bomb32

Artist: Bomb 32

Toronto rap-rock band signs U.S. deal By KAREN BLISS

After winning over the record executive with a sweaty, intense and hard rockin' performance at its downtown Toronto rehearsal space, bomb32 has signed a major recording contract with RCA in America. Negotiations were underway in July after David Bendeth, the label's senior vice-president of A&R, saw the mercurial rap-rock combo perform a handful of songs in a space so small, hot and cramped that even the few spectators had sweat beads dripping from their upper lip. "I knew after two songs," says David Bendeth of wanting to sign bomb32. "The energy in that room was incredible. They were sweating their buns off. I could tell that they had done all these showcases for all these other companies and people hadn't really appreciated them for who they were, and, for me, I got it right away. "I saw four guys that were really energetic and really musical, and seemed to really like each other, and that was really important to me," he continues. "Matt (Kinna) looks fantastic. He's a great singer. He's not just a rapper. It's rough around the edges but it's totally workable." After hanging out with the members of bomb32 -- Kinna, bassist Jon Cohen, guitarist Joel Krass and drummer Brian Matthews -- Bendeth then discovered, "They also were really strong about their convictions about where they were at and were totally open-minded, as well. And I thought that they were smarter than your average rock band." Bendeth, a Canadian, was formerly VP of A&R at BMG Music Canada, where he signed hard rock bands Varga and Sven Gali, as well as Crash Test Dummies. When he took the job Stateside with RCA six years ago, he signed treble charger and has had major U.S. success this year with his signings Vertical Horizon and SR-71. Bomb32 formed six years ago, while at university in London, Ontario, but it wasn't until returning home to Toronto and hooking up with manager Cliff Fabri (Nettwerk signing Jenifer McLaren, Avril Lavigne) in December 1999 that things started happening. A parade of A&R reps and music publishers saw the band showcase either in rehearsal or at local gigs, but no offers were forthcoming. Kinna refers to the interest as "touchy feely" -- people just feeling each other out. Now, he says, some labels are upset that the band signed in America. "There's been a fair bit of, 'What about us?'" he says. "All we have to say is, 'Where were you?' There's only so much you can do and only so long you can wait for people to decide they're intersted. So you commmit one way." Strangely, even when it was revealed in the press that this little-known Toronto rock band had been selected to perform on the television component to online record company Jimmy And Doug's farmclub.com, bomb32 received no further calls from labels. The coveted TV opportunity came when Fabri gave farmclub.com A&R rep Brian Wittmer a copy of bomb32's CD. (Matthews later uploaded tracks, including "All Of The Above" to the site). The band was eventually flown to Universal Studios in Burbank, CA, to perform "All Of The Above". A camera crew then came up to Toronto to shoot the interview portion. Bomb32's appearance on the show marked the first by an unsigned international act. Between the taping and the airing, Bendeth heard about the band from a variety of Canadian sources  when Bendeth was in Toronto for a BMG convention in July, he went to see them on the 12th at the rehearsal space. A month later, the day the farmclub.com segment aired (Aug. 14), the whole band was in New York, courtesy of RCA. Bendeth made sure he watched the performance the day before their meeting. ("I thought they were f**kin' awesome," he enthuses). Kinna says the band didn't really shop to other labels once it discovered RCA's level of interest, and lists a variety of reasons for signing with the company. "They were very enthusiastic about the music," Kinna explains. "They don't really have anything like us. I suppose that could be a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm gonna take that as a good thing, 'cause we'll get more attention. They're really interested in making this thing work and blowing it up, so I think we have similar visions of where the music's gonna go and what it's gonna do." Kinna says the band was also impressed with the rock radio promotions department at RCA. "They were rhyming off the songs to us and telling us how much they liked them. They had really done their homework." While the paperwork took months to finalize, a deal memo was signed that week and bomb32 buckled down for some serious writing and rehearsing. In mid-November, it demoed an additional five songs (to add to the current 10), which Bendeth should receive Thursday. The band is now listening to reels from some notable producers, hoping to find one with a like-minded vision and an open schedule in the new year. "I'd like to get them in the studio by the end of February," says Bendeth. "I'd like to find out who's available, who wants to do this and get them into the studio, and try to get a record out by the summertime so that they can go out and tour. "I'm not going to look at this record as the be-all and end all either," Bendeth makes a point to add. "I think it's going to be a great first record. I think it's going to be a classy first record. It's not gonna be the pinnacle of their career. It's going to be the beginning of their career, so I'm going to be completely patient. If it doesn't sell a million copies, I'm not going to give a rat's ass. It's all going to be about trying to sell to a 100,000 people that really care about them."