Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt emerged from Providence in 1995 as a three-piece art school project. Initially there was Brian Chippendale's explosive, non-stop drumming, Brian Gibson's Contortions-like bass lines, and Hisham Bharoocha's vocals propelling them in a fury of volatile noise and tribal orgy. The group helped found Fort Thunder, a music and art collective, and recorded a self-titled album which is now out of print. Bharoocha left to drum in Black Dice leaving Chippendale with vocal duties. He duly began performing with a microphone in his mouth, the already garbled sound running through a processor which makes his words unintelligible as he pounds his kit. The band recorded only a few singles and laid low in 2000 but returned to the stage with a renewed energy. Their 2001 album, Ride the Skies attempts to capture some of the intensity of their frenzied, post-drum machine sound attack. More important than the idea of traditional songs is the never-ending improvisational patterns between these two skilled musicians and their spontaneous, violent imaginations. "Providence, RI's bass and drums duo Lightning Bolt morphed a Tuesday-night show into a spontaneous street party last week, complete with "balcony seats" on tree branches, cars, and mailboxes, and the average age in attendance thrown off by one thrilled-looking woman in her grandma years." --The Stranger