Background
He was born on November 12, 1971 in State College, Pennsylvania, where he lived until he was about age six.
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Tom Shear
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Education
He graduated from Syracuse University in 1994 with a degree in television and film production. Another significant influence came when he attended a Depeche Mode concert in 1988. Shear was astounded by the industrial dance music played by the opening DJ, and began incorporating industrial influences into his music
Career
After that, he lived in New Jersey for two years and then in New Hampshire for around twelve years. Shear"s musical skills are self-taught. After teaching himself to play the piano, he took piano lessons for a couple of months, but he stopped when he found that they involved more "unlearning" of techniques he had taught himself than learning new techniques he could use.
While still in high school in the late 1980s, he began creating instrumental synthpop music at home under the name Manitoba on a Stage, as well as playing bass live for a punk-influenced band named The Advocates.
Shear credits the band Depeche Mode as having influenced him more than any other group towards the electronic music styles. Manitoba on a Stage was at this point retitled
Shear worked on throughout his college years, occasionally sending out demos to little effect.
In 1992, Shear self-released a collection called "Wires", which generated some buzz among minor radio stations and underground magazines, but still little interest from record labels. In the mid-1990s, he produced techno tracks for a side project called Nerve Filter which generated some interest at record label 21st Circuitry.
The first "official" release of an song occurred when Arts Industria released "Graverobber" on their Construction Number.
009 compilation. Shear kept writing songs and sending out demos despite his frustration over the lack of interest among record labels, later crediting the support and encouragement from his early fans for keeping him going. In 1998, his perseverance paid off when the Canadian label Gashed! signed and released the group"s first album, Contempt, in 1999.
That same year, Shear"s father committed suicide, and the resulting pain and loss is evident in the second album, Failure, released in 2001.
Shear left Gashed Records to sign with Metropolis Records, which re-released Contempt and Failure, and released the third album, Defiance, in 2002, and the fourth, Storm, in 2004. A track from Storm, "Let the Wind Erase Maine", appeared on the Billboard Hot Dance singles chart. Shear is also producer for the band backandtotheleft, and released their album Obsolete on his own label, 23db, in 2004 (later to be rereleased on Metropolis).
He has also been known to act as guest vocalist for other musicians.
In 2004, Shear also lent his talents to the band The Parallel Project. Shear describes his sound as "melodic, danceable electronic music".
