Rob Wickman -- aka Club*Man -- says his favorite concert was “The Red Hot Chili Peppers, a long time ago in College Park, Maryland. They were at their most raw and loudest. I was in the middle of the pit in the front of the stage and, as soon as they hit their first note, there was complete bedlam. One of my bandmates was standing next to me at the time, and he suddenly disappeared into the pit and I didn’t see him again until we were outside in the parking lot. This was way before the Peppers mellowed, when they were still a perfect blend of metal, punk, and rap.”

Wickman cofounded the hip-hop metal band Black Earth in Washington, DC, along with Dave “Flyboy D” Mason. After the mainstream success of similar bands like Rage Against the Machine, Black Earth relocated to San Diego in hopes of furthering the prospects for their own ensemble.

“Rage pulled it off brilliantly,” says Wickman. However, Black Earth (renamed Hi Def Dynamite) apparently did not, and the band split up. “I decided the solo route was best for me.”

In 2008, Wickman says he became “infused with the party lifestyle. By that...it’s more of the scene that I mean, with everybody having fun and cutting loose, for an entire night of lights and hard music.”

As Club*Man, Wickman plays all the instruments and composes new material that he describes as RockStyle. “It’s a hybrid of club and dance, blended with hard rock and rap, as if Kid Rock were to fuse with Lady GaGa or Kanye. RockStyle pulls no punches. It’s hardcore rock, but you can groove to it.”

ClubMan’s debut single “Rockhouse” was recorded at Capricorn Studios. In summer 2012, he reunited his hip-hop metal band Hi Def Dynamite (formerly Black Earth), now including local bassist Rice Enright, formerly of Ghoulspoon.

Hi Def Dynamite were named Best New Band: San Diego in Rockwell Unscene magazine’s Best of 2012 issue.