The Exploding Hearts

Punkish Portland, OR, power pop quartet the Exploding Hearts spent more than two years performing as a unit before issuing their first album, Guitar Romantic, through Seattle-based indie label Dirtnap Records during spring 2003. Drawing cues from the Clash, the Undertones, and the Only Ones, the lineup featured bassist Matt "Lock" Fitzgerald, drummer Jeremy "Kid Killer" Gage, vocalist/guitarist Adam "Baby" Cox, and guitarist Terry Six. Earlier incarnations also contained keyboardist "King" Louie Bankston along with founding bassist Jim Evans, both of whom departed before Guitar Romantic appeared. The record generated immediate attention from listeners, critics, and record companies for the four musicians, all still in their early twenties, and placed the group in steady demand across West Coast stages. Disaster struck on July 20, 2003, when the van carrying the band back from a San Francisco date lost control, claiming the lives of Gage, Cox, and Fitzgerald while Six sustained only slight wounds. Dirtnap assembled the LP Shattered for release in fall 2006, gathering singles, alternate takes, and mixes from the group's abbreviated run together with their final unreleased studio tracks; the collection also contained footage of five numbers from what turned out to be the Exploding Hearts' last concert at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill.