Lee Austin Bates, also known as MUST DIE! (and formerly known as Must Die!) is a Houston-based electronic producer and DJ. He’s best known for his aggressive, glitchy-designed, explosive and genre-blending production that mixes dubstep, riddim, hardstyle, techno and house throughout his nearly 16-year career as an artist.

The origin of the MUST DIE! name is a direct and clever reference to the 2006 teen comedy film, John Tucker Must Die.

Lee would start producing during high school, specifically between 2010 and 2011, in which he would use his bedroom as his first studio and FL Studio as his first production application. He would switch up to a better high-quality equipment in 2011 as well as writing so much music, although still not under any alias.

His start on the electronic dance music scene would begin in 2010, as he would be a part of the duo, Street Lurkin, alongside Ryan Purcell. The project acted as an electro house and complextro duo for the most part. On 2012, Lee would part ways with Ryan to focus more on a then-newer solo project, MUST DIE!, marking a new path in his musical career.

Lee’s early years as MUST DIE! would be truly promising for his future on the electronic dance music scene, releasing projects on labels like Play Me, Steve Aoki’s label, Dim Mark and Datsik’s label, Firepower Records with releases such as Sky Child, Live It Up, Water Temple, Caffeine and his debut album, VINES, which made him gain a lot of industry connections and co-signs from major electronic producers.

Early 2013 saw Lee joining the UK-based and prestigious electronic dance music label, Never Say Die, followed up by the major releases of Fever Dream Pt. I, and Fever Dream Pt. II through the year. The release of these extended plays would catch the attention of Skrillex, which he would invited Lee to be a part of his well-known label, OWSLA, paving the way for the release of his second studio album, Death & Magic in 2014. The album marked a turning point in Lee’s career, with important tracks such as “Gem Shards”, “Imprint” and “Hellcat” becoming his most popular songs at the time and that would give him more exposure to festivals and a larger audience. That same year, he would release “Survivors” alongside UK-based producer, Zomboy, a catchy and anthemic dubstep track released through an alliance with Skrillex’s imprint, Nest and Never Say Die.

Lee would stick to releasing music through Never Say Die, with 2015’s Neo Tokyo being a part of MUST DIE!’s biggest achievements and marking a new sound on this project, as well as newer collaborations with Zomboy, Getter, Eptic and his iconic spin on Flux Pavilion’s hit, “Emotional” — He would follow up his streak of releases with 2016’s “VIPs”, his massive first collaboration with Skrillex as well as his first collaborative extended play with Eptic on 2017’s, Hyper Future and his first solo extended play in a while, Forever Digital.

Lee would have a very quiet 2018, only having a few releases and a couple of remixes, which would change in 2019 with the releases of “BLISS 2K” and, specifically, “CHAOS” — Both tracks would become hard-hitting hits that also would present a new MUST DIE!’s style mixing hardstyle production along with his abysmal dubstep sound, the year would follow up with the release of his second collaboration with Zomboy, “Revival”, his remix of SVDDEN DEATH’s 2018 track, “Castles” and solo releases such as “EPIPHANY RUSH”, “MISERY SYSTEM”, “FUNERAL ZONE” and a VIP version of his 2018’s cut, “I DON’T WANT 2 LIVE” as part of Never Say Die’s tenth anniversary — Marking a successful decade end in his career.

After a couple of singles released through 2020 and 2021, he would release his acclaimed third studio album, CRISIS VISION, a showcase of different genres-blending tracks with very heavy cyberpunk-based visuals behind it. The album’s idea was being worked on since the release of 2014’s Death & Magic, although it wasn’t clear on how to start it until after 2018 — The album would receive a “remix treatment” with CRISIS VISION: REDUX, released three months later after the original album.

Although, in early 2022, Never Say Die would shut down after thirteen years of being active, Lee would become the last artist to release on the label with “ANGELWARE”, released on March 25, one week before the label made its closure announcement and making it the last release on the label permanently. A couple of months later, he would release his fourth studio album, FERAL FANTASY, leaning onto a more experimental side with more hardcore electronic production.

The following years would see the release of 2023’s, VAMPIRE WEAPON: CRIMSON, an extended play which included hard techno, dubstep, riddim, and screamo on the songs as well as his fifth studio album with 2024’s, VAMPIRE WEAPON: MIDNIGHT, released through Kannibalen Records, in which he would experiment with genres such as rawstyle, gabber, jersey club and coming back to riddim and dubstep-produced songs.

Lee would be a part of different electronic dance music groups recently, these being gabber and rawstyle-based project, XBLADE alongside fellow collaborator, Descender, as well as a hard techno project, HIVEMIND along with Kayzo and Space Laces.