Lutjanus grew up in country NSW Australia, on the outskirts of the town of Lithgow – predominantly a coal mining town. Classically trained from a young age in piano and musical theory with the… enthusiastic support… of his parents, he never really enjoyed music, and gave it away after reaching a high level in piano. During a school disco at the age of 12, the DJ played the new up and coming song from a band called Nirvana, entitled Smells Like Teen Spirit. From the first powerchord, Lutjanus was hooked on music. Never had he heard anything in his classically trained life like it. At this stage he picked up an old $25 beaten up classical guitar and started to bash out his favourite tunes.

From then on, he dedicated himself to exploring the heavier – less popular side of music… Encountering through friends Skid Row (Slave to the Grind and Skid Row)… Which took the intensity up a notch. Another friend eventually introduced him to the weekly Triple J radio show Three Hours of Power. Feeling more at home musically than he ever had been, Lutjanus submerged himself into bands such as Pantera, and local band Cruciform. However it wasn’t until he heard on Triple J, the new album Heartwork from English band Carcass, that Lutjanus had settled into his musical own. From there the obsession with Carcass grew, and expanded into other forms of Death Metal and Deathgrind. Lutjanus plumbed the depths of this cesspool for years. At 16 years of age, Lutjanus was able to buy his first electric guitar – a Jackson Kelly standard (1995 model).

Upon the eruption in popularity and accessibility of the internet, many underground bands became available at the touch of a button, and the musical field opened up even wider.

Upon moving to Sydney and entering university at UNSW, Lutjanus balanced practice on the guitar and attending class. He met up with similar like minded people and became an active attendee at shows throughout the Sydney metal scene, regularly attending shows by bands such as Miscreation, Misery, Deadspawn, Crucible of Agony and Lord Kaos. At this stage it hadn’t occurred to him to create music of his own, his time taken up with study and after uni, work.

It wasn’t until the age of 28, when he moved to Perth Western Australia for work, did he start to create music. At this time, in 2008, Fear Of The Deep Blue, Paranoid Autophobia and the solo ambient / dark ambient / conceptual ambient Project Lutjanus were born.

See about pages for particular bands for more information.

Lutjanus continues in Perth, to construct musical apparitions, playing gigs at local art exhibitions, and gathering inspiration from external and internal, tangible and intangible entities. All are based upon human psyche and emotional overwhelming experience.