Bran Van 3000

Bran Van 3000 is an electronica group founded by DJ James Di Salvio and E.P. Bergen who have collaborated on a number of songs with Stéphane Moraille, Sara Johnston, Steve "Liquid" Hawley, Jayne Hill, Jean Leloup, Kim Bingham and other musicians.

Di Salvio was a video director and asked E.P. to come teach him how to produce tracks with a sampler and turntables. They produced a single with Jean Leloup called: "Johnny Go". It went to number one in the Quebec charts and Di Salvio directed the music video.

Bran Van 3000 released their first single, "Drinking in L.A.", in February 1997 in Canada and, in April, the band released their first album, called Glee. The record went gold in 1998 and won a Juno Award for best alternative album. It contained 17 tracks, one of them entirely in French called "Forest" featuring Jean Leloup. "Everywhere" was featured on the soundtrack to the film Practical Magic and "Drinking in L.A." was featured in the soundtrack to Playing by Heart.

In March 1998, Glee was released internationally albeit some changes: "Ceci n'est pas une chanson" became an instrumental simply called "Une chanson"; the French song, "Forest", was reworked with several English verses. The international version has 19 tracks. Previously unreleased songs are "Rainshine", "Carry On" and "Old School".

In July 1998, "Drinking in L.A." reached No. 36 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming their first transatlantic hit. In August 1999 the single was re-released after the song was featured in a popular TV commercial for Rolling Rock, and peaked at No. 3 in the UK.

In the summer of 2001, Bran Van 3000 released the album Discosis. The song "Astounded" featured the final recorded performance from soul legend Curtis Mayfield before his death and became the most successful Canadian single by the collective. Other collaborators on the album were Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour and reggae artist Eek-a-Mouse.

In 2007, their third album, Rosé, which was recorded at Depeche Mode's studio and in Hollywood at Steve Vai's Studio, was released. In July 2008, the group got back together, on stage, at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Their fourth album, The Garden, was released in October 2010. Di Salvio continues to tour with and parts of the group through Canada, collaborating with different singers and instrumentalists like Stéphane Moraille and Miss Abi.