The TEC Awards Steering Committee is pleased to announce that actor, comedian, and musician Fred Armisen will return as host of the 37th Annual Technical Excellence and Creativity Awards (NAMM TEC Awards), being held Saturday, June 4 in Anaheim, California. Finalists for each of the 28 award categories, which honor individuals, companies, and technical innovations used in sound recordings, films, broadcast television, and video games, were recently announced in Nashville at Summer NAMM. The TEC Awards are presented annually as part of The NAMM Show, the global crossroads of the music products, pro audio and sound, and entertainment technology industries.
Fred Armisen is one of the most diversely talented performers working today with credits that range from acting to producing to writing in both comedy and music. He is the co-writer and co-star of IFC’s Emmy® nominated series Portlandia. He can currently be seen in HBO’s Our Flag Means Death and Judd Apatow’s The Bubble. He appears as “Tico” in HBO’s Los Espookys, a Spanish-Language series which he wrote and executive produced. Armisen can also be heard voicing Elliot Birch in NETFLIX‘s wildly popular animated cartoon, Big Mouth, which has been renewed through a sixth season. He voiced the character Deborahbot 5000 in the animated The Mitchells vs. The Machines and also voices Lem Bennings on the Audible podcast series Lem Can Help. Additionally, Armisen worked with IFC to create the critically acclaimed comedy, Documentary Now! The show is a curated series of half-hour documentaries and biopics, each about a completely fictitious subject.
Armisen released his original stand-up comedy special Fred Armisen: Stand Up for Drummers on NETFLIX. In the special, Armisen shares his thoughts on musical genres, drummer quirks, regional accents, and more for an audience of fellow drummers. The special was released in February 2018 and received a GRAMMY nomination for “Best Comedy Album” in 2019. Armisen also recently appeared in the Netflix movie, Sorta Like A Rock Star opposite Carol Burnett and Rhenzy Feliz.
In February 2014, Armisen was named band leader of the 8G Band on Late Night with Seth Meyers. The band, curated by Armisen, includes members of indie rock bands Les Savy Fav and Girls against Boys. Armisen plays with the band when he is not in production on one of his other projects.
While his TV and film credits are impressive, Armisen’s passion for making music ignited in the early 80s when he began playing drums in a local band with some Valley Stream, New York high school friends. In 1988, he moved to Chicago to play drums for the punk rock band Trenchmouth, and in the 1990s, he played background drums with Blue Man Group. Armisen played drums on three tracks for Les Savy Fav’s 2007 album Let’s Stay Friends, as well as tracks for Matthew Sweet’s 2011 album Modern Art and Wandering Lucy’s 2015 album, Leap Year.
Along with a series of Technical Achievement categories, which will recognize innovative product design and excellence in audio and sound production, the event will also include Creative Achievement honors to the talented production teams behind Hollywood’s most recognizable TV and film projects, as well the technicians and producers behind the music world’s most recognizable live events and albums.
The Les Paul Innovation Award and NAMM TEC Hall of Fame honoree(s) will be announced at a later date. Past honorees include 2020’s Les Paul Innovation Award winner, Joni Mitchell, and TEC Hall of Fame inductees, Dave Pensado and Herb Trawick (Pensado’s Place). Previous Les Paul Innovation Award winners include Peter Frampton, Jackson Browne, Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Don Was, Slash, Todd Rundgren, Pete Townshend, Steve Vai, and others who have received the award since it began in 1991.
See Fred Armisen and celebrate the winners of the 37th NAMM TEC Awards Saturday, June 4, 2022, at The NAMM Show. The TEC Awards are made possible through the generosity of sponsors, including Presenting sponsors include the Les Paul Foundation; C.F. Martin & Co.; Harman; Eventide; International Music Software Trade Association; L-acoustics; Leapwing; OWC; The Recording Academy; Shure; and Synchrony Financial, with additional support from 100 GROUP; AVID; Broadjam; The Blackbird Academy; CAS – Cineman Audio Society; Game Audio Network Guild (GANG); ixi Mega; Korg; LATAM STAGE; Millennia: MPSE; Musica y Mercado; sE Electronics International, Inc.; Sonic Scoop; Studioexpresso; TASCAM; Wholegrain Digital; Wonder Wonder Sound; WSDG and many others.
Ticket sales will begin on April 1. Additional information about tickets, finalists, and more is available at www.TECAwards.org
The NAMM Show returns to Anaheim, California June 3-5, 2022. Registration is now open at https://registration.namm.org
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