Ten Walls

Marijus Adomaitis (born 19 January 1983), better known by his stage names Ten Walls or Mario Basanov,[1][2] is a Lithuanian producer who is best known for his 2014 single "Walking with Elephants", which peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.

Ten Walls
Birth nameMarijus Adomaitis
Born (1983-01-19) 19 January 1983
Vilnius, Lithuania
Genres
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • DJ
  • Composer
Years active2009–present
LabelsRunemark Records

In June 2015, Ten Walls was dropped from several festivals and by his booking agency after making controversial comments comparing gay people to pedophiles in a Facebook post, and referring to the LGBT community as a "different breed".[3]

Career

2009–12: Mario Basanov

In 2012 under the name Mario Basanov Adomaitis won Best Electronic Act at Lithuanian M.A.M.A. music awards.

2013–15: Breakthrough

On 10 May 2013 Ten Walls released his debut EP Gotham.[4] On 9 December 2013 he released his debut single "Requiem".[5] On 7 September 2014 he released the single "Walking with Elephants". On 10 September 2014 the song was at number 3 on The Official Chart Update in the UK.[6] On 14 September 2014 the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 6.[7] The song also peaked at number 3 on the UK Dance Chart and number 8 on the Scottish Singles Chart.

Homophobia controversy

In June 2015, Ten Walls posted a rant on his Facebook pages condemning homosexuality and comparing it to pedophilia. According to the Gay Star News, the post stated: "I remember producing music for one Lithuanian musician, who tried to wash my brain that I don't need to be so conservative and intolerant about [gay people]. When I asked him 'what would you do if you realized that your 16-year-old son's browny (anus) is ripped by his boyfriend?' Well he was silent. In the good 90s ... these people of different breed were fixed. One of my first gigs in Ireland, on my way to my hotel I saw a church with a fence decorated with hundreds of baby shoes. Unfortunately a priest's lie for many years was uncovered when children were massively raped. Unfortunately the people of other breed continue to do it and everyone knows it but does nothing."[8] As a result of his comments, he was dropped from several festival line-ups. His booking agency, Coda Music Agency, announced that they no longer represented him. Fort Romeau pulled his support for him at London club venue Koko.

Ten Walls' posts were later deleted after a backlash, and he put out an apology claiming that he cancelled the festival dates himself.[9][10][11] Organizers of Dutch festival Pitch, Belgian festival Pukkelpop, the German festival Dockville, British festival Creamfields,[12] and Spanish festival Sónar publicly confirmed that they cancelled Ten Walls performances due to his homophobic statements.[9][13] Ten Walls also received criticism from Lithuanian LGBT activists.[14]

Three months after his post, in September 2015, Ten Walls issued a formal apology for the incident, calling it "completely out of character".[15]

Discography

Studio albums
Title Album details
Queen[16]
  • Release: 27 March 2017[17]
  • Labels: Runemark
  • Formats: Digital download

Extended plays
Title Album details
Gotham
  • Release: 10 May 2013[4]
  • Labels: Innervisions
  • Formats: Digital download

Singles
Year Title Peak chart positions Album
UK
[18]		 UK Dance
[19]		 SCO
[20]		 BEL (Vl)
[21]		 FR
[22]
2013 "Requiem"[5] ———60[A]— Non-albums singles
2014 "Walking with Elephants" 6384130
2015 "Sparta" ———72[A]—
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released.

Awards

On 30 January 2015 at M.A.M.A. awards Ten Walls won awards for best electronic act and best music video ("Walking with Elephants").[23]

References
  1. "Ten Walls – Walking With Elephants (2014, Boso)". dauggarsoirsviesu.lt.
  2. "Mario Basanov Is Ten Walls!". Data Transmission. 29 November 2013.
  3. "Festivals Drops Ten Walls Over Homophobic Comments". BBC Newsbeat. June 8, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  4. iTunes - Music - Gotham EP by Ten Walls
  5. "iTunes - Music - Requiem - Single by Ten Walls". iTunes.
  6. "Calvin Harris on track for fifth Number 1 single". Official Charts Company.
  7. "Calvin Harris scores fifth Number 1!". Official Charts Company.
  8. "Walking with Elephants star says gays are another 'breed', like pedophiles". Gay Star News. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  9. "Festivals cancel Ten Walls appearances". Resident Advisor. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  10. "Ten Walls apologises for online posts comparing homosexuals to paedophiles". The Guardian. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  11. "Ten Walls dropped from festival bills over homophobic outburst". Fact. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  12. "Festivals drop Ten Walls over homophobic comments". Newsbeat. BBC News. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  13. "Dockville streicht Show von Musiker nach homophobem Post" [Dockville cancels musician's show after homophobic post]. Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). 8 June 2015.
  14. Paraščiakas, Eiviltas (8 June 2015). "M. Basanovo karjera byra į šipulius: gerbėjai tyčiojasi, festivalių organizatoriai atšaukia jo pasirodymus". Delfi (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  15. Eede, Christian. "Ten Walls Issues Apology". The Quietus. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  16. "Ten Walls - Queen".
  17. "Queen from Runemark Records on Beatport".
  18. "Ten Walls > UK Charts". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company.
  19. Peak positions for the Dance singles in the UK:
  20. Peak positions for singles in Scotland:
  21. Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Ten Walls". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  22. Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Ten Walls". French Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  23. "Kaune iškilmingai išdalintos M.A.M.A 2014 statulėlės". DELFI. 30 January 2015.

Notes

A ^ Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts. Added 50 position to actual Ultratip position.

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