| U.S. Bombs | |
|---|---|
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | Punk rock, street punk |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | Sailor's Grave Records |
| Members | |
|
Duane Peters Kerry Martinez Wade Walston Chip Hanna Jonny "Two Bags" Wickersham |
|
U.S. Bombs are an American punk rock band, formed in 1993 in Orange County, CA. U.S. Bombs consist of vocalist Duane Peters, guitarists Kerry Martinez and Jonny "Two Bags" Wickersham, bass guitarist Wade Walston and drummer Chip Hanna. Vocalist Duane Peters is a professional skateboarder from the late 70's and early 80's skate explosion in Southern California. Well known as "The Master of Disaster" and the first person to do a full loop on a skateboard, as well as the inventor of many tricks and an innovator in the pool skate realm. Duane as well as all other members of the US Bombs have played in many previous OC punk bands throughout the years, notable ones being, Political Crap, Shattered Faith, The Dischords, and The Exploding Fuck Dolls.
Contents |
In '93 Duane Peters left The Exploding Fuck Dolls and teamed up with longtime friend Kerry Martinez to start a new band called U.S. Bombs. The Bombs first release was a double 7" called "Scouts of America" released in 1994 on Vinyl Dog Records with Duane Peters on vocals, Kerry Martinez on guitar, Steve Reynolds on bass and Benny Rapp III on drums. Next they released their first full length "Put Strength in the Final Blow". The re-release of their first album contains the 4 songs from "Scouts of America".
After a few different lineup changes in their early years they settled into Peters, Martinez, Reynolds, Chuck Briggs (of the Dischords) on guitar and Alex Gomez on drums. In 1996 they released a 4-song CD with no title and then made their second album "Garibaldi Guard" on Alive Records. The next year they put out an EP called "Nevermind the Opened Minds...Here's the U.S. Bombs", it originally had 6 songs but all re-releases of this album have included the 4 tracks from the self titled CD. The Bombs continued to tour to support their music and began to grow a loyal fan base where ever they played. U.S. Bombs live shows were gaining recognition from the on stage antics of Duane and his band mates.
In '97 due to touring commitments the rhythm section of the band was replaced with Wade Walston on bass and Chip Hanna on drums. This year the Bombs released a 10" picture disc on Outsider Records, the B side with a new version of The Way it Ends a song that was released on their first album, the A side with Jaks, a song that would become the bands biggest hit and most often played live song. Next they were picked up as the first band on Tim Armstrong's new Epitaph affiliate Hellcat Records for a 4 record deal. The first album on Hellcat was "War Birth" which would become the bands most famous and well heard album all over the world. It is even rumored that Joey Ramone had "War Birth" on his turntable when he died.
Unfortunately due to serious illness that was killing him and eventually take his life, long time guitarist Chuck Briggs was unable to record the bands 4th full length "The World". Briggs was replaced by Jonny "Two Bags" Wickersham, formerly of Youth Brigade. "The World" was released in 1999, and when the Bombs returned from a European tour, tensions were high among the band mates due to basically living on the road together the last 5 years and Duane left to form Duane Peters and the Hunns.
During the constant touring and album recording the U.S. Bombs developed a relationship with Beer City Records/Skateboards based in Milwaukee and released three 7" records with them. In 1997 they released "Outtakes from a Beer City Basement" 7"(also known as "Kill Me Good") which had two exclusive songs that can only be found on this recording, Hot Seat (an Empire cover) and Rejected (a song originally recorded by Duane's early 80's band Political Crap), it also had a new recording of the song Bubble Gum originally released on their first album. Next was a split with The Bristles, the Bombs did a cover of the Radio Birdman song Breaks My Heart. The third Beer City release was called "The Great Lakes of Beer" in 2001 and had two exclusive songs, The Great Lakes of Beer and The Critic!, both written on the road and recorded live/drunk. To support "The World", the U.S. Bombs also released a 7" on TKO records based in San Francisco for Hobroken Dreams which had an exclusive song The Captain on the B side.
Duane left the band to start his new band Duane Peters and the Hunns. After a few releases and some touring, in 2001 he had to return to the studio with the U.S. Bombs as they were still under contract to make 2 more records with Hellcat. Duane, Kerry, Chip, and Wade went in and the result was "Back at the Laundromat". Their fifth full length named after the early years when the Bombs would set up their gear at the local laundromat and play until the cops broke it up, was very well received but would be the last album with veteran drummer Chip Hanna. In 2001 they played the Holidays in the Sun concert in San Francisco which would be recorded and released as a live CD as well as a DVD. Chip left the band and joined San Francisco trio One Man Army. With the help of Hellcat Records and relentless touring the U.S. Bombs had begun to make a place for themselves in punk rock history. They appeared on Premium Blend as the stage band during Jim Breuer's hosting stint, and contributed a track from Back at the Laundromat, "Yer Country", to the soundtrack for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.
Duane Peters and the Hunns: Before Duane had to go back to the Bombs he was able to release a 7" "Not Gonna Pay", The Hunns debut album "Unite", and the follow-up album "Tickets to Heaven". Once Duane had finished contractual obligations for the Bombs with Hellcat he went right back to the studio with the Hunns and put out a split album with The Revolvers and a third full length "Wayward Bantums" in 2002.
Again it was time to return to the familiar and make another album for Hellcat Records. With Chip replaced by Jamie Reidling, and with new guitarist Curt Stich, Peters, Martinez, and Walston went back into the studio in 2003 to make the Bombs next full length "Covert Action." After the resulting tour the U.S. Bombs would take the longest break in the bands history, 10 years of constant touring and recording had left them needing a break to save the future of the band.
With the Bombs on a break Duane was able to concentrate on his new band. DP and the Hunns picked up new bassist/vocalist Corey Parks (formerly of Nashville Pussy) and changed their name to Die Hunns. They released 3 more albums, "Long Legs" in 2004, "Live Fast Die Hunns" recorded between 2004–2006, and "You Rot Me" in 2006. During this time Duane and Corey Parks were married and had a son named Clash Peters. After the release of "You Rot Me" in 2006, Die Hunns cancelled their US tour as both Duane and Corey were fighting longtime drug and alcohol addiction, and with a new son they felt leaving on tour would be not only bad for their own lives, but also their new son. Since then Die Hunns have not played together.
With Die Hunns on hold, in 2006 the U.S. Bombs went into the studio again to record their 7th full length album. With Peters, Martinez, Jaime Reidling and studio bassists they released "We Are The Problem" on Sailor's Grave Records. The following tour picked up One Man Army bassist Heiko Schrepel to rock the 4 string.
In 2005, as if the U.S. Bombs and the Die Hunns wasn't enough, Duane started another side project called "The Duane Peters Gunfight". They released a self titled album and a couple 7"s. With the U.S. Bombs on a break after the "We are the Problem" tour and Die Hunns on hiatus DP had time to focus on the Gunfight, which resulted in touring where the band would play songs from all of Duane's previous bands. In 2009 the DP Gunfight released a second album "Checkmate", a tribute album to Duane's 21 year old son Chelsea who died in a car accident the previous year. They also released a tribute single called "Forever Chess" featuring songs from Checkmate, an acoustic version of U.S. Bombs song "Not Alright", and a song called "Skyway".
Aside from playing in 3 different bands in the 00's, Duane still managed to make time for his true passion of skateboarding. With a shoe release by Draven shoes and the US skate tour with Mike Vallely in 2010, and over 20 albums released by his multiple bands since the 80s Duane Peters is still one the most hard working skate punks in the world even at 50 years of age.
2009 and 2010 saw 2 different European tours by the U.S. Bombs and a few shows in California. These shows have reunited the classic late 90's U.S. Bombs lineup of Duane, Kerry, Wade, Chip, and the ever changing rhythm guitar spot was filled by Jonny Two Bags again. Although, as second guitar for Social Distortion Jonny Two Bags was unable to participate in the 2010 European tour with the Bombs, leaving the very rare experience for US Bombs fans to see them perform as a 4 piece. 2010 also brought the inception of Duane's latest act The Great Unwashed. The best way to describe The Great Unwashed is an acoustic-ish folk rockish, lounge act.
Late in 2010 on Duane Peters twitter, he mentioned as possible recording of a new album but there has been no other announcements since that time. Duane and Kerry as the only original members with their revived lineup have made it clear that they are not letting the US Bombs die any time soon.
In the summer of '11 the Bombs hit the road to Europe for a month long tour. Johnny 2 Bags was still with Social Distortion and Wade Walston was getting shoulder surgery, so they went as a 4 piece again and had a fill in bassist from Kerry's other band The Bad Luck Charms. Later in the summer they did a west coast tour with Wade back on bass.
U.S. Bombs shows:
South America in 2012