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» Add News | Atomic Opera
A four piece band hailing from Houston, Texas with ties to seminal acts King's X and Galactic Cowboys due to sharing producer Sam Taylor. Forming in 1991, the group originally consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist (and de facto leader) Frank Hart, lead guitarist Jonathan Marshall, bassist Len Sonnier and Mark Poindexter handling drumming duties. Len left the band the following year and requested his friend Jonas Velasco to take his place, and the first recorded lineup was formed. With a newfound focus, the four men began writing new material and played a few gigs in the Houston ar ...read more
A four piece band hailing from Houston, Texas with ties to seminal acts King's X and Galactic Cowboys due to sharing producer Sam Taylor. Forming in 1991, the group originally consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist (and de facto leader) Frank Hart, lead guitarist Jonathan Marshall, bassist Len Sonnier and Mark Poindexter handling drumming duties. Len left the band the following year and requested his friend Jonas Velasco to take his place, and the first recorded lineup was formed. With a newfound focus, the four men began writing new material and played a few gigs in the Houston area before being signed by Derek Shulman, president of Collision Arts (a subsidiary of Giant Records) who was impressed by their performance at a club called Zelda's in Houston. 1994 saw the release of their debut studio release titled For Madmen Only which landed the foursome a spot as an opening act for Dio and King's X, and the album also gave way for something of a minor hit record in "Justice." Despite a seemingly upward trajectory, Atomic Opera soon found themselves without a record label following the demise of Collision Arts and also found themselves without a manager as the band parted ways with Sam Taylor. The band known as Atomic Opera was officially broken up after 1995 due to a combination of no longer being under a label, parting ways with a key figure in the hard rock scene, and not reaching any resemblance to mainstream success. However, Frank Hart began to write more material for himself and soon reunited with Mark Poindexter and the duo joined forces with multi-instrumentalist Kemper Crabb (also of Caedmon's Call) to reform and revitalize Atomic Opera. 1997 saw the return of Atomic Opera with Frank Hart, Mark Poindexter, and Kemper Crabb for the release of the band's second (and independently released) album Penguin Dust. The album was an underground hit and gave the band a second chance as Metal Blade records signed them a deal, Atomic Opera had officially arrived and the trio were eventually joined by John Simmons and Ryan Birsinger to release their third official album Gospel Cola. « hide |
Similar Bands: King's X, Galactic Cowboys, The Jelly Jam Contributors: Tydraxel,
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