Rustcycle is a music and media project lead by Adrian Johnson. During live performances Johnson switches between DJing and remixing his arrangements, playing electric violin and electric guitar, and VJing or using custom interaction software that takes video input. At concerts the project often manifests as a solo act, sometimes as a performance group involving instrumentalists and vocalists, but always as a genre-challenging experience. 

Rustcycle explores spirituality and technology. With dualistic imagery that appeals to humanists and futurists alike, Johnson engages a broad spectrum of music lovers. 

To understand Johnson's obsession with music and blending genres, one needs only to look to his past. As a child Johnson suffered with countless ear infections, four eardrum ruptures, and seven ear surgeries. A period of substantial conductive hearing loss changed Johnson's life when he had to read lips to understand his parents. When surgeries re-introduced Johnson to the auditory world, he became determined to never be exiled from it again.

Johnson played viola in grades 4-10 then switched to electric guitar almost exclusively for two years. The syncopated harmony lines practiced for years on viola complemented the guitar's melodic role. Johnson began arranging and recording guitar and synthesizer compositions when he started college in 1999, taking a few music theory classes along the way. He picked up electric 5-string violin in 2004 to expand his tonal palette and bring strings back into focus. 

Johnson is a software engineer and researcher at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) and aspires to continue interdisciplinary work in the vein of inventor / musician / engineer / futurist Kurzweil. Rustcycle was select from over 400 electronic artists from eight countries to perform at the 2006 Vegas Music Conference.

Rustcycle has been described as a blend of Moby, Joe Satriani, Nine Inch Nails, and Yanni for good reason. Johnson's influences are varied, including those named and others who have innovated in order to push their genres' boundaries.

JS-1200 guitar, Godin LGX-SA guitar, Zeta 5-string electric violin, Yamaha 5-string electric violin, pernambuco and brazilwood bows, Coda composite bows, MOTU Traveler, Apple G5 quad, Apple iBook (live), Logic Audio Pro (virtual amps, effects, synths), Sherman Filterbank II, Alesis AirFX, Pioneer CDJ-1000 MK2

Twin Arcs - 2002
Daisho - 2005
Workaholics Autonomous - 2007

Tool, Tiesto, Bach, Nine Inch Nails, Joe Satriani, Yanni