HOW I BECAME THE BOMB

How I Became the Bomb formed in 2005 in the university hub of Murfreesboro, TN. Childhood friends Adam Richardson and Jon Burr conspired with like-minded popsters Ricky Bizness, Rusty Hanberry, and Andy Spore to make music they wanted to hear. Something big. Something bold. Something cinematic. In June of that year, that nameless something became nameless no longer at The Temptation Club, an underground all-male revue. Tossing their fates to the wind, the quintet allowed a friend to christen them as they took to the stage for their first show. Thus How I Became the Bomb was born.

Let's Go!

With a mere 4 shows under their belt, the band fast-tracked the recording of an EP at Lakefever Productions on famed Music Row in Nashville, TN. The culmination of two weekends in the studio, the Let's Go! EP was released May 13, 2006.

Recording in hand, How I Became the Bomb began touring regionally, attracting the interest of both national and international press. On September 2, 2006, How I Became the Bomb was featured in Billboard Magazine, and on October 25, 2006, Rolling Stone named the group "Online Pick of the Day". On June 4, 2007, the Guardian UK selected How I Became the Bomb as "Band of the Day".

European Invasion

After securing UK management, How I Became the Bomb played the European Festival circuit in July of 2007. Their first batch of shows had them performing at the Summercase Festival in Spain and the Latitude Festival in Suffolk, UK, where they shared the stage with Spoon, Arcade Fire, Jarvis Cocker, AIR, Jesus & Mary Chain, and Super Furry Animals.

While on their first European jaunt, the Bomb signed licensing deals with V2 in the UK (later bought by Universal), Yep Roc in Japan, and Sinnamon Records in Spain (Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Hot Hot Heat).

Later that year, How I Became the Bomb returned to Europe to play the Wintercase Festival in Spain. They end up staying for months, touring clubs in the UK and Spain, including an extended set of dates with Editors.

Deadly Art

The troupe spent the next year recording four digital music packs and releasing them online for free, accompanied by two music videos. They have now compiled this formerly online exclusive audio content into a physical release (available from this very web site). Including four previously unavailable tracks, Deadly Art is the sixteen song epic Bomb fans have long sought. With expert assistance from producer John Baldwin (LakeFever) and mixers F. Reid Shippen, Craig Alvin, and Buckley Miller, How I Became the Bomb has created a work of filmic majesty that exceeds even their own high expectations. They will continue to do so in 2010, recording more music and touring clubs, house parties, and sci-fi conventions extensively!

ROYAL BANGS

ROYAL BANGS are five electric gents from Knoxville, Tennessee, sentinel of the Smoky
Mountains.  Home to a prolific but unsung underground music community, it is a city that
keeps its secrets, but over the past few years ROYAL BANGS have become a hard secret to
keep.
 
Under ROYAL BANGS and various other guises, frontman Ryan Schaefer, drummer Chris
Rusk, and guitarist Sam Stratton have been making music together since their high school
days.  In 2006, they unleashed their home-recorded and self-released breakthrough album We
Breed Champions.  The record's potent noise-pop wormed its way into hearts throughout the
southeastern US, eventually finding its way to Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), who reissued
We Breed Champions on his own Audio Eagle Records in May of 2008.
 
In the meantime, ROYAL BANGS went on hiatus as Schaefer spent a year in France, soaking
up Euro dance music and entitlement culture as inspiration for the early stages of a follow-up. 
After Schaefer’s return to the States, the band, with new additions Henry Gibson and Brandon
Biondo, used the promotion of their brand-new, two-year old record as an opportunity to
refine their live performance.  The result was an incessant touring schedule, including stops at
Bonnaroo, SXSW, and a series of shows opening for The Black Keys in the fall of 2008.
 
In February of 2009, on the eve of City Slang’s well-received European release of We Breed
Champions, ROYAL BANGS traveled to Tangerine Sound Studios in Akron, Ohio to record
their long-awaited sophomore album.  The resulting Let It Beep finds the band's sound
looking more than ever in two seemingly conflicting directions: an increased emphasis on the
electronic -- from spastic, syrup-thick synths to dancy drum programming -- coupled with
earnest echoes of fervid 70s rock legends like Springsteen and Thin Lizzy.  But the core of
their sound, rooted in the indie rock renaissance and Schaefer's hook-heavy arrangements,
embraces both tendencies without allowing them to diverge, resulting in an album that might
be described as both challenging and accessible if not for the phrase "pure goddamn fun."
 
ROYAL BANGS continue to tour within an easy day’s drive of your home.  Let It Beep is
slated for release on Audio Eagle (US) and City Slang (Europe) in the early fall of 2009.