Lightning Bolt

Biography

Lightning Bolt is an American noise rock duo from Providence, Rhode Island, composed of Brian Chippendale on drums and vocals and Brian Gibson on bass guitar. The band met and formed in 1994 as students of the Rhode Island School of Design. Lightning Bolt were listed 8th in Metacritic's Artists of the Decade 2000–09.
Lightning Bolt are known for their guerrilla-style live performances, where they typically play on the ground rather than a stage, with the crowd gathered around them. The band's sound is typically loud and aggressive, though the group cites composers Philip Glass and Sun Ra as compositional influences.

History

The band formed while Chippendale and Gibson attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, and Chippendale had heard about "a new kid who was a whiz on the bass guitar." The two formed Lightning Bolt, with Brian Chippendale on drums, Brian Gibson on bass guitar, and with Hisham Bharoocha on extra percussion and vocals joining the group after their first show. Bharoocha left the group in 1996 to continue with another RISD band that would eventually become Black Dice, and Chippendale took over vocal duties. The only officially released music with Bharoocha was a track on the Repopulation Program compilation. For the first few years, Lightning Bolt was primarily an improvisational band, touring the United States for months at a time and "just playing". The concept of writing songs and recording an album didn't occur to the band until 1997, when Ben McOsker, founder of Load Records, approached the duo.
During these formative years, Chippendale and his freshman-year college roommate Matt Brinkman began to set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse space in the Olneyville district of Providence. The space eventually came to house a number of local avant-garde artists and musicians, including Brian Ralph as well as Lightning Bolt.
The band's first full-length album was a self-titled vinyl record on the Load Records label. The album was initially released in a limited edition pressing of 750 copies, and a 50-minute companion cassette titled "Zone" was released later. In 1999 the album was re-released on CD, including "Zone" as bonus tracks and alternative cover art.
Lightning Bolt's second full-length album was Ride the Skies×Ride the Skies11 February 2001 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Forcefield4:02A2Saint Jacques4:13A313 Monsters2:49A4Ride the Sky4:28B1The Faire Folk6:17B2Into the Mist 23:22B3Wee Ones Parade5:19B4Rotator5:09, released in 2001, followed by Wonderful Rainbow×Wonderful Rainbow4 March 2003 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Hello Morning0:56A2Assassins3:44A3Dracula Mountain5:11A42 Towers7:09A5On Fire4:42B1Crown of Storms5:09B2Longstockings3:18B3Wonderful Rainbow1:29B430,000 Monkies3:50B5Duel in the Deep6:17 in 2003.
The band starred in the 2003 tour-DVD The Power of Salad directed by Peter Glantz and Nick Noe. Lightning Bolt have also performed in DVD compilations such as Pick a Winner (2004) and Sleep When You are Dead by performance artists Mighty Robot (2007).
Rumors have persisted concerning the release of an improvisational album entitled Frenzy. A post on Lightning Bolt's official website in early 2004 read "The next Lightning Bolt album, Frenzy, is currently in the works over at Load Records. It is expected to be available at the end of the summer." No official word has since been released.
In 2005, Lightning Bolt released Hypermagic Mountain, their most critically acclaimed album to date.
In 2006, Lightning Bolt was deported from Japan days after they arrived to continue their tour from the UK. Band members were detained on arrival on the grounds that they did not have work permits. Their official appeal was rejected after 48 hours, and they were deported back to the United States.
In 2009, their album Earthly Delights×Earthly Delights12 October 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Sound Guardians4:522Nation of Boar6:103Colossus7:144The Sublime Freak4:275Flooded Chamber4:226Funny Farm5:397Rain on Lake I'm Swimming In2:148S.O.S.3:419Transmissionary12:20 was released on Load Records.
In 2012, their first EP Oblivion Hunter×Oblivion Hunter25 September 2012 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracksA1King Candy4:44A2Baron Wasteland6:41A3Oblivion Balloon3:19A4Fly Fucker Fly3:48B1The Soft Spoken Spectre1:13B2Salamander5:07B3World Wobbly Wide13:28 was released on Load Records. The EP is a collection of unreleased material recorded in 2008.
On March 9, 2015, the group's full length Fantasy Empire became available to stream via NPR's First Listen. The accompanying writeup praised the increased clarity and fidelity of the recording, as compared to their earlier work, citing as a parallel example "... the scene in The Wizard Of Oz where a sepia tone gives way to Technicolor; it opens up new vistas to the sound, while giving the band an opportunity to exhibit more involved musicianship." It was released on the Thrill Jockey label on March 25, 2015.
On October 11, 2019, the group released their seventh studio album Sonic Citadel×Sonic Citadel11 October 2019 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Blow to the Head3:082USA Is a Psycho3:073Air Conditioning4:134Hüsker Dön’t6:035Big Banger5:046Halloween 35:487Don Henley in the Park3:498Tom Thump2:419Bouncy House4:3810All Insane4:5611Van Halen 20499:10 on Thrill Jockey.
In January 2026, the group announced a split album with Japanese band OOIOO titled The Horizon Spirals / The Horizon Viral×THE HORIZON SPIRALS / THE HORIZON VIRAL24 April 2026 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracks1THE HORIZON7:422Gamel BE SURE TO SPIRAL11:333WAVERS4:314CLOUD CORE4:425THE RUNNERS 23:206WOW 132:587HEADLESS HORSEFOLK4:13. It released on April 24, 2026 on Thrill Jockey.

Musical and lyrical style

The band's music takes cues from Japanese noise rock bands such as Boredoms and Ruins, although composers Philip Glass and Sun Ra are acknowledged influences. The band's sound consists of Chippendale's frenetic drumming, his usually incomprehensible vocals, and Gibson's rhythmic bass guitar – an example of which is the song "13 Monsters", where Chippendale sings a playground style counting chant through heavy distortion over the instrumentals of his drums and Gibson's bass guitar. As for the band's genre, Brian Gibson is quoted as saying, "I hate, hate, hate the category ‘noise-punk.’ I really don't like being labeled with two words that have so much baggage. It's gross."
As the group's vocalist, Chippendale eschews a conventional microphone, instead using the type of microphone built into a household telephone receiver, held in his mouth or attached to a mask, which is then run through an effects processor to further alter the sound. Chippendale has also used a KMD 8021 Drum Exciter, a simple drum-synth module, triggered by the bass drum.
Gibson plays his bass guitar tuned to cello standard tuning, in intervals of fifths (C G D A), using a banjo string for the high A. He used this four-string setup for several years, but has recently been seen using a five-string setup, tuned to C G D A E, with banjo strings for the A and E. Gibson also uses several effects pedals, including overdrive pedals, an octaver, a delay pedal, and a whammy pedal (pitch shifter).
Like many noise rock bands, Lightning Bolt mostly plays extremely loud, aggressive music. In the film The Power of Salad, Gibson attributes much of their success to volume:

We used to get more negative reactions when [we] didn't have as loud of stuff. It's just, be super loud and you're all set. (laughs) The rock and roll has been revealed. I do feel that that's the message – if there's any message, that's what it is. This is kinda what we do to keep ourselves excited these days. In these days – everyone knows what I'm talking about. (laughs)
The band have reportedly never been fans of the studio recording process. When they recorded five tracks for their eponymous debut album released in 1999, they discarded four of them and replaced them with lo-fidelity tracks recorded at various live shows from 1997 and 1998. However, their following two albums, Ride the Skies×Ride the Skies11 February 2001 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Forcefield4:02A2Saint Jacques4:13A313 Monsters2:49A4Ride the Sky4:28B1The Faire Folk6:17B2Into the Mist 23:22B3Wee Ones Parade5:19B4Rotator5:09 and Wonderful Rainbow×Wonderful Rainbow4 March 2003 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Hello Morning0:56A2Assassins3:44A3Dracula Mountain5:11A42 Towers7:09A5On Fire4:42B1Crown of Storms5:09B2Longstockings3:18B3Wonderful Rainbow1:29B430,000 Monkies3:50B5Duel in the Deep6:17, were recorded more traditionally in a studio. For Hypermagic Mountain, half the tracks were recorded in studio, while the rest were performed and recorded in a house direct to a 2-track DAT master tape, where the audio engineer was unable to tell exactly how the final result would sound.
Since the band has only two members and two instruments, their sound has a somewhat limited range, though this is often noted as a positive thing. In one interview, Gibson states that his experiences in Lightning Bolt "has showed [him] the power of an extremely limited palette."
Lightning Bolt's lyrics, when decipherable, are generally tongue-in-cheek, covering such topics as fairy tales, heavy metal clichés, terrorism, anarchy, and superheroes. They delve occasionally into more political subjects, such as the anti-Bush "Dead Cowboy" from Hypermagic Mountain.

Live performances

Lightning Bolt are known for their so-called "guerrilla gigs", preferring to play on the floor of the venue rather than the stage, creating a tight circle of spectators around the band. They have also been known to start playing only a few seconds after the opening band finishes, often taking the audience by surprise. In 2004, Lightning Bolt played on the doorstep of radio DJ John Peel's chalet at noon during the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, about which neighbor Steve Albini of Shellac and Big Black commented "Best alarm clock I've ever had." They have also staged concerts in kitchens, on sidewalks, and in parking lots.