Grant Olney

Who is Grant Olney?

Grant Olney Passmore is a singer/songwriter who has recorded on the Asian Man Records label. He is considered part of the New Weird America movement along with David Dondero, Devendra Banhart, Bright Eyes, and CocoRosie. His latest full-length album, Hypnosis for Happiness, was released in July 2013 on the Friendly Police UK label. His previous full-length album, Brokedown Gospel, was released on the Asian Man Records label in July 2004. He also releases music under the pseudonym Scout You Devil and as part of the songwriting duo Olney Clark. His former projects were Substandard and The Record Time.

Alongside his music, Passmore is also a mathematician and theoretical computer scientist, formerly a student at the University of Texas at Austin, the Mathematical Research Institute in the Netherlands, and the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his Ph.D. According to, he is currently a Life Member of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge and a Research Associate at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh.

As a young child and early teenager, Passmore was involved in the development of the online Bulletin Board system scene, and under the name skaboy he was the author of many applications of importance to the Bulletin Board System community, including the Infusion Bulletin Board System, Empathy Image Editor, Avenger Packer Pro, and Impulse Tracker Tosser. Passmore was head programmer for ACiD Productions while working on many of these applications.