Marshmello, the electronic dance music producer and DJ that has made the most out of a career from EDM’s international appeal loves to keep his identity secured beneath a huge white bucket helmet. Marshmello isn’t the first masked DJ, but he is a part of the excitement around them in electronic music that includes the mouse head worn by Deadmau5 and the robot domes rocked Daft Punk.
These costumes become wardrobes that transform these DJs and producers into superheroes in the eyes of their fans, entities larger than just somebody playing music really loud. They are establishing iconic images, especially when no one knows what they look like.
But what happens when a world-famous helmeted DJ has their everyday normal identity revealed. Such is the case with Deadmau5, Daft Punk, and Marshmello, none of which have suffered any major loss with the reveal of their faces.
What does Marshmello look like? Let’s answer that question and take a look at why his unmasking has been so intriguing to fans.
Marshmello Looks like Chris Comstock
If you want to know what Marshmello looks like, all you have to do is look at a photo of Chris Comstock, the 28-year-old white male of English, French, German, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish ancestry.
Chris Comstock was born in May 19, 1992 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that also DJs under the alias Dotcom. Chris Comstock stands about 5’11”, has light brown hair with light brown eyes to match and a relatively youthful face that hasn’t been intended with stress lines.
Ironically, deadmau5 and his mouse-mask DJ aesthetic was an inspiration to Marshmello when he cultivated his music career. It has been said that the massive white marshmallow helmet covering Chris Comstock’s head weights about 8 pounds, about as much as a newborn baby, and cost Chris $55,000.
Fast Track to the Top
One element of what Marshmello looks like that is no secret is that he looks like money. His lightning fast blasted off a lot quicker than Daft Punk, deadmau5, or even famous DJs that show their faces like Diplo or The Chainsmokers.
Clever marketing and contagious hit songs have thrusted Chris Comstock’s helmet-headed creation into Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s highest-paid DJs less than two years after his very first public performance.
How much bank did the independent artist earn in the 12 months prior to June 2017? Hold your breath, wait for it, here it comes…$21 before taxes. What played a role in this massive stack of cash was Marshmello’s ability to earn more than $150,000 a show for more than 170 gigs during that period.
How did it all begin for Marshmello? In early 2015, he posted his first original song “Wavez” to his SoundCloud page. While putting out more music he began to start to see support from musicians such as Skrillex, who reposted his song “Find Me” on SoundCloud. Performances began to happen for Marshmello at Miami Music Week, New York’s Pier 94, California’s HARD Day of the Dead festival, and Pomona.
The next step up on Marshmello’s ladder of success releasing his 10-song debut studio album Joytime on his own Joytime Collective label on January 8, 2016. He released one single that had gold-selling success called “Keep It Mello” that featured Mexican rapper Omar Linx. The album continued to become popularized, peaking at number 5 on Billboard‘s Dance/Electronic Songs chart, number 14 on the US Heatseeker Albums chart and 41 on the Independent Albums chart.
Marshmello’s Big Reveal
In 2015, during an interview with Marshmello’s early co-signer Skrillex, Marshmello called Skrillex and then Katie stated, “It’s Chris.” Next came Skrillex’s response, saying “Oh, Marshmello,” and then he picked up the phone and put DJ-producer Marshmello on speakerphone.
This event helped to get the ball rolling when it came to the grand debate of whether or not Chris Comstock, Dotcom, and Marshmello were all the same fellow. This was just three months after the masked EDM new schooler started putting out his own music online for free.
Another clue was that Chris Comstock’s other DJ identity, Dotcom, who doesn’t wear a mask at all, was under the exact same management roster as Marshmello.
BMI, a music industry standard for music royalty management is where Marshmello is registered as a songwriter and performer. BMI’s public database was at one time showing the same song search results for both Marshmello and Chris Comstock, until Comstock’s name was eventually wiped from BMI’s website.
For further proof of what Marshmello looks like is the same as what Chris Comstock looks like, evidence comes from his holding company, Marshmello Creative, LLC that was formed in Delaware in August 2015. Christopher Comstock is the only manager listed on the company. This also holds true for Dotcom Music, LLC, the organization attached to Comstock’s Dotcom DJ alias. Christopher Comstock is also listed as the sole manager of Dotcom Music, LLC as well.
Chris Comstock Sightings
What Marshmello looks like may be new to some fans, but the inner circle of the electronic dance music community knew years ago before it was a big thing. In 2016, photos of Comstock’s leg tattoo being the same as Marshmello’s leg tattoo started circulating on Twitter. Other similarities such as Comstock and Marshmello’s necks and hands were also compared. Skrillex posted a video to Facebook on May 20th, 2016 containing a caption “happy bday Marshmello with a crowd singing in celebration to the helmet-wearing producer. It just so happens that Comstock’s birthday is May 19th.
Bollywood actress Urvashi Rauteli shared a photograph of Comstock that she tagged with the word ‘Marshmello,’ which she later she edited a few days later to take out the tag.
Even though Marshmello doesn’t admit to being Chris Comstock or Dotcom, he did throw out what could be viewed as a little joke about the whole thing on social media back in 2015: “My name is Chris…short for Christmas came early.”
Marshmello’s manager Moe Shalizi told Forbes talked about how the helmet has been a strong marketing tool:
“We were like, ‘How do we create something that’s not driven by who it is, or what it’s about?’ We’re creating more of a faceless brand.”
When it is all said and done, even though we know what Marshmello looks like, he doesn’t really become Marshmello to us until that helmet covers Chris Comstock’s face.
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