Shinobi Ninja is an American rock band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 that formed in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 2008. The band is known for high energy shows and eclectic sound, mashing up various genres of music such as Hip Hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

, Punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, Metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

, Reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 and Rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

.

Band Members

The band's line-up consists of:

• Dave Aaron, aka D.A., Duke Sims  - vocals
• Alex Confurius, aka Alien Lex  - bass guitar
• Markus Hrdina, aka DJ Axis Powers  - DJ
• Edara Johnson, aka Baby G  - vocals
• Mike Machinist, aka Maniak Mike  - guitar
• Dave Machinist, aka Terminator Dave  - drums

Band Origins

The band met at a recording/rehearsal studio called Progressive Music in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, where D.A., Jonny, and Mike worked and Baby G was taking vocal class. Previously Axis, Maniak, and Terminator were in a band called Stalley

Stalley

Kyle Myricks aka Stalley is a rapper from Massillon, Ohio.- Early life :Stalley attended Washington High School in Massillon. Stalley played basketball freshman through senior year. After graduation, he left home to play Division 1 basketball but was injured. That setback brought him to New York to...

 & The Wax Machine. When that band broke up in early 2008, Shinobi Ninja was formed. Their original bass player and collaborator, Jonathan Nunes Simone (Jonny On The Rocks) left the band in 2010, and was replaced by Alien Lex.

Terminator and Maniak are maternal twins. Alien Lex and D.A. are cousins.

Prior to forming the band, Baby G was a professional dancer, dancing for such artists as Rihanna

Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...

, Santigold, Jason Derulo

Jason Derulo

Jason Joel Desrouleaux , better known by his stage name Jason Derülo, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. After producing records for several artists and writing songs for Cash Money Records, co-founder of the label Birdman, Young Money Entertainment owner Lil Wayne and rapper...

, Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin

Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...

, Cassie, P. Diddy, LL Cool J

LL Cool J

James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...

, Nelly

Nelly

Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...

, and Daddy Yankee

Daddy Yankee

Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez , known artistically as Daddy Yankee, is a Latin Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican Reggaeton recording artist. Ayala was born in Río Piedras, the largest district of San Juan, where he became interested in music at a young age. In his youth he was interested in baseball,...

.
She makes an appearance in the video "Long Way To Go

Long Way 2 Go

"Long Way 2 Go" is a song by American recording artist Cassie from her debut studio album, Cassie . It was co-written by Cassie herself in collaboration with the song's producer, Ryan Leslie. The song was released as the second and final single from the album by Bad Boy Records on September 22, 2006...

" by Cassie.

Performances and Appearances

The band has shared the stage with such varying artists as Tom Morello

Tom Morello

Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...

, Black Sheep, Das EFX

Das EFX

Das EFX is an American hip hop duo. It consists of emcees Skoob and Dray...

, Das Racist

Das Racist

Das Racist is an alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, New York City, composed of MCs Himanshu Suri , and Victor Vazquez and hype man Ashok Kondabolu...

, Schoolly D

Schoolly D

Jesse B. Weaver Jr. , better known by the stage name Schoolly D, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.- Career :...

, Slightly Stoopid

Slightly Stoopid

Slightly Stoopid is an American band based in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, who describe their music as "a fusion of acoustic rock and blues with reggae, hip-hop, and punk". As a band, they have released eight albums with their sixth studio album, entitled Slightly Not Stoned Enough To Eat...

, Chiddy Bang

Chiddy Bang

Chiddy Bang is an American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group consists of Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin. The duo was introduced through former band member Zachary Sewall in late 2008 during their freshman year at Drexel University, in...

, Mike Posner, DJ Skribble

DJ Skribble

DJ Skribble is an Italian-American DJ, producer, remixer, radio personality and actor.In the early 1990s he teamed up with Kamron, ATA, Firstborn, and Tommy Never in Young Black Teenagers, who released two albums before splitting up.In 1996 he worked with Bill Irwin on the musical Hip Hop Wonderland...

, Cage, and Rise Against

Rise Against

Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...

.

On August 6, 2011 they played the first ever 311

311 (band)

311 is an American rock band from Omaha, Nebraska. The band was formed in 1988 by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Nick Hexum, lead guitarist Jim Watson , bassist Aaron "P-Nut" Wills and drummer Chad Sexton...

 Pow Wow Festival with Sublime

Sublime (band)

Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell , Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh . Michael "Miguel" Happoldt also contributed on a few Sublime songs, such as "New Thrash." Lou Dog, Nowell's...

, Deftones

Deftones

Deftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California, founded in 1988. The band consists of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham . Currently Sergio Vega is standing in on bass while Cheng recovers from a car accident...

, Mix Master Mike

Mix Master Mike

Mix Master Mike is an American turntablist and contributing member of the Beastie Boys.-Life and career:Born Michael Schwartz in San Francisco, California, Mix Master Mike is of German and Filipino descent. He first came to prominence upon winning the 1992 New Music Seminar/Supermen Inc...

, and G Love, amongst others.

On January 28, 2010, the band released "Shinobi Ninja Attacks!" a Nintendo-style video game album for iPhone

IPhone

The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...

, iPod

IPod

iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

, and iPad

IPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

 that was featured in the Apple Store's "Hot New Games" section and downloaded over 10,000 times. They were the first independent band to release an app based on their likeness and music.

Baby G was featured as the coach in an episode of MTV's MADE (TV Series)

Made (TV series)

MTV's MADE is a self-improvement reality television series broadcast on MTV. The series follows teens who have a goal and want to be "made" into things like singers, athletes, dancers, skateboarders, etc. The teens are joined by a "Made Coach", an expert in their chosen field, who tries to help...

, which premiered in October 11, 2010.

Shinobi Ninja's song Rock Hood is featured in the video game NBA 2k12

NBA 2K

The NBA 2K series is a series of basketball video games developed and released annually. Beginning in 1999, the NBA 2K series was an exclusive to the Sega Dreamcast. The series was originally published by Sega, under the label Sega Sports and is now published by 2K Sports...

 released October 4, 2011.

In February 2011 the band placed second in the "Artist On The Verge" at The New Music Seminar

New Music Seminar

The New Music Seminar was a series of multi-venue music showcases held annually in New York City, in the month of June, from 1980 to 1995, then relaunched in 2009....

 (NMS) in Los Angeles. Former winners include artists such as Nirvana

Nirvana

Nirvāṇa ; ) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha...

, Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

.