five Shackles", pertaining to how our reality is only linked to our five senses. The ideas on the tape were a little scatterbrained, and the lyrics were still a wee bit cheeky. So I digressed onto writing new music after my first trip back to America, which seemed a very different place from when I left. I wrote a song called "americaN'T" which a friend of mine, Chuck Gish, helped me to record on CD. The song soon got some local club play, and exposed my project a little more (consequently, the song is now deleted due to the Sept. 11 bombing of the WTC).

I moved to Idaho in August 2000, where I learned to truly fear mormons... This move lasted until April 2002 when I seperated from the United States Air Force.

I have moved back to the DC area now for the last couple years and aside from a rather ugly deployment to the Middle East, have enjoyed being back. I recruited a live guitarist for the band, Mr. Kevin Keier in July 2002. We've played such venues in the DC area such as Nation (opening for God Module), The U-Turn (closing the sidestage at Summer Masquerade Ball VII), Dr. Dremo's (Purgatorio), and most recently, The Meeting Place (Midnight). I'm still working on the debut album- which has emerged more now as a labor of love more so than a record... I've invested about $5000 in newer equipment for the record. My current studio setup includes:

Yamaha RS7000 (the heart and soul of this project!)
Moog Minimoog Voyager Anniversary Edition
Korg MS2000
Korg Z1
Arp Solina String Ensemble
Arp Axxe
Oberheim Matrix 6R
Roland MKS-7
Roland JP-8080
Clavia Nord Micro Modular
Casio CZ-101
Roland VG-8 V-Guitar System
1989 Gibson Les Paul EX (a true freak of nature- Kevin plays this live)
1983 Gibson Les Paul Standard
2005 Ovation Celebrity Electro/Acoustic
Spirit FX8 Mixing Console (w/ built in Lexicon fx)
Behringer UB1622FX Mixing Console
various stompboxes
My Kincaid Upright piano (year unknown)
...and this computer w/ ACID Pro 4.0 & an EMU 1212 card for recording

































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