Awesome New Republic

Did You Know?

• Awesome New Republic's debut album ANR So Far was created by combining two earlier handmade studio albums: Courageous and Witness Now the Birth of An Awesome New Republic.
• In August 2011, they collaborated with performance artist Jillian Mayer on the music video for 'It's Around You.'
• The release of Rational Geographic Volume 1 was part of the first campaign where a record label actively advertised a band directly to BitTorrent users via isoHunt.

History

Michael John Hancock and Brian Robertson, who go by MJ and B-Rob, started Awesome New Republic in 2004 while studying at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Before that, the two had played together in Empirical Mile, a five-member band made up of fellow music students. In 2005, they took two earlier handmade studio albums, Courageous and Witness Now the Birth of An Awesome New Republic, and combined them into their first release, ANR So Far.

Over the years, they have performed on the same bills as the New Deal, Girl Talk, Animal Collective, Mike Gordon, and the Benevento Russo Duo. The duo played the 2008 Langerado Festival and were set to appear at the 2009 edition before it was called off. They have also played the Pop Montreal and CMJ music festivals twice each. In 2008, the New York Times wrote about the growing Miami music scene and highlighted Awesome New Republic as a key part of that “tropical bohemia.”

The band is active on Twitter. In August 2011, they worked with performance artist Jillian Mayer on the music video for “It’s Around You.”