Tosin Abasi has recorded and released five albums with Animals as Leaders: a self-titled debut, Weightless, The Joy of Motion, The Madness of Many, and their most recent album, Parrhesia.
19 Facts About Tosin Abasi
2.
Tosin Abasi was born in Washington DC to Nigerian immigrants to the United States.
3.
Tosin Abasi's brother, Abdul Abasi, is a former drill sergeant in the United States military and is currently a fashion designer.
4.
Tosin Abasi first picked up a guitar at his friend's house, simply strumming it and making up basic licks on the spot.
5.
Tosin Abasi said that when he decided to learn the guitar, his father was "totally liberal about the whole thing and encouraging and proud" and in fact, bought him his first guitar.
6.
Tosin Abasi said in an interview, "My mom definitely represents more of the traditional immigrant mentality of education and conventional channels being way more important than a creative endeavor".
7.
Tosin Abasi was the guitarist for the Silver Spring, Maryland-based metal band PSI before moving on to join the technical metalcore band Reflux in the early to mid-2000s.
8.
Tosin Abasi then formed his "solo" project, Animals as Leaders, the name loosely being derived from the book Ishmael.
9.
Tosin Abasi toured with the band Born of Osiris as a stand-in guitarist for former member Matt Pantelis whilst they were auditioning for a permanent replacement.
10.
Tosin Abasi was reportedly meeting with Misha Mansoor again in late 2012, and it was reported that a new Animals as Leaders album was in the works, due to be released in 2013.
11.
In July 2014, Tosin Abasi appeared in the first episode of Guitar Power, a web-series sponsored by D'Addario String and Rolling Stone Magazine.
12.
In October 2014, it was revealed that Tosin Abasi would join Joe Satriani, Guthrie Govan, and Mike Keneally on the G4 tour in 2015.
13.
In 2017, after leaving Ibanez Guitars, Tosin Abasi wanted to expand on his design and include features such as locking tuners and 6 string options.
14.
Tosin Abasi started with Frank Falbo but had a public fallout with the builder over business issues.
15.
In 2022, Tosin Abasi Concepts expanded their offering by introducing the double-cut Emi.
16.
Notably, Tosin Abasi's collection reached into the hundreds, though many were sold off in 2020; as such, this list focuses primarily on the entries of particular, which have either been seen at workshops, on tour, social media videos, or were used in recording.
17.
Abasi Guitars's Larada design was done uniquely by Abasi, despite having drawn lucid inspirations from instruments Tosin has played in the past.
18.
Tosin Abasi has released two sets of signature pickups with DiMarzio and, later, Fishman, respectively.
19.
Tosin Abasi's favored guitarists, musicians and bands include Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Mike Einziger of Incubus, and Dream Theater.