Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt are a noise rock group from Providence, United States, active since 1994. The band is best known as a duo centred on Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson, with Hisham Bharoocha also part of the early line-up.

Formation and early years

Lightning Bolt forms in Providence while Chippendale and Gibson attend the Rhode Island School of Design. The project begins with Chippendale on drums and Gibson on bass, and Bharoocha joins on guitar and vocals after the group’s first show. Bharoocha leaves in 1996 to join Black Dice, after which Chippendale takes over vocal duties. The only officially released recording featuring Bharoocha is a track on the Repopulation Program compilation.

For its first few years, the group works largely as an improvisational live act, touring the United States for months at a time and focusing on performance rather than recording. The idea of making an album emerges in 1997, when Ben McOsker, founder of Load Records, approaches the duo. During this period, Chippendale and his freshman-year college roommate Matt Brinkman help set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse in Providence’s Olneyville district that becomes home to a number of local avant-garde artists and musicians, including Lightning Bolt and Brian Ralph.

Style and performance

The band’s music is loud and aggressive, and it is associated with noise rock, experimental rock, math rock, brutal prog and post-hardcore. Lightning Bolt also cite Philip Glass and Sun Ra as compositional influences. Their live shows are known for a guerrilla-style setup in which they usually perform on the floor rather than on a stage, with the audience gathered around them.

Recorded work and film

Lightning Bolt release eight albums: Lightning Bolt, Ride the Skies, Wonderful Rainbow, Hypermagic Mountain, Earthly Delights, Oblivion Hunter, Fantasy Empire and Sonic Citadel. The band also has a documentary film of its 2001 tour, The Power of Salad, released in 2003.