Los Angeles, CA · dubstep · riddim

Bear Grillz

2 festivals played ↓

Bear-costumed producer whose gimmick outlasted the joke because the tracks hold up — heavyweight dubstep and riddim with genuine pit credentials.

Bear Grillz is the stage name of Robert James Pangelinan, an American producer born in 1979 and now based in Denver, Colorado. He performs in a full bear costume, an anonymity gimmick he kept up for years before revealing his identity live on The Jerry Springer Show.

He is self-taught, having learned production by watching YouTube tutorials on a MacBook Pro before turning Bear Grillz into a full-time act. The music sits at the heavier end of bass culture: mid-tempo riddim patterns, distorted growling basslines and abrupt drops built for large soundsystems.

Bear Grillz has been a fixture of the North American bass circuit, releasing through labels associated with that scene and collaborating widely with other dubstep producers and vocalists. In 2016 he swapped the original bear costume for a light-up bear head, debuted at a show in Sioux City, Iowa, and has performed in it since.

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