Will Web is one of a handful of young electro revivalists associated with Detroit’s Direct Beat label, also home to such names as Aux 88, K-1, and “Mad” Mike Banks.

Like those artists, Web grew up steeped in equal parts early hip-hop (Run-DMC, Ice-T), techno-pop (Kraftwerk, Gary Numan), and first-wave Detroit techno (Model 500, Cybotron), and the breakbeat bias of his music stems from those artists’ influence.

A DJ through most of the ’80s and on into the ’90s, Web’s first release appeared under his DJ name Mr. Bill (he took the name from the Saturday Night Live character) on the Digital Sects II compilation on Sean Deason’s Matrix label. At Deason’s behest, Web passed a tape of unreleased material to Mike Banks (of Direct Beat/Underground Resistance), leading to the release of Web’s first DB 12-inch, “Cosmic Drive-By,” in 1996.

He’s since released an additional EP (Extraterrestrial Phunk) and contributed a track to the Direct Beat compilation EP, Experience Da Bass 2. Web also remixed Cronic Tronic’s “King of Bass,” also on Direct Beat. He signed to the Astralwerks label in 1997, and released the Invasion EP later that year. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi