TKO / Adam Bomb vocalist / guitarist
Adam Bomb
FIBM:   What's new, what have you been up to lately and what's in the future?

Adam Bomb:  I have been touring non-stop all over Europe & the UK. I was the support act on the Steven Adler tour recently and I am headed back to Europe on Monday night. I am doing another 100 shows in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and the UK. Maybe I am doing 60 to 70 dates...You lose count after awhile. The last tour was 100 shows from October 17th all the way to January 1st and I had two days off; Christmas day and New Years Day. It is kind of a sick scheldule, but that is what we do. I've got a couple of guys that like to go out and play and we just go out and play and if they don't work out, I've got a couple of other guys that will do it. I also just put out an album called "Rock Like Fuck". I do a record and go out on tour, that's what I do, a rock n roll show seven nights a week.

FIBM:   So why no tours in the States?

Adam Bomb:  Well, I don't know if there is any interest for an Adam Bomb show in the States. I haven't been approached by very many clubs, plus all my gear is over there. I happen to like the scenery. I like to be able to stop in places like Paris and Monte Carlo, beats the shit out of going to fucking Louisville or whatever. I haven't been there (laughs).... I have been to Monte Carlo, I haven't been to Louisville.




FIBM:   Tell us a little about the band you played in with Geoff Tate.

Adam Bomb:  Well, let's see....at first it was called Spectrum and then it was called Tyrant. Then there was RAGE, which was Scott Earl, me and this drummer Gary and we didn't have a singer. We did a show in Gary's basement.(laughs) Scott stopped playing with me & Gary shortly after that and we had a band with the twins; Rod and Brad Young and they were the brothers of Terry Young who was the singer for Rail & Co. Rail & Co. was this big rock band that was with Unicam Mountain Entertainment, this guy Craig Cook. He was like this cheesy guy with a jeri curl perm and the bad suntan. He used to take advantage of all the kids in all the bands and put on these shows at the roller rink. And if you signed with Craig Cook, you could be somebody, but he never signed anyone (laughs). Let see...I had a band with the twins, and then we got this bass player who was older and we auditioned for singers...no this was before the twins actually, we had a singer named Jake and we had a band called Spectrum and this bass player who was in his twenties....we were kids, like fourteen or fifteen...and Jake was really good, a professional singer, could sing Aerosmith and stuff like that. But he quit and then we put some advertisements out and we found Geoff Tate and he joined. We did Judas Priest and UFO songs.

FIBM:   How was his voice back then?

Adam Bomb:  Well he had a high voice that could sing Rush and Judas Priest, so he got the gig. I mean we played like my High School, Highland Junior High. (laughs) We played the Roller Rink, we played Lake Washington Senior Keg...that was pretty cool. I can't really remember, we did a few other gigs. We did this battle of the bands and when we lost, the band broke up.

FIBM:   Tell us about your meeting with Eddie Van Halen when you were a kid.

Adam Bomb:  When I was a kid, me and my buddy Mike McKrae and Gary, the twins and we had this band Tyrant....yes, that's right, Geoff Tate left Tyrant and then we got the twins, yeah, that's what happened. We were gigging a lot and these older chicks were hanging around us and one of them was working for the John Bauer Concert Company, the big concert company and she knew where Van Halen was staying and they put on Van Halen Shows. We found out where Van Halen was staying and we stayed in the same hotel and I managed to get Eddie to sign my guitar and he invited me into his room and jammed with me and I was just a little kid, so it was pretty inspiring, even today....I play "Eruption" every night, everywhere around the world.

FIBM:   What were some of the cool things that happened that night, did he teach you any tricks.

Adam Bomb:  Yeah, he played like "I'm the One" and I asked him if this was done right and it would come to the middle part of the lead he would stop and I would do the riff and he would go "Wow, Cool". He told me I was better than Mick Ralphs of Bad Company. He had girls panties with his name written on them. He had a guitar in a suitcase that he put together. He snorted coke in front of us, off the guitar pick. Coolest thing I had ever seen.....he didn't give us any though.

FIBM:   After Tyrant did you join TKO?

Adam Bomb:  Yeah, I got the gig in TKO and I was like a seventeen year old guitar player. They were all older and they played bars...I learned their songs. We played Mr. Bill's, that was a big rock club. They had already had their heyday where they had gotten signed and did a big tour, but this was way after that. I was a guitar player with another guitar player.... and then after a few gigs....I remember being in an apartment with Brad Sinsel and his girlfriend Nina, who he lived with and this guitar player Tony Bortko and said that he brought me in as his replacement and that he had announced that he was gay (laughs) and I didn't really give a fuck, I just wanted to play. Got rid of Tony and I became the only guitarist and I brought in this drummer named Gary and then we wrote some songs and played around and were kind of legendary in Seattle...Brad Sinsel being drunk all the time and saying dumb shit onstage.

FIBM:  I don't think a lot of people know this, but you were the one who actually recorded the guitar parts on the TKO "In Your Face" release right?

Adam Bomb:  Yeah, we went and did that album. We were just kids, me & Gary...that was like my Van Halen I album I tried to write (laugh) and working with Sinsel was kind of difficult. We didn't know what we were doing, we were kids. He didn't take it anywhere, didn't take it to LA, we went through a bunch of bass players and musicians. And when they brought another guitar player they brought in a guitar player who used to play in TKO back in the days, Rick Pierce, I didn't like playing with him as a guitar player, I thought it was redundant, so I went to Hollywood and went solo

FIBM:  Why did they picture another band on the back of the record?

Adam Bomb:   It was very common to do that in the 80's. They'd make a record and then put people on the cover and try to sell that record and go on tour. Yeah, we made the record and then we sat around for a summer trying to get a deal and Rick Keefer, the producer, never got a deal. Basically, the band just kind of fell apart.




FIBM:  Any cool memories stand out from "In Your Face" recording sessions?

Adam Bomb:  Well it was my first experience at making a record. Live in the studio basically. I believe Keefer financed it. Recording doesn't take much, a few microphones and a studio. I don't remember who did the business of TKO, I certainly didn't have anything to do with it. I don't know who bought my plane ticket to Hawaii, I am sure it wasn't Brad Sinsel. But that is basically how I started my relationship with Rick Keefer and I wound up making six or seven albums with him.




FIBM:   and Rick Keefer is the one who owns all the rights to "In Your Face"

Adam Bomb:   Questionable who owns the rights. He who has the masters owns the rights. Why is somebody interested in that record?

FIBM:   No, but some little label has released it.

Adam Bomb:   No it's bullshit, I have the masters and if I wanted to put it out I could

FIBM:  You have the masters for that?

Adam Bomb:  I do.

FIBM:   Really? Well they have released "In Your Face"

Adam Bomb:   Gotten ripped off. Whoever is selling it they are not making anything off of it. If I was to print up a thousand of them, I suppose I could make a little money....I don't know.

FIBM:   Any memories come to mind from the song "Give into the Night"?

Adam Bomb:   That was Tony's song, that was the only song I didn't write on that record. That was like their big hit when I joined the band. It got on KISW in Seattle, that was big.


FIBM:   What was the reason why you left TKO?

Adam Bomb:   Well, they got another guitar player. I didn't like it...nah that always bugs me. Cause I was always like a one guitar player-Van Halen type guy. Well, the other thing is....Brad was pretty out of control. We were potheads and he was a drinker, so when he'd get drunk, he would get out of control and things would always go wrong. I think we had a band that we put together this little tape with a guy named Scott Palmerton....and, let's see....this was a singer for a band called.... I can't remember what the band was called, but he came in and did a few gigs with us...me & Gary, I can't remember who was on bass. I'm not sure. Then they went on to form Q5 with Floyd Rose and that Rick Pierce guy....and then I went to LA and went solo around that time; I went to Hawaii and recorded three songs and then I made a video and I came back to LA.

FIBM:  How long did it take for you to get a deal once you got to LA?

Adam Bomb:   I didn't get the deal from LA, I got the deal from....let's see I moved to LA and then I went to Hawaii and recorded three songs, booked the studio and then I just got myself a ticket over there. Then when I went back to Hollywood I read this ad in BAM that said Video Director looking for artist to make a video. So I met with them and I said that I had no money. They made a video "Shape of the World" in Hawaii, they decided they should invest and bring me back to make a full album. And then I got back together with TKO in San Francisco. Brad had this manager, this chick named Toni, she worked for Bill Graham....and um we were in San Francisco for about a month and this was after I had done my three songs and I think I was sorta planning on getting a solo career going and I finally got that video back and like it was all edited and looked really cool and uh, we went to a concert, the Michael Schenker Group at Wolfgang's and Bill Graham was always at these click-clubs and I wondered who this guy with a brief-case was talking to Bill Graham and somebody says, oh, thats David Krebs. And I got all excited and I went and gave him my video that I had just gotten. Keefer sent me to Hawaii and when I was there, I got a call from Krebs and I went to New York and I signed with him. Krebs used to manage Aerosmith, ACDC, Ted Nugent...he was a bigshot when I was a kid. I knew his name from Aerosmith albums and concert programs. He started in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency with David Geffen. It's like an old-boys network.

FIBM:   Then you cut the rest of your first record?

Adam Bomb:   We do the rest of the record and we were shopped to a lot of labels. Krebs put a band around me Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith) and a couple of guys I had met from Billy Idol and we showcased for all these labels...and we picked Geffen, because they offered the most money....and my buddies Black n Blue were on Geffen.

FIBM:   Which you recorded on the Black n Blue album, "Without Love"

Adam Bomb:  Yeah, I played a couple of solos on it.

FIBM:  Anything stand out from those recording sessions?

Adam Bomb:   Well I worked with Bob Rock and Bruce Fairbairn, I thought that was quite exciting.


FIBM:  That's right Bob Rock was just an engineer at that time, right?

Adam Bomb:  Yeah, it was great to see how their techniques were. One thing Bruce Fairbairn told me, which was kind of cool was that he sorta got what I did on guitar and thought that nobody captured the fucking ballisticness or craziness of what I do on guitar. We really didn't do it then and there, but I thought more about that, that's kind of what developed into my live act today...I'm trying to do as much guitar tricks & bullshit as I can in as many songs...(laughs)..in my live act.

FIBM:   To backtrack a little, tell us three fond memories of your days in TKO.

Adam Bomb:   They're all just bad stupid stories. Ummmm...there was one day we were rehearsing in Gary's basement. and I said to the bass player, "Have you ever considered wearing a hat?" Brad kind of turned white and the bass player disappeared for three days. (laughs) He wasn't too happy with that comment, but eventually he put on a hat. That's a mild version of the story.

FIBM:  What.....did he have some fucked up hair?

Adam Bomb:   He didn't have much hair (laughs). Yeah, we were kids and it wasn't cool to be bald in rock; I still don't think it's cool to be bald in rock.

FIBM:   Anything else stand out?

Adam Bomb:   Yeah, well uh, we played The Moore Theatre in Seattle, it was a big deal back then and a lot of people would try to get in and wouldn't have the money and stuff and we let these two kids in to carry some shit and roadie for us....and turns out to be the singer and guitar player for Alice and Chains. So you never know what some kid who wants to carry your amp can turn out to be.

FIBM:  Now when you were in LA you lived with Izzy Stradlin, right?

Adam Bomb:   I just talked to him the other day. Yeah, he just kind of came over to my place and never left.

FIBM:   Why didn't you guys form a band?

Adam Bomb:   Well, I didn't think Izzy was very good, but I didn't play with other guitar players anyway. So I wasn't really interested in starting a band with another guitar player. I was just interested in joining a band that was already gigging. Get up and play the Troubador.

FIBM:  Any memories stand out from your days living with Izzy?

Adam Bomb:   He made me a bracelet, a studded, white bracelet, that I wore in my "Shape of the World" video.

FIBM:  You filled in for a couple of shows with STEELER. How did that come about?

Adam Bomb:  Yeah, I think Tommy Thayer got me that gig, or something. I mean I was neighbors with the guys from Black n Blue and we were always going to gigs. TKO got back together when they did that in San Francisco, they also played the Troubadour and at that same time, some reason the bass player, yeah it was cause this bass player Dan Levitan was hooked up with Mike Varney and Mike Varney asked him if Dan & I wanted to do a couple of shows with STEELER because Yngwie had just left.

FIBM:  How did that go?

Adam Bomb:   I think the TKO gig and the STEELER gig were in the same week, so I played the Troubadour three times in one week....I was in fuckin' heaven.

FIBM:  What were your memories of STEELER back then?

Adam Bomb:  I remember going to see Yngwie Malmsteen with STEELER a few times back then and it was like WOW, cool guitar player, swedish guy...fuckin'....you know he was skinny and he fuckin' ripped, you know he wore his guitar a little high, but....I don't I thought it was pretty cool. He did this cool think with his microphone cord, where he would throw it around like a lasso or something....and he just did fuckin' fast picking bullshit. He was pretty much the "IT" guy for a couple of weeks in Hollywood.


FIBM:  Where they still pulling big crowds at that time when you played with them?

Adam Bomb:  What the fuck? You are playing the Troubadour, you're not playing in front of big crowds....I mean I saw WASP there, RATT used to play there.

FIBM:  What was it like working with Ron Keel?

Adam Bomb:   (laughs) I don't really remember. I knew Ron Keel from a couple of years of hanging out in Hollywood. I don't know.....who was the drummer, it was the drummer that I remember more.

FIBM:  Mark Edwards?

Adam Bomb:   Yeah...I can picture his face. I couldn't even play one of those songs now, I can't even remember what songs they were, you know it was like a quick gig I did.

FIBM:  Was there ever a possibility or option for you to stay in the band?

Adam Bomb:   Well, you know, at that time I was doing that thing with TKO and it was just really a fill in thing. There was no talk of , you know.. and nobody had managers then, we were just kids living in apartments trying to get gigs. See how we could scrounge up rent money.

FIBM:  What stands out from your days recording your first solo album, "Fatal Attraction"?

Adam Bomb:   ACDC was in the studio, you know, it was a big deal, Rick had them as a client, it was the stuff from Wishbone Ash, and oh yeah we got Cliff Williams to play on the record. You know, Cliff played on the song, "I Want My Heavy Metal" and it was really cool. I just remember dancing in the studio, singing background vocals with Cliff. I was a big ACDC fan at that time, so I found it quite exciting. ACDC were working on some demos.





FIBM:  You recorded the rest of Fatal Attraction in Hawaii?

Adam Bomb:   Yeah. I mean these were all songs that I was working on....you know, I was probably working on them by the time TKO got together with Dan Levitan......um, they were just songs I was working on. Actually, when TKO didn't work out, you know, I just started worrying about my own thing, I was sorta more interested in going solo, so I didn't have to rely on any singer or anybody else to do gigs.

FIBM:  Why didn't TKO work out when you rejoined the band?

Adam Bomb:   Oh, I don't know, I mean I had a lot of drive....I mean Brad already did his shit....so, I guess he didn't want to...... he was older. So, you are probably going to live in shit with people your age at that point. (laughs) Don't work, or try to make money off women.

FIBM:  But you had already left the band by the time TKO signed their deal with COMBAT?

Adam Bomb:  Right, I quit and went solo and got this deal with Krebs...that was big news in Seattle, then I got signed to Geffen, the was even bigger news and uh, Rick Keefer got that deal with COMBAT and Brad Sinsel put a different band on the cover. I mean you wouldn't have thought that back then you could've put the band on the cover that actually played on it and you could have had two bands at that time....I mean you really couldn't do that, nobody had two bands.

FIBM:  How much did you tour to support Fatal Attraction?

Adam Bomb:  Um...we only did one little tour.

FIBM:  Just one...like how little, a couple of months?

Adam Bomb:   Two weeks. We just did clubs in the southwest and that's all we did. I wasn't in control of what my manager did at that time. I guess he was waiting for some big tour and it just never happened. Shortly after the record came out......we were with Geffen a lot longer than when the record came out and when the record came out things just all kind of went to shit. We didn't get video money, they weren't going to work it to radio or MTV. This girl, Carol Childs, was the A&R lady and she was getting shoved out. They wanted her to work on Quarterflash and pop shit. The guys in the office were more interested in the harder stuff that they were doing. There was also some problem with Aerosmith at that time. Krebs and Geffen were in some sort of litigation at that time. It was just bad timing for me, signing with Geffen and having to work with Krebs. Then for the next record, Geffen would have put it out if we had wanted to, but my manager told them not to put it out. Put it out on another label, but he never got another major. It was just....as a kid, as an artist at twenty-one working with these guys that are in their forties dealing business. I just chose to be loyal to the manager and not loyal to the record company or whatever.

FIBM:  Are you cool with that decision?

Adam Bomb:   Well, I don't know...it's my life. I'm in New York now...I have a wife and a sixteen year old daughter, just had her sixteenth birthday at the China Club with tons of people and um, I've got a six year old, I go on tour all over the world. Do I think I made the right decision? Yeah sure, it's my life...I have worked with John Paul Jones and worked with all these fucking people in my life.


FIBM:  Who owns the rights to your catalog, including Fatal Attraction.

Adam Bomb:  Luckily Krebs got all the rights reverted back to him and then Krebs signed all the rights back over to me. 100% of my music.

FIBM:   Anything stand out from the "Pure S.E.X." recording sessions?

Adam Bomb:   Yeah, we went to England. We played the Marquee. I remember getting paid all this fucking money after we played the Marquee and we just ran out of there with like a thousand pounds in my hand (laughs), I mean no one told me I had to pay the PA. Fuckin Krebs got the bill eventually. Um, it was pretty cool living in a farmhouse in England, making a record.


FIBM:  Do you remember the budget for that record or Fatal Attraction?

Adam Bomb:   They gave him hundreds of thousands of dollars....I don't know what was spent on that record. A lot of wasted money, if I was in control of that money I would not have done it that way. But, you don't know when you're a kid. They think they are spending your money.

FIBM:  How did you come in contact with Steve Stevens?

Adam Bomb:   Steve Stevens lived in New York. Um..let's see...well I played with a couple of guys from Billy Idol, so we kind of knew each other and hung out. Let's see, I got engaged to be married to this girl Claire O'Conner who ran the Limelight, she was friends with Billy Idol and Perri Lister and we had this big wedding...big New York social event and everybody just kind of hung at that time.

FIBM:  He recorded on your record New York Times, didn't he?

Adam Bomb:   Yeah, well when we....we always talked about doing a project together. Around the time of his solo band, you know, we would always kind of hang out late at night at my apartment or his....sometimes we would do it for a couple of days (laughs). He wanted to get a band together and call it the Atomic Playboys or something like that....and um...we had done some demos and he was thinking he would get me as the singer for it, cause I wanted to do it. But then I didn't hear from him for a couple of days and then I hear he got this singer from Warrior Soul or something like that. Let's see, and when it came time to do my New York Times album, we just kind of hung around and wrote a lot of stuff and um....I told him I was doing this thing with Jack and he said he would come down and play on it and he did. You know and we got some stuff in pre-production....he wrote the riff in Pure S.E.X. too...that middle break, Pure S.E.X. was something we came up with one of those things of me and him fuckin' around on a four track. We used to hang out quite frequently over the years, from time to time.

FIBM:  Were you upset when he didn't ask you to join his band, the Atomic Playboys?

Adam Bomb:   Yeah, I probably was. But you know, Steve was like.....it wouldn't have happened anyways, I mean I not a singer; I'm a guitar player. I more of a rock n roll guitar player like Jimi Hendrix as opposed to being known as a singer. I don't want to take off my guitar and be Billy Idol...it wouldn't have worked....I would have lost.


Adam, Steve Stevens, Glenn Kidd (Phil Feit's brother)