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Biography |
1979:
- At age 14, Adam formed a cover band, Tyrant, with singer Geoff
Tate who later formed Queensryche.
1980:
- Adam met Edward Van Halen in a hotel in Tacoma Washington. He
asked Eddie to sign his guitar and wound up getting a three hour
guitar lesson. Those three hours changed his life forever. Adam
later in the year joined a local Seattle band, TKO.
1981:
- TKO few to Honolulu, Hawaii to work with record producer Rick
Keefer. Ten songs were recorded for an album titled "In Your
Face."
- At age 16, Adam was asked to audition for Kiss. He flew to Los
Angeles and played three songs with Kiss.
1982:
- Adam moved to Hollywood and lived with a guy named Jeff Isabelle
who called himself "Izzy." (A few years later, Izzy
started Guns 'N' Roses.) The apartment was adjacent to a house
rented by the rock band Black 'N' Blue. Adam quickly became friends
with their guitarist, Tommy Thayer, who suggested to Adam that he
should just do his own project and call it Adam Bomb. (In 2015,
Tommy took over the lead guitarist slot in Kiss.)
1983:
- Adam recorded three songs with Rick Keefer and a drum machine.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, Adam got a contract to shoot the
video for "Shape of the World."
- TKO reformed (briefly) in San Francisco and played the Troubadour
in Hollywood.
- Adam filled in for two Steeler gigs, replacing guitarist Yngwie
Malsteem.
- Adam attended a Michael Schenker concert at a club in San
Francisco where they debuted the video (Shape of the World). In the
audience was Aerosmith manager, David Krebs.
1984:
- Adam flew over to Hawaii to record more songs with Rick Keefer for
a full album. The producer got drummer Chuck Ruff (Montrose) and
bassist Cliff Williams (AC/DC) to play on the album.
- Adam signed a long term management deal with Leber Krebs and moved
to New York. He put together a band with former Billy Idol drummer
Gregg Gerson, Billy Idol/Riot bassist Phil Feit, and Aerosmith
guitarist Jimmy Crespo.
- Adam's first album, "Fatal Attraction", came out in
Japan on JVC Victor. Geffen records signed Adam Bomb to a record
deal, and then the band moved to Los Angeles.
1985:
- The Adam Bomb band rehearsed in LA and continued to play there,
opening for bands like Armored Saint and Metallica as they toured
the southwest.
1986:
- The band shot a video for "I Want My Heavy Metal" in
Louisiana with ex-Rick Derringer guitarist, turned video director,
Danny Johnston. Adam, with Phil Feit and a new drummer - Sandy
Slavin, then traveled to England to play a show at the London
Marquee.
- Adam spoke with record producer Martin Rushnet who recommended his
assistants Phillip Tennant and Neil O'Connor to produce the Adam
Bomb record, "Pure S.E.X."
-The band set off to England to record in a farmhouse studio north
of London. The band spent six weeks in England recording and did
another show at the Marquee. The reggae band Steel Pulse, also
recording in the studio, had Adam play a guitar solo on a track
called "Hijacking."
- Adam returned to New York and did a show at L'Amours, Cat Club,
Limelight, Danceteria, and other NYC clubs.
1987:
- Recruited Billy Squier drummer, Bobby Chouinard, and they played
gigs around the city and a few one-off gigs in Toronto. They toured
in France.
- Adam recorded in Vancouver, Canada, and played two guitar solos on
the Black 'N' Blue album, "Without Love", produced by
Bruce Fairburn with recording engineer Bob Rock. ("Without
Love" was the CD that inspired Jon Bon Jovi to work with
Fairburn and Rock on their career-making record, "Slippery When
Wet.")
- The band toured Europe and supported The Lords Of The New Church
in America. Adam was hired to do a photo shoot for English rock
photographer, Mick Rock, for a photo article in Playgirl Magazine
titled, "The Bad Boys Of Rock."
1988:
- On New Year's Eve in New York City, Adam joined Chuck Berry
on-stage, playing Chuck Berry's guitar while Berry sang "Little
Queenie." Guitar World magazine did an article about the show.
- Adam Bomb went onto a three week tour of England, borrowing the
rhythm section from an English band called The Last Of The Teenage
Idols. After the tour, Adam stayed in London for two months.
- Adam spent ten weeks in Stockholm. He was playing every night at a
bar called Pipeline, with New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders.
Returning to New York, again, Adam did five shows at clubs in
Manhattan. The band recorded at the show at the Ritz for a live
album and video. Adam opened for Thunders at the Limelight and did a
club tour of Texas using local musicians. He returned to Paris and
did more concerts across France.
1989:
- Adam started writing songs and making demos with Billy Idol
guitarist, Steve Stevens. Adam went on tour in France, Belgium,
Denmark, and Holland. Adam made a video for Pure S.E.X. with
director Hart Perry.
1990:
- Adam recorded with producer Jack Douglas at the Record Plant,
where Jack had recorded Aerosmith and John Lennon. Along with
drummer Bobby Chouinard and guitarist Steve Stevens, they rearranged
the demos and started what would become the album "New York
Times."
- Jack wanted to make a very broad production, so he brought in
Nicky Hopkins and Mick Taylor (who played with The Rolling Stones),
and Flo & Eddie, who were backup singers for Marc Bolan. Adam
had Steve Stevens play on six of the tracks. Bobby brought in Billy
Squier keyboardist Alan St. Jon and bassist T.M. Stevens. Twelve
songs were completed but they were yet to be mixed.
- Adam's second album, Pure S.E.X., was finally released by Musidisc
in France and FM Revolver (BMG) in the U.K. and Europe. Adam went to
London, Munich, and Paris in March for a three week tour. When he
turned to New York, Jack Douglas had only mixed three songs, and
then the studio went bankrupt and all the studio equipment had been
repossessed by their creditors. The New York Times master tapes were
also missing.
- Adam wound up writing and recording six brand new songs with
producer Rick Keefer before supporting The Dogs D'Amour on their
European tour.
1991:
- In April, Adam went back to Hawaii to record another seven songs.
Adam got a call about the death of his friend, Johnny Thunders. Adam
decided to rewrite and record a song he'd demoed years earlier,
called "Johnny In The Sky."
- Dogs D'Amour bassist Steve James contacted Adam about doing a
summer U.K. tour. The two had written songs together and decided to
form a band called The Last Bandits. It was rock with loud acoustic
guitars. The band did around 40 dates across the U.K., ending with a
sold-out date at the London Marquee.
1992:
- Adam recorded three more songs with Steve James in Hawaii. Adam
escaped death in a car accident midway through the recording
session. Driving alone, the rented Mustang convertible flipped into
a ravine and, fortunately, Adam walked away without a scratch.
Manager David Krebs has started a Sony distributed record label
called Rockworld.
- Adam was briefly being courted by Little Steven (Steve Van Zandt)
to be just a lead singer in a band that Little Steven wanted to
form. Little Steven got a hold of a cassette copy of Adam's lost New
York Times recording sessions. He thought Adam had the
"ultimate rock 'n' roll voice." Adam was given a demo tape
of songs Steven had written. Adam sang on Van Zandt's demos,
although the music was a bit too 'New Jersey' for Adam to get into.
- Adam did photo shoots with Mick Rock again, for Grave New World,
and made videos for "Magenta Sky" and the Thunders tribute
song, "Johnny In The Sky." To add to the video, Adam got
home movies of Johnny Thunders, from Johnny's sister, and footage
from a filmmaker who did a movie with Johnny in France.
1993:
- Grave New World was released on Sony Rockworld in America.
- Adam spent a lot of time hanging out in New York clubs and a place
called the Loft. The Loft was an empty ground floor, one-room
warehouse in Soho, turned rehearsal studio that was home to about
five people. Everyone would go there at 4:00 AM and there would be
these jam sessions that lasted until noon the next day.
- One night, Adam was playing at The Loft when Axl Rose walked in
about half-way through a song and just started to sing with Adam.
Axl told Adam that he and Izzy saw him play at the TKO gig in '83 at
the Troubadour in Hollywood. Axl recalled the way Adam moved on
stage and remembered that they were going to ask Adam to join the
band they were starting but thought Adam would have turned them
down, so they never asked.
- Another night, on the ninth anniversary of John Bonham's death,
Adam got a call to come down to The Loft and play Led Zeppelin songs
with John Bonham's son, Jason Bonham.
1994:
- Adam returned to Europe for more dates every three to four months.
At Joey Ramone's birthday bash at the Ritz in New York, Adam played
guitar for a short set with Lemmy (Motorhead). Adam also did a
two-show Hendrix tribute in New York as a power trio, with Jimi
Hendrix bass player Noel Redding, and drummer Bobby Choiunard. Adam
Bomb supported Yngwie Malsteem at the Ritz but played very little in
New York after that.
1995:
- Adam traveled to England and took a three day boat ride and
arrived in Bilboa, Spain, with only a little more than $100 in his
pocket, his guitars, a Marshall head, and a press kit. Adam caught a
bus from Bilboa to Madrid and wound up jamming and getting a gig
that night. Madrid was an inspiration for Adam. He kept booking more
shows and returned to Spain, spending over a year there, playing
over one-hundred concerts. His time there was such a whirlwind that
Adam wrote a 300 page book about his experiences there, titled
"The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On My Brain." He has never
tried to get it published.
- He returned to Hawaii for a week to record two songs he had
written over in Spain, "Saluda A Lola" and "Kick It
Out." He pressed up copies of the two songs for radio stations
and returned to Spain to start three months of gigs. Saluda A Lola
was getting radio play in Spain even though it wasn't available for
sale.
1996:
- The New York Times tapes had been recovered, for a $5,000 ransom.
Adam collected the tapes from a desolate warehouse in Brooklyn (in a
scene that could've been in Goodfellas!). Adam, Jack Douglas, and
engineer Jay Messina went into Manhattan Center Studios and mixed
six songs.
- Adam contacted drummer Bobby Chouinard, who just finished a stint
with Peter Wolf and was now looking for a project. They recruited
former Billy Squier/Billy Idol bassist Kenny Aaronson, and former
Billy Squier keyboardist Alan St. Jon. The band and Jack Douglas
went into a private warehouse recording studio that was called
"It Is What It Is" (IIWII) and recorded five new songs.
1997:
- The band rehearsed and played a flew club dates in New York while
finishing and mixing. Krebs had a European deal and tour in the
planning stages.
- When the New York Times album was finished, Adam spoke with Bobby
Chouinard on the phone for an hour the night before the mastering.
Both of them couldn't believe after all these years the album was
finally going to be finished. Bobby was ecstatic over how all the
tracks came out in recording, and couldn't wait to hear the finished
versions. They recalled some of the crazy times in the studio and
Bobby wanted Adam to come over the day after it was finished to play
it for him.
- Adam went into Masterdisk and eight hours later walked away with a
CD of an album he started working on so many years. The morning
after mastering, Adam was startled by a phone call of devastating
news. Bobby Chouinard had died.
1998:
- After Bobby had died, Adam got together with Alan St. Jon and
Kenny Aaronson a few times after the funeral but they didn't want to
continue the project without Bobby. Adam survived by doing odd jobs
for his manager. After wrecking Krebs' Mercedes as an innocent
bystander in a police chase carjacking incident, Adam was on thin
ice.
- Adam then got an offer to open for Chumbawumba in Seattle at the
Paramount Theater and at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, which once
hosted Jimi Hendrix on the Monkees tour. Adam opened for a Japanese
metal band called The Alfee. 10,000 Japanese rock fans flew in for
the event.
1999:
- Adam decided to go with a new direction by calling his new band
Get Animal. He recorded a full, twelve-song album in two days in the
studio in New York and sent the tapes off to Rick Keefer to be
mixed. Adam earned the nickname Pink Gibson (after his bloody pink
Les Paul guitar). Get Animal toured, supporting WASP, for thirty
dates across Europe including a few big festivals.
- Get Animal went back to Spain at the end of the year to open for
Metal Church. The most eventful thing that happened on that tour was
that a dog on the street attacked Adam's pink guitar, dragged it out
of the equipment van, and broke it into two pieces.
- At the year's end, the band got together in New York to record Get
Animal 2. It was done in three days instead of two, and this time
Adam brought the tapes to Hawaii. This album had a bigger guitar
sound and the songs had evolved from the debut Get Animal album.
2000:
Adam's drinking buddy, Verne Troyer - better known as "Mini
Me" of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me - agreed to pose
for the cover on Get Animal 2. The band toured Spain, supporting
Ronnie James Dio. After a Barcelona show, Adam went to a free
outdoor concert. with Hanoi Rocks singer, Michael Monroe, was the
headliner. Michael was surprised to see Adam in Spain and invited
him back to the hotel. A Spanish journalist had Adam interview
Michael for a magazine. During the interview, Adam and Michael
talked about their old friends in New York.
- A Finnish promoter offered Adam a few dates in Finland that
following week. Adam did a show in Turku, Finland and met up with
Michael Monroe. Michael played harmonica with Adam onstage. A few
days later, Adam did an acoustic set opening for Michael Monroe at a
small club in the middle of nowhere. After the show, Adam and
Michael went to a small pub that opened just for them, and started
talking about music. The two started playing guitars and wrote a
song called "If This Is Love, I Want My Money Back."
- They continued writing and making demos, all while sitting in at
each other's gigs. Adam and Michael stayed in hotels all over
Finland, writing and recording during every spare moment. At a rock
festival thirty miles from the Russian border, Michael told Adam
that there was going to be some concerts in Germany supporting Iggy
Pop. Back in New York, David Krebs got very excited at the prospect
of Adam and Michael working together. He started talking with Jude
Wilder, who was Michael's wife and manager. Jude wanted Krebs to
help out, as she was becoming less interested in management.
- Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones attended a one-off Get Animal
show at the London Borderline and was so impressed with Adam's
guitar playing that he invited Adam to record in his studio the
following weekend.
- Adam traveled to Germany to do press for Get Animal and meet
Michael in Berlin. Adam got on stage for the last song, a version of
the MC5 song "Looking At You." Adam thought it was very
rock 'n' roll to travel halfway across the globe to play one song
with just two chords and burn his guitar.
- Get Animal supported Michael Monroe on a Spanish tour, and after
the tour it was worked out for Adam to join Michael's band for an
American tour.
- Adam did his first official gig as Michael's guitarist in a club
called "Bluestock" in Turku. Adam and Michael continued to
write songs and make demos. There was a lot of pressure in the air
between David Krebs and Jude Wilder and the American tour was
postponed for a second time. Adam returned to New York and Krebs
sent him back to Finland to play a New Year's Eve show. The tour had
been rescheduled to February.
2001:
- Adam performed as Michael Monroe's guitarist, New Year's Eve at a
show in Turku. Adam returned to New York to find that David Krebs
had gotten into a disagreement with Jude Wilder and dropped the
project.
- Michael Monroe canceled his February US tour for the third and
final time. Adam went to Helsinki for a final show as Tavastia.
- With a little help from some friends, Adam raised enough money to
record some of the music he had worked on with Michael. With Joan
Jett/Billy Idol drummer Tommy Price, they recorded basic tracks for
thirteen songs in New York, then went to the west coast for a few
quick club shows and off to Hawaii for four weeks to finish the
overdubs and mix.
- Adam headlined a rock festival in Hawaii. After Adam finished his
recording, he got into a bitter feud with Michael. Adam didn't feel
right about releasing his own version of the album he wanted to make
with Michael. Things came to head when tragedy struck - Michael's
wife was found dead. All of a sudden, the canceled tours, the songs
they wrote, and the disagreements all seemed very unimportant. Adam
promised Michael that he would not release any of the material they
wrote together until Michael's album was released.
- Michael started working with his old Hanoi Rocks guitarist, Andy
McCoy. Adam worked on getting Fatal Attraction re-released through
an independent metal label. Adam also set up New York Times to be
released.
- In September, Adam returned to Spain briefly to visit friends, and
went to Finland to see Michael. Adam flew to Helsinki on September
11th. After arriving in Turku, a two hour bus-ride and checking into
a hotel, Adam called Michael. He told Adam about the terrorist
attacks in New York. After Adam turned on the television and called
his family, he went to visit Michael. While the rest of the world
started war, they made peace.
- The John Paul Jones Thunderthief CD was released in Japan in
November. John Paul Jones had built a song called "Angry
Angry" around Adam's guitar solo. Along with Robert Fripp, Adam
Bomb is the only other special guest. Adam considered it quite an
honor to play guitar on a member of Led Zeppelin's solo album.
2002:
- The Thunderthief CD was released worldwide in February. Adam
performed as Michael's guitarist in Helsinki for two shows. They
also recorded the album "Whatcha Want" and four other
songs that wound up on the Hanoi Rocks album.
- In August, Adam recorded Third World Roar, a concept album about
9/11, terrorism, and the climate in which we live in. The album was
completed on September 11, 2002.
2015:
- After forming a new live band with New York drummer Bobby Reynolds
& a bass player that was the brother-in-law of the guy that
wrote "I Love Rock And Roll" Adam Bomb toured England in
April with Swedish Rock Band The Diamond Dogs, and also supported
The Damned after a playing 5 warm up shows in New York City clubs.
- The band was set to return to the UK for September, this time for
30 shows. Two weeks prior to the tour, drummer Bobby Reynolds was
arrested & thrown in jail in Queens and was unable to make the
tour. The bass player decided he didn't love rock 'n roll and
decided to quit music altogether.
- Adam contacted two friends from Spain, drummer Kiki Tornado, &
bassist Gorka Alegre who quickly agreed to fill in and tour the UK.
Adam Bomb played 30 shows in 30 days on The September Smash And Burn
Spectacular Tour.
2016:
- After building a reputation in England for over the top live
shows, Adam followed up in the UK by booking a 54 show tour which
took the act to new areas including Scotland. The Third World Roar
2016 UK tour ran from January to March. Adam appeared on the HTV
Wales Television show "The Edge" opening the show in
studio with a firework guitar solo. At three of the shows, Adam
invited special guest British Wheel Clamp Vigilante "Angle
Grinder Man" to join him on stage during "I Want My Heavy
Metal" and attack Adam's Pink Gibson with an angle grinder.
Pink survived.
- The band visited the Marshall factory in Milton Keynes where Adam
met Jim Marshall. According to Adam it was like meeting the Pope.
The Marshall people also repaired Adam's 2 Marshall 50 watt heads
that he's used exclusively since he started playing guitar.
- Immediately following the UK tour, Adam flew to Spain to play
another 10 shows. During the third day in Spain, the terrorist
attack occurred. After the shows in the north, Adam chose to cancel
2 shows in Madrid and return to New York.
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- In September 2016, Adam Bomb will be out on the Get Animal 2016
Tour. The tour is 35 consecutive shows in the UK, with 4 headline
shows in Spain, then another 20 shows in the UK, with short Italian
tour starting November 11th, then another 5 shows in Spain, and a 20
date solo acoustic tour in the UK in December.
- In Italy, Adam played an acoustic show at Café Blue in Venice,
Italy, a rare feat for any artist to get a show in the canter of
Venice due to the canals. Then Adam did 5 electric shows.
2005:
- Together with the Italian rhythm section, Adam Bomb did a 12 date
UK tour before heading out on UK/European tour supporting Hanoi
Rocks.The band tore through Europe & was unstoppable. Even the
van breaking down on the Autobahn in Germany with 226 kilometers and
three hours until showtime, didn't stop them from missing a show.
The band rocked Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland
& Germany, gaining a continent of new fans.
- Adam Bomb recorded a few new tracks for a studio record with Rick
Keefer in Hawaii during March & April. A live album called
Welcome To My Disaster that was recorded at Nottingham Rock City was
available on tour in limited edition.
- Adam Bomb returned to England in May/June 2005 for another UK
blitz. In true Spinal Tap fashion, The Welcome To My Disaster Tour
had lived up to it's name for the most part. During summer there are
a few USA club dates,& Adam will return to the UK in late
October 2005 for a ten week tour that will be called Shit Hot Winter
UK Tour.
Friday 9 December
2005
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