Tsunami Bomb

Tsunami Bomb is an American punk rock band from Petaluma, California. They were formed in 1998 by bassist/vocalist Dominic Davi, who was joined by keyboardist Oobliette Sparks and vocalist Kristin McRory and a number of revolving fill-in musicians, including drummer Gabe Lindeman who would later officially join the band full-time in 1999. McRory would leave the band at the end of 1998 and Dominic recruited vocalist Emily Whitehurst aka "Agent M" and guitarist Brian Plink in 1999. Tsunami Bomb was a Warped Tour staple through the early 2000s with a fiercely loyal fan base and released two studio albums, one extended play, and three seven-inch singles.

Tsunami Bomb would tour extensively through the United States, Europe, and Japan, and go through a number of lineup changes until they disbanded in 2005.

On October 9, 2015 it was announced that the band would reform to support the release of the upcoming rarities collection of now out of print seven-inch singles and extended plays, Trust No One on Kung Fu Records on January 29, 2016. The line-up would consist of original members including bassist Dominic Davi, vocalist/keyboardist Oobliette Sparks, guitarist Brian Plink, and drummer Gabriel Lindeman.^[1] This line-up would be joined by new vocalist Kate Jacobi.^[2]

History

The band was started by bassist Dominic Davi, who enlisted Oobliette Sparks on keyboard who would also contribute vocals and Kristin McRory as Tsunami Bomb's original main vocalist after they left the band, Headboard in February 1998. Davi met McRory in late 1997, when she joined Headboard on vocals and had known Sparks from hanging out together at The Phoenix Theater in Petaluma. Sparks had recently left the local Petaluma band, Spacebaby that she had been in with drummer Gabe Lindeman. Calling in favors and using fill-in musicians to round out the line up, Tsunami Bomb played its first show on June 26, 1998 at the Fatty Mocha in Merced, CA with the band Luckie Strike, playing the Phoenix Theater together the next day.^[3] Gabriel Lindeman played drums for the band's first few shows, but he did not join the band full-time until 1999. Kristin McRory left Tsunami Bomb in late 1998, and Davi recruited Emily Whitehurst shortly thereafter (Emily's brother, Logan Whitehurst was Davi's roommate at the time). To add mystique and give her a more iconic presence, Davi created the moniker "Agent M" for her to use in the band. Whitehurst was credited as Agent M almost exclusively until the breakup of the band.^[4]

Tsunami Bomb maintained a grueling tour schedule for most of its existence. In 1999 they released two limited edition 7" singles: B-Movie Queens was a split with Emily Whitehurst and Brian Plink's former band Plinky; Mayhem On The High Seas was released on Checkmate Records which was owned by Hunter Burgan, bassist for AFI. In 2000 they signed to Tomato Head Records and released their first CD EP The Invasion from Within! and guitarist Brian Plink would leave the group with his last show being the album release show at the Phoenix Theater. Keyboardist Oobliette Sparks would leave the group the following year in 2001, and not being able to replace her, the band would continue without keyboards. In 2002 they signed with Kung Fu Records, and released their first full-length album The Ultimate Escape.^[5] Tsunami Bomb would appear on the Warped Tour several times between 2001 and 2005. They have also toured Europe and Japan. Originally being booked by Dan Garcia at Royal Flush Booking, Tsunami Bomb had several tours including main support for the Vandals.

The title song from their first CD release, The Invasion from Within!, was used in Atlus USA's translation of the Nippon Ichi Software strategy RPG Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Atlus also used the song Russian Roulette from the band's first full-length album The Ultimate Escape in their collaboration with Spumco animation studios, a cartoon skateboarding game called Go! Go! Hypergrind.

In 2003, a decision led to Tsunami Bomb's Dominic Davi being pushed out of the group. The remaining band members cited "personality and creative conflicts." He would go on to form the musical group Love Equals Death on Fat Wreck Chords. He was replaced by Matt McKenzie. Controversy surrounded the split with founding member Davi, long cited as being one of the main songwriters for the band. Also in 2003, the album The Rocky Horror Punk Rock Show was released and featured the band's cover of the popular Rocky Horror Picture Show song "Planet, Schmanet, Janet" that had been recorded years earlier. Later that same year, after a split with Royal Flush Booking, the band signed with the William Morris Agency with Ron Opeleski. The band then launched a full US headlining tour which sold out venues such as the Metro in Chicago, two nights at Slim's in San Francisco, and three nights at the Troubadour in L.A. They also played main support for the Bouncing Souls on a world tour.

In 2004, Tsunami Bomb released the album The Definitive Act and a live concert DVD entitled Live at the Glasshouse from the live music DVD series The Show Must Go Off! in 2005. Both were released on Kung Fu Records. In late 2005, after years of touring and numerous line-up changes Tsunami Bomb officially broke up, citing their problems with the "business end of the music industry".

On January 17, 2009, Tsunami Bomb performed a reunion show in their hometown of Petaluma at the Phoenix Theater as a benefit for their friend Liz Beidelman the drummer for the band Luckie Strike who was fighting brain cancer.

In 2015, original members Oobliette, Davi, Brian Plink and Gabriel Lindeman reunited Tsunami Bomb along with Kate Jacobi, who would replace Emily Whitehurst on vocals. Whitehurst declined to rejoin Tsunami Bomb, choosing to focus on her own project, Survival Guide. The band performed their first show under their newly formed line-up on December 19, 2015. They released their rarities collection LP called Trust No One on January 29, 2016 and performed the Northwest dates Vans Warped Tour on August 12 and 13.

On July 13, 2017 the band began a short Northeast US trip with 3 shows in Philadelphia PA, Long Branch NJ, and Brooklyn NY. At Kung Fu Necktie, in Philly, the band debuted new guitarist Andy Pohl, as well as two never-heard-before songs "Tidal Wave Explosive Device" and "Lullaby for the End of the World" that were intended for a new album.^[6]

On November 15, 2017, Rolling Stone named "The Ultimate Escape" #31 on their Top 50 Pop-Punk Albums of all time.^[7]

Tsunami Bomb released two new tracks to members of their street team, the Tsunami Bomb Squad on September 7, 2018. The two tracks "Lullaby For The End Of The World" and "Naysayers" were released to the public as a digital single on October 5, 2018 and were samples from their upcoming album. ^[8]

Members

Discography

References

External links

• Tsunami Bomb Official Page
• Tsunami Bomb Purevolume Page
• Tsunami Bomb Bandcamp Page
• One night with Tsunami Bomb - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
• Interview with the band on final tour
• Interview with Tsunami Bomb regarding 2015 reunion
• Interview prior to 2017 performance in NJ
• Live Review of Tsunami Bomb 2017 performance in Philadelphia
• Rolling Stone write up on The Ultimate Escape LP