Bio

John Loose is known primarily as both a percussionist and a surround sound mixer. As a percussionist, he has long specialized in the traditions of frame drumming, tablas, kanjira, and western drumset. He first encountered frame drumming in the early 1980s during his conservatory of music days in New York through Glen Velez and was immediately fascinated. Over the next few years, he studied, played with, and subbed for Glen in many different contexts and became a fixture in the downtown improvised music scene in New York. After finishing school, he toured with the Ensemble for Early Music mounting liturgical dramas from the 12th century in sacred spaces all over the world for seven years, as well as performing improvised new music, early music, chamber opera, and music for off-Broadway plays.

In 1988, John moved West and his first important band in San Francisco was the quiet death-folk-trio, Blue Rubies featuring vocalist Susan Maunu and Vocalist/Lutenist, Mitzi Johnson. In the few years Blue Rubies was together, they played sold-out shows and had a fanatical following. Their eponymous debut record was called "unabashedly gorgeous" by the Oakland Tribune.

John then began playing in studios in ernest, performing on tracks for artists as diverse as Ira Stein, Hans Christian, Rasa, Beth Custer, Tom Valtin, Rhythm & Noise, and Peter Maunu.

After an extended series of improvised evenings at Radio Valencia in the Mission District of San Francisco with Stephen Kent and Beth Custer, Trance Mission was born. John's playing was universally praised for his combination of power, grace, and groove.

In 1997, John stopped touring regularly to pursue a career in surround sound production at Dolby Labs in San Francisco. John now manages high definition video and surround sound production at Dolby and is the leading expert at 7.1 channel high resolution audio production. His most recent projects include mixes of The San Francisco Symphony, Matt Pond PA, Wilco, and The Killers.

Trance Mission returned to the stage in August 2008 for a sold-out reunion gig at Yoshi’s San Francisco.

John remains active in Early Music recently touring and performing with Musica Pacifica, and the U.C. Berkeley College Choir. He is also playing jazz drums.

my allmusic discography