Q&A with The Bomb

When Naked Raygun frontman Jeff Pezzati put together his post NR band The Bomb, he was undoubtedly under a massive amount of scrutiny.

Like a punk rock Paul McCartney moving on to Wings or Johnny Rotten starting PIL - comparisons to his beloved, and highly influential first band were inevitable.

The Bomb are clearly nobody's version of Wings.

For about a decade now the Chicago band, comprised of Pezzati, guitarist Jeff Dean (The Story So Far,Tomorrows Gone), bassist Pete Mittler and drummer Mike Soucy (both from The Methadones), have been churning out amazing punk rock. Their latest "Speed is Everything" may just be their best record yet in an already impressive career.

Guitarist Jeff Dean was kind enough to put up with a handful of questions about the new record, working with J Robbins and punk rock supergroups.

So you guys are in a number of different bands. Does that make The Bomb a supergroup? A side project? Or a full-fleged band?

I don't know if you would call us a "supergroup", but we are a full on band. (Jeff) Pezzati started the band in 1999, and with the exception of us taking a break for about a year,the band has been active since it started.

So do your other bands get jealous when you spend time with another group?

No way! We are all good friends, and I think we all manage our time wisely. I have a lot more time on my hands to work with than the other guys, so I'm able to play in more bands than everyone else, but there is never any jealousy or anything like that.

How did you get J. Robbins to record the album? What was he like to work with?

J has recorded our last two records, so when we were getting ready to record our previous record"Indecision"there was a lot of talk about who we wanted to do it. I've always been a fan of J's bands as well as his producing/recording. Pezzati and J have been friends since when NR (Naked Raygun) and GI (Government Issue) played shows together back in the 80's, so it just made sense to get him on board. I gave him a call and he was really into the idea. J. is hands down my favorite engineer I've ever recorded with! When we were recording "Indecision", all of us got along so well, and he could understand where we were coming from with ideas, etc. We just clicked. So, that is why J will be the only one to record our albums as long as we are a band. At this point, he almost feels like the 5th member! Ha, ha!

Who else is on the album?

This record was a real collaboration between all of us. I still write the majority of the music, with Pezzati writing most of thew lyrics. But, this time everyone in the band contributed,as did J. He wrote the music for one of the songs on the record. J also did back ups on a lot of the songs too. Dan Yemin (Paint it Black, Lifetime) did vocals on one of the songs,as did Bob Nanna (Braid).

How long did it take to record "Speed is Everything"?

We recorded all of the music and most of the vocals in about six days here in Chicago at a studio owned by my friend Andy Gerber called "Million Yen". Then about a month later, Pezzati and I flew out to Baltimore to mix it and add some additional vocals at J's studio "Magpie Cage" I think we were there for five days.

What's next for the band?

We are actually doing a East coast tour at the end of Oct. with it ending at "The Fest" in Gainesville. Then Pezzati and I are flying out to California to play two acoustic shows on Nov.21 and 22. Its a benefit that my friend Joe Nelson is putting together. We are playing with HR from the Bad Brains, Walter from Quicksand/Rival Schools, and a couple other people. Everyone is playing acoustic, plus its an art show as well. Should be a lot fun. After that, we are going to try and do a European tour in the spring, then maybe work on some new songs.

Anything else you want to add?

I guess that I hope people check out the new record "Speed is Everything". All of us are really proud of it, and if you are a fan of our band or Naked Raygun or whatever, I think you will enjoy it.