Biography
Car Bomb, a quartet based in New York, forged an abrasive and radically inventive strain of metal that helped lay groundwork for later mathcore and metalcore acts. On their 2007 debut full-length Centralia the band fused jagged guitar figures, a bent comedic sensibility, and abrupt shifts in dynamics and pacing to drive the music into uncharted extremes.
The four musicians first converged after Neck and Spooge, two separate groups that had shared a rehearsal room in Rockville Center, New York, both dissolved. Guitarist Greg Kubacki and singer Michael Dafferner, formerly of Neck, had been working in a dense, aggressive metal style while seeking a more progressive path, citing Frank Zappa as a primary influence. Bassist Jon Modell and drummer Elliot Hoffman, who had played in Spooge, already pursued a technically demanding metal approach that aligned with the direction Kubacki and Dafferner wanted to explore. When both earlier bands ended, the four friends joined forces, forming Car Bomb in 2002.
They devoted the next two years to writing songs and stabilizing the lineup, then entered the studio in 2004. A track from their earliest demo, “Solid Grey,” surfaced on the 2006 compilation The Hardcore Street CD, Vol. 2. Later that year a split single with Burnt by the Sun appeared, and by late 2006 the band had signed with Relapse Records. Centralia was issued in early 2007; shortly afterward the label dropped them, yet the members remained undeterred.
Holding steady day jobs that provided solid income, the quartet self-financed their subsequent records, going so far as to construct their own studio and even design and build microphones from the ground up. Their second album, w^w^^w^w (sometimes called the waveform record), was released independently in 2012 and included guest vocals from Gojira’s Joseph Duplantier. Four years later Meta arrived, again featuring Duplantier along with an appearance by Suffocation’s Frank Mullen. Car Bomb toured alongside Gojira and Dillinger Escape Plan throughout 2016 and 2017. Their fourth album, Mordial, surfaced in 2019 through a partnership between the band and U.K. extreme music label Holy Roar Records.
The four musicians first converged after Neck and Spooge, two separate groups that had shared a rehearsal room in Rockville Center, New York, both dissolved. Guitarist Greg Kubacki and singer Michael Dafferner, formerly of Neck, had been working in a dense, aggressive metal style while seeking a more progressive path, citing Frank Zappa as a primary influence. Bassist Jon Modell and drummer Elliot Hoffman, who had played in Spooge, already pursued a technically demanding metal approach that aligned with the direction Kubacki and Dafferner wanted to explore. When both earlier bands ended, the four friends joined forces, forming Car Bomb in 2002.
They devoted the next two years to writing songs and stabilizing the lineup, then entered the studio in 2004. A track from their earliest demo, “Solid Grey,” surfaced on the 2006 compilation The Hardcore Street CD, Vol. 2. Later that year a split single with Burnt by the Sun appeared, and by late 2006 the band had signed with Relapse Records. Centralia was issued in early 2007; shortly afterward the label dropped them, yet the members remained undeterred.
Holding steady day jobs that provided solid income, the quartet self-financed their subsequent records, going so far as to construct their own studio and even design and build microphones from the ground up. Their second album, w^w^^w^w (sometimes called the waveform record), was released independently in 2012 and included guest vocals from Gojira’s Joseph Duplantier. Four years later Meta arrived, again featuring Duplantier along with an appearance by Suffocation’s Frank Mullen. Car Bomb toured alongside Gojira and Dillinger Escape Plan throughout 2016 and 2017. Their fourth album, Mordial, surfaced in 2019 through a partnership between the band and U.K. extreme music label Holy Roar Records.
Albums
