American post-punk band
Bullet LaVolta
was an
alternative rock
band from
Boston
,
Massachusetts
, formed in January 1987 by four college
disk jockeys
:
Clay Tarver
(guitar, now of
Chavez
), Bill Whelan (bass),
Corey "Loog" Brennan
(guitar) and Chris "Cruster" Guttmacher (drums). The band later added singer Yukki Gipe (Kurt Davis) after he responded to an advertisement. The band's style of music was a kind of punk, heavy metal, and hardcore punk hybrid, reminiscent of diverse bands such as
Naked Raygun
,
Motorhead
and early
Fugazi
.
History
[
edit
]
Bullet LaVolta performed their first show at a dive bar in Boston called Chet's Last Call to a crowd of about fifteen people, but soon became one of Boston's most popular live acts. They gained most of their notoriety by playing college shows in Boston (usually at either
MIT
or
Harvard
, with bigger acts like
The Lemonheads
,
Dag Nasty
, and the
Rollins Band
).
The band released their self-titled EP on
Taang! Records
with
Moving Targets
guitarist Kenny Chambers joining the line-up in 1988. In 1989, they recorded and released their first full-length album,
The Gift
, originally released on Taang!. The band's road manager around that time was actor
Donal Logue
.
[1]
[2]
In 1990, they released the
Gimme Danger
EP (which includes a cover of "
Detroit Rock City
") on
Metal Blade
before signing to
RCA Records
, who purchased and re-released
Bullet Lavolta
and
The Gift
on a single disc. The record was reviewed in
People
magazine and given a good rating.
[
clarification needed
]
The album sold modestly
[
clarification needed
]
and the band became well-known enough that their contract was renewed by RCA. A year later, they recorded and released their follow-up,
Swandive
, which debuted the same day as
Nirvana
's album
Nevermind
.
Swandive
was produced, mixed and engineered by
Dave Jerden
, who has also produced
Jane's Addiction
,
Alice in Chains
,
Social Distortion
,
Fishbone
, and
Anthrax
. Bullet LaVolta played a show with Nirvana around the time of the album's release, with the opening act being a then-unknown
The Smashing Pumpkins
.
[3]
In late 1991 the band went on tour with
Corrosion of Conformity
and
Prong
in support of
Swandive
.
The band broke up in 1992, the same year
Matador Records
issued an album of older recordings (mostly from 1987 and 1989) called
The Gun Didn't Know I Was Loaded
. As of November, 2015, none of the band's releases are in print by any label but
Swandive
and
The Gift
are available via digital download.
Yukki Gipe was later the lead singer of a band called
The Konks
and played drums under his given name for
Kustomized
.
Drummer Todd Philips drums in Model/Actress, the band formed by ex-
Brainiac
bass player and video director Juan Monostereo and former
Chamberlain
members Curtis Mead and Charlie Walker.
As of December 2014, Kenny Chambers plays with the Stone Strangers as well as maintaining a solo career.
Bill Whelan died by suicide on November 1, 2021.
[4]
Discography
[
edit
]
Studio albums
- The Gift
(1989) (Re-released by
RCA Records
with a slightly different track order and some songs from Bullet Lavolta ep as bonus tracks)
- The Gun Didn't Know I Was Loaded 1987
(1991)
- Swandive
(1991)
EPs
- Bullet LaVolta
(1988)
- Gimme Danger
(1990)
Singles
- "Over the Shoulder / X Fire" (1989)
- "Every Hungry Rabbit" (1990)
- "Swandive" (1991)
- "My Protector" (1992)
References
[
edit
]
External links
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]
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