Scot Sier is a multidisciplinary change artist working at the intersection of music, technology, and cultural systems. In addition to founding Budda Amplification and inventor of the Chromemaster Guitar, Sier has always remained drawn to songwriting and sonic innovation. His creative work is grounded in three core themes: philosophy, social justice, and the future.
Whether through music, visual art, or performance, Sier delivers bold commentary on inequality, class divides, and threats to freedom—always paired with hopeful visions and calls for change.
Sier’s reach extends from protest anthems to futurist sound explorations. He launched the Soulcadence movement, blending mysticism, rhythm, nature, and vibrational healing through music. His work now extends into intellectual infrastructure. As the inventor of Creator DNA™ — a patent-pending longitudinal identity and vibrational authentication system — he is developing a new economic model designed to protect creators in the age of artificial intelligence.
A lifelong advocate for equality, Sier grew up in the industrial city of Gary, Indiana, the song of a state-champion violinist/pharmacist and an artistic mother where he witnessed the city’s decline due to white flight and systemic racism. That formative experience shaped his political voice, which gained national attention during the Occupy Wall Street movement. His “Occupy Protest Song” went viral alongside a SoundCloud playlist he curated featuring over 700 protest songs. His personal story and song were featured in an interview on KALW (an NPR affiliate) and Headcount.org.
Sier began as an award-winning violin prodigy under renowned violinist Florence Linden, who performed with legends like Jascha Heifetz and Itzhak Perlman. But after hearing Hendrix’s Woodstock performance of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” he traded the violin for electric guitar. A self-taught guitarist, he taught himself by jamming to albums by Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, BB King, Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, and more. His evolution as recording artist, playwright, and sonic innovator with fourteen independent albums spanning protest glam, experimental rhythm, desert psychedelia, and spiritual rock is supported by his collaborators include members of AC/DC, The Black Crowes, John Mayer’s band, Katy Perry’s touring band, and OK Go.
After heading west from Indiana, Sier immersed himself in Denver’s jazz, funk, alt-country, and world music scenes before moving to the Bay Area. There, he earned the Elevox Songwriting Award for “Song For Stephanie,” written for his newborn daughter. Embracing nomadic life, he later retreated to a cabin in Glen Ellen, California, where he wrote the urban musical, There Goes The Neighborhood, a tribute to William Burroughs and the San Francisco Beat poets. He pitched the show to Tom Waits, which inspired an unsolicited reading at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
His belief in patron-driven creative economies led to a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $20,000 for his album Heads or Tales, which featured his unique “Shining Light” tuning. Tracks from the album were spotlighted by LA publicist Beth Martinez, included in PBS’s Roadtrip Nation, and featured in Buster Simpson’s Carbon Veil installation at Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport.
An early rap-metal pioneer, Sier formed Psychodramadivision, pre-dating Rage Against the Machine, and later formed the BLS power trio, which recorded Indiana, a politically charged album addressing racism, inequality, and climate change. Critics compared it to early Springsteen.
In 2008, following the sale of Budda Amplification, Sier returned full-time to music. Now based in La Quinta, in California’s low desert—home to stoner/psych rock icons like Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age—he built the Cove Studio, where he continues pushing sonic boundaries.
His 2023 'Bowie" inspired concept album Space and Other Things is an experimental 70’s Rock/Glam/World Music record exploring displacement, Indigenous memory, and space-age mythology through layered guitars and global instrumentation. Melodymine sums it up best, "Scot Sier invites listeners to join him on a journey towards a more enlightened world, one where we come together to address the challenges facing humanity.
At heart, Sier describes himself as a survivalist and an explorer who makes music to confront injustice, process loss, and search for empathy in broken systems. He believes music is more than entertainment—it is a living record of who we are, where we’ve been, and what we’re still capable of becoming.
Since moving to the desert, Sier has recorded over 85 songs and is currently developing a five-album body of work, including:
Dreaming In Vapors Part I-V – Acid Monk Fish – Cahuilla – Memes for Man Ray – The Subtractivist’s – a space-themed musical