The Von Bondies

Around 2000 the Von Bondies formed in Detroit, Michigan. Jason Stollsteimer fronted the quartet on guitar and vocals while Marcie Bolen played guitar, Carrie Smith handled bass, and Don Blum sat behind the drums. The group fused raw blues heartache with ferocious, gritty punk, quickly becoming a local sensation in the Motor City where those influences already permeated the scene. Early singles such as “It Came from Japan” and “Nite Train” circulated as their explosive concerts drew mounting attention. Placement on Jack White’s Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit compilation finally accelerated their trajectory, securing a contract with Sympathy for the Record Industry and an international profile as opening act for the White Stripes. White also produced the band’s raucous debut album Lack of Communication, issued in August 2001. Strong sales at home and overseas, paired with the broader garage-rock boom, soon attracted major-label interest; the Von Bondies signed with Sire and began work on a follow-up. June 2003 brought the Dim Mak release Raw and Rare, a collection of BBC recordings from 2001 and 2002 plus several tracks cut live at Detroit’s Lager House. That summer the band delivered a triumphant hometown set alongside the reunited Stooges while preparing Pawn Shoppe Heart, produced by Jerry Harrison and released in early 2004. Carrie Smith departed that fall; Yasmine Smith, unrelated, took over bass duties. Both Smith and Bolen left in 2006, after which Stollsteimer and Blum toured from fall 2007 to spring 2008 with vocalist-guitarist-keyboardist Alicia Gbur of the Nice Device and guitarist Matt Lanoo. Bassist-vocalist Leann Banks and guitarist-vocalist Christy Hunt completed the lineup for the third album, Love Hate and Then There’s You, issued by Majordomo in early 2009.