For entertainment brands, see § Media and entertainment.

 Lotus Cars, a British motor vehicle manufacturer

 Lotus F1 Team, a British Formula One team that started competing in the 2012 season
 Team Lotus, a British Formula One racing team that competed between 1954 and 1994
 Pacific Team Lotus, the successor team that resulted from a merger with Pacific and
competed in Formula One in 1995
 Lotus GP, a French GP2 and GP3 racing team sponsored by Lotus Cars
 Team Lotus (2010–11), a Malaysian Formula One racing team that began racing in 2010 as
Lotus Racing and became the Caterham F1 Team at the end of the 2011 season
 Lotus, a brand of watches, part of the Festina Group
 Lotus Foods, an organic and heirloom rice company
 Lotus Bakeries, a Belgian bakery founded in 1932
 Lotus Software, a personal computer software company, best known for:
 Lotus Notes, collaborative software, personal information manager and e-mail client now
known as IBM Notes
 Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application
 Lotus Supercenter, an Asian supermarket chain owned by the Charoen Pokphand Group

Lotus formed at Goshen College in Indiana in 1999.[2] After a few years of playing what they
describe as "jamtronica", Lotus recruited percussionist Chuck Morris in 2001 and shifted their
focus to instrumental music, taking inspiration from electronic musicians such as The Orb.[3] The
band's first album, Vibes, a compilation of live performances from their 2001 tour,[4] was released
in 2002, after which they signed to Harmonized Records, releasing a live album and two studio
albums between 2003 and 2006. 2004's Nomad went to the top of the Home Grown Music
Network charts and by the end of the year was the HGMN Best Seller.[5] It was also nominated
for a "New Groove of the Year" Jammy award.[3] The album saw the band described
by Allmusic as "an electronically inclined jazz-funk outfit",[6] with Glide magazine stating
"Nomad exhibits Lotus' tight ability to blend shades of organic groove with elements of urban
house".[7] The band's last album on Harmonized, The Strength of Weak Tieswas described
by PopMatters as "instrumentals that - for the most part - don't go anywhere, but occasionally
pulling out something that is genuinely thrilling".[8] The band then signed to SCI Fidelity Records,
debuting on the label with the live double album, Escaping Sargasso Sea, which was nominated
for a Jammy award by Guitar Player magazine for "Best Live Album of 2007".[9] The album was
described by Relix magazine as "sexy and sophisticated dance music, mature enough to be
played in the club or the living room".[10] The band followed this with Copy/Paste/Repeat, an
album of remixes of tracks from their previous two studio albums, by bands and producers
including Lymbyc Systym, Juan Maclean, DJ Harry and Telepath.[3][11] The album was positively
received by PopMatters, who said "Copy/Paste/Repeat reinvents the jam band’s music as dance
floor jams, with hip hop and trance-influenced beats and mind-warping electronic synth
burbles".[12]
The album, Hammerstrike was released on SCI Fidelity in 2008 to positive reviews.[13][14][15] The
band followed the album's release with a forty seven-date North American tour.[16]On Oct. 6, 2009
Lotus released a set of 2 EPs titled Oil on Glass/Feather on Wood featuring music recorded
during the Hammerstrike sessions and 3 remixes of tracks from Hammerstrike. Before the band's
2009 fall tour, original drummer Steve Clemens left the band and was replaced by current
drummer Mike Greenfield. The loss of Clemens triggered a gradual departure from the band's
improvisational roots and a stylistic shift from organic electronica and jazz/funk fusion to electro-
pop, indie rock and hip-hop.
The album Lotus was released on Sept. 13, 2011. The band recorded the album between
December 2009 and October 2010 with Bill Moriarty in Philadelphia, with additional recordings
made in the home studios of Jesse and Luke Miller and at various locations around the
country. David Wrench mixed a number of the tracks, and a few tracks were mixed by Bill
Moriarty, along with Jesse Miller and Luke Miller. The band released its first music video for
Golden Ghost in August 2011.[17]
The band has built much of their following on word of mouth, encouraging the recording and
trading of live shows and playing between 90-115 live shows per year.[4]
In addition to touring, Lotus has headlined the intimate Summer Dance Music Festival at Nelson
Ledges Quarry Park in Garrettsville, OH for six out of the festival's seven years. The festival has
been held since 2008, and Lotus has headlined every year with the exception of 2012, when
Gramatik headlined instead.[18]

Live shows[edit]
Lotus is known for concerts with a complex light setup [19][20] and varying set lists that employ
frequent group improvisation. The concerts are often recorded by amateur engineers (tapers)
and posted online for others to listen to.[21] Beginning with their January 27, 2008 show in
Charleston, South Carolina, Lotus has sold their own soundboard recordings of certain shows on
the site LiveDownloads.com; they are available in both MP3 and FLAC formats. The band has
undertaken a number of tours and have performed at festivals including Jam on the River
(Philadelphia, PA 2007,2008, 2014 and 2015), Wakarusa (KS 2005, 2006, 2007), Rothbury
Music Festival in July 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2015, and All Good Music & Arts Festival 2010 and
2012[22] The band played a concert in New York City in September 2008 in which the new
album Hammerstrike was played in full.[23] They also played at the Summer Camp Music Festival
in Chillicothe, IL in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016. Other festivals include All Good
Festival, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo, Camp Bisco, Fuji Rock,[24] and Ultra.
Lotus has toured in Japan six times, performing at clubs and festivals including Fuji Rock,
Metamorphose and Green Room Festival.
The band has performed several themed shows. On October 31, 2008, at the TLA in
Philadelphia the show was billed as "Live Fast Die Young: the 27 Conspiracy". Each of the 5
members dressed as a rock star who died at the age of 27 (Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Brian
Jones, Pigpen, and Jim Morrison) and the show featured covers by each of the respective bands.
On Dec. 31, 2008 the band performed a show that included robot themed covers including Styx -
"Mr. Roboto", Alan Parson's Project - "I Robot", Flaming Lips - "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots:
Part I", Radiohead - "Paranoid Android", and Daft Punk - "Robot Rock". On Oct. 31, 2009 at
Sonar in Baltimore the Halloween show was presented as "Protein Pills in the Labyrinth". The
band members dressed as different David Bowie characters (including Ziggy Stardust, Thin
White Duke, and Jareth) and played "Under Pressure," "Fame," "I'm Afraid of Americans,"
"Space Oddity," "Let's Dance," "Rebel, Rebel" and "Suffragette City," along with original Lotus
material. These David Bowie songs have occasionally appeared thereafter during the rest of the
Fall 2009 tour. On Feb. 22, 2010 at Schuba's in Chicago the band's first of two sets focused on
post-rock music featuring covers of Tortoise, Trans Am and This Will Destroy You along with
Lotus's own post-rock compositions. On Oct. 30, 2010 at the Roseland in Portland, OR the band
performed a Black Sabbath themed show. For the second set the band came on stage dressed
as Black Sabbath and performed remixed versions of side A of the album Paranoid (War Pigs,
Paranoid, Planet Caravan, Iron Man), celebrating 40 years since its release. On Oct. 31, 2010 at
the Showbox in Seattle, WA the band paid tribute to video game music. They performed versions
of Pac-Man (Power Pills Remix), Contra (Jungle Theme), MegaMan2 (Dr. Wiley's Theme), Tetris
theme and Zelda (Overworld and Underworld themes). On Dec. 31, 2011 at Festival Pier in
Philadelphia Lotus nodded to some of the most influential modern dance producers covering Daft
Punk "Da Funk", Justice "Phantom Part II" and DeadMau5 "Ghosts 'n' Stuff". On Oct. 29, 2016 at
Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY the band played a Space Disco set. Jesse Miller used a Juno-106,
Moog Minitaur and modular synth rack for the set focused on the space disco genre.
Lotus was featured on the cover of the tour industry's leading magazine in October
2008 Pollstar.[25]
Musical style[edit]
Expanding upon a wide range of styles and sounds, Lotus is considered a multi-genre band. The
group incorporates elements of rock, electronica, jazz, jam, hip-hop, funk and other
influences.[3][6][26][27] The band originally played as a jamband that leaned heavily on the sounds
of funk, rock and jazz and with improvisational styles similar to Phish, Allman Brothers and The
Grateful Dead.[28] Jesse Miller said of the band's sound: "I truly believe Lotus' sound comes from
the roots of rock 'n' roll mixed with electronic beats that are popular today. It took a long time for
us to finally find a sound we all agreed on. But believe me, we experimented plenty before
deciding what sound we were looking for".[29] Lotus has also been known to experiment with a
diverse set of genres regularly incorporating hip-hop and dubstep sounds and samples into their
live shows.[30]
Influenced heavily by the band's love for dance music and artists like The Orb, Aphex
Twin, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and Air the band's style has gravitated toward
elements of the electronic genre while maintaining the foundation of jamrock.[3][16][31][31][32]
Since 2006 the band has fused elements of progressive and post rock into their sound. Artists
like Trans Am, Tortoise, Broken Social Scene and Beck have influenced Lotus.[15]

Members