Lightning Bolt

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Lightning Bolt
Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale (photo by Jason Carlisle)
Background information
Origin	Providence, Rhode Island
Genre(s)	Noise Rock
Years active	1994–present
Label(s)	Load Records
Website	Official site
Members
Brian Chippendale Brian Gibson
Former members
Hisham Bharoocha

Lightning Bolt is an experimental noise rock duo from Providence, Rhode Island, presently composed of Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson. Aside from the Talking Heads, Les Savy Fav, or Black Dice, Lightning Bolt is perhaps the most well known of the bands connected to Providence's Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) music scene.

The band formed while Chippendale and Gibson attended RISD in Providence, RI, when Chippendale heard about "a new kid" who was a whiz on the bass guitar. At the same time, Chippendale was preparing to set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse space in the Olneyville district of Providence that came to house a number of different avant-garde artists and musicians, including Brian Ralph.

Formed in 1994, Lightning Bolt's initial line-up featured Brian Chippendale on drums, Brian Gibson on bass guitar, with Hisham Bharoocha on guitar and vocals joining the group after their first show. Chippendale took over vocal duties when Bharoocha left in 1996. The only officially released music with Bharoocha was a track on the Repopulation Program compilation. Bharoocha later joined Black Dice as drummer.

1 Sound
2 Live performances
3 Deportation from Japan
4 Trivia
5 Discography
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Sound

The band's music takes cues from canonical Japanese noise rock bands such as Boredoms and Ruins, although jazz composer Sun Ra is a well-acknowledged influence. The band's unique sound consists of Brian Chippendale's frenetic drumming, his usually incomprehensibe vocals, and Brian Gibson's unusual bass guitar set-up and playing.

Chippendale eschews the usual microphone stand and conventional microphone, instead using the type of microphone built into a household telephone receiver, held in his mouth or attached to a hood. This microphone is then run through an effects processor to further alter the sound. Chippendale has also used a KMD 8021 Drum Exciter, a simple drum-synth module, triggered by the bass drum.

Brian Gibson adds to the unique sound with his oddly strung bass guitar, tuned to cello standard tuning, in intervals of fifths (C G D A), with a banjo string for the high A. He used this four-string setup for several years, but has recently been seen using a five-string setup, tuned to C G D A E, with banjo strings for the A and E. Gibson also uses several effects pedals, including two overdrive pedals, an octaver, a delay pedal, and a bass whammy pedal (pitch shifter).

As is typical of the noise rock genre, Lightning Bolt tends to play extremely loud, aggressive music. In the Peter Glantz and Nick Noe film The Power of Salad, Gibson jokingly attributes the band's volume to much of their success:

We used to get more negative reactions when [we] didn't have as loud of stuff. It's just, be super loud and you're all set. (laughs) The rock and roll has been revealed. I do feel that that's the message - if there's any message, that's what it is. This is kinda what we do to keep ourselves excited these days. In these days - everyone knows what I'm talking about. (laughs)^[1]

Perhaps for this reason, the band has reportedly never been a fan of the studio recording process. When they recorded five tracks for their self-titled debut album released in 1999, they discarded four of them and replaced them with lo-fi tracks recorded at various live shows from '97 and '98. The music on their second LP, Ride the Skies, was nowhere near as fast or distorted as the same songs played live when the album was finally released. Wonderful Rainbow is probably their most accessible recording to date, featuring heavy yet catchy riffs in odd meters. The band wasn't fully happy with the sound on any of their albums until the release of Hypermagic Mountain, an album where about half the tracks were recorded in a house, direct to a 2-track DAT master tape, where the audio engineer was unable to tell exactly how the final result would sound.

Since the band is only comprised of two members and two instruments, the band's sound has a somewhat limited range, though this is often noted as a positive thing. In a recent interview, Gibson states that his experiences in Lightning Bolt "has showed me the power of an extremely limited palette."^[2] In fact, it could be argued that the odd manner in which Gibson tunes his bass, his heavy use of effects, and Chippendale's fairly straightfoward drum setup only exaggerates this "limited palette" that defines the band's sound.

Lyrically, Lightning Bolt's lyrics are mostly silly and tongue-in-cheek, however occasionally they'll attack more political subjects (i.e. "Dead Cowboy" off Hypermagic Mountain), albeit in a humorous tone. Lightning Bolt's lyrics, when comprehensible, cover such diverse topics as terrorism, anarchy, fairy tales, and superheroes.

[edit] Live performances

Lightning Bolt playing live.

Lightning Bolt are renowned for preferring to put on guerilla gigs in places not usually played in by established bands. They famously play on the floor of the venue rather than the stage, creating a tight circle of spectators, with the band in the very center. These shows are often quite hectic, mainly due to the fact that only the people at the front can see anything, and result in a lot of pushing and pulling as people try frantically to move forward to see the band playing. As their live setup has become larger and more elaborate since early 2005, they have now taken to setting up their equipment beforehand, giving the audience fair warning as to where to be when the show starts.

Lightning Bolt's on-stage persona, like their lyrical content, is similarly tongue-in-cheek. Chippendale will often converse with the audience through his incredibly distorted microphone, despite the fact that the vocals are usually too distorted to understand. Also, Chippendale often wears an odd, almost comical facemask, usually pieced together from various pieces of cloth.

They have also played in other, more unusual locations. For example, they played at noon at the door of radio DJ John Peel's chalet during the All Tomorrow's Parties festival 2004, about which neighbour Steve Albini of Shellac commented: "Best alarm clock I've ever had." They have also played on moving tractor trailers, in kitchens, and in the parking lots of abandoned drive-in movie theaters.

Lightning Bolt playing live in Philadelphia.

[edit] Deportation from Japan

On June 5, 2006, it was reported on the band's MySpace that Lightning Bolt had been deported from Japan days after they arrived to continue their tour from the UK. Band members were detained on arrival on the grounds that they did not have work permits. They lodged an official appeal, but it was rejected after 48 hours and they were deported back to the United States. A report on the incident can be found here.

[edit] Trivia

The song "Dracula Mountain" has been covered live by the UK rock band Muse.
The song "Saint Jacques" on their 3rd album Ride the Skies is named after Dan St. Jacques, a friend of the band and member of the band Landed, which both Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale are former members.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Lightning Bolt (1999)
Zone 50-minute companion cassette (1999)
Ride the Skies (2001)
Wonderful Rainbow (2003)
Hypermagic Mountain (2005)

[edit] 7 Inch Records

Split (with Forcefield) (1997)
Conan (2000)
Ultra Cross Vol. 1 (split with Guitar Wolf) (Ki/oon Records) (2006) (Released in Japan only)^[3]

[edit] DVD / Video

The Power of Salad (2002)
Pick a Winner Compilation (2004)

[edit] Appearances on Compilations

Repopulation Program (Load) (1996)
Fruited Other Surfaces (Vermiform) (1999)
You're Soaking in It (Load) (1999)
Bad Music for Bad People (Trash Art) (2000)
Mish Mash Mush Mega Mix (2000)
U.S. Pop Life Vol. 7: Random Access Music Machine (2001)
KFJC Live from the Devil's Triangle Vol. III (2001)
Real Slow Radio Compilation (Fort Thunder) (2001)
Old Tyme Lemonade Complilation (Hospital Productions) (2001)
If The Twenty-First Century Didn't Exist, It Would Be Necessary To Invent It (5RC) (2002)
U.S. Pop Life Vol. 12: Random Slice of Life at Ft. Thunder - Bands Who Played At (2002)
I Love Guitar Wolf...Very Much (Narnack Records) (2005)
A Benefit For Our Friends (DMBQ Tribute CD) (No label) (2005)