U.S. Bombs

1993-1995

In '93 Duane Peters left The Exploding Fuck Dolls and teamed up with longtime friend Kerry Martinez to start a new band called U.S. Bombs. The Bombs first release was a double 7" called "Scouts of America" released in 1994 on Vinyl Dog Records with Duane Peters on vocals, Kerry Martinez on guitar, Steve Reynolds on bass and Benny Rapp III on drums. Next they released their first full length "Put Strength in the Final Blow". The re-release of their first album contains the 4 songs from "Scouts of America".

1995-1997

After a few different lineup changes in their early years they settled into Peters, Martinez, Reynolds, Chuck Briggs (of the Dischords) on guitar and Alex Gomez on drums. In 1996 they released their second album "Garibaldi Guard" on Alive Records. The next year they put out an EP called "Nevermind the Opened Minds...Here's the U.S. Bombs", it originally had 6 songs but all re-releases of this album have included 4 tracks from self-titled promo CD they recorded before their 2nd album. The Bombs continued to tour to support their music and began to grow a loyal fan base where ever they played. U.S. Bombs live shows were gaining recognition from the on stage antics of Duane and his band mates along with their 1977-style punk rock sound.

1997-2000

In '97 due to touring commitments the rhythm section of the band was replaced with Wade Walston on bass and Chip Hanna on drums. This year the Bombs released a 10" picture disc on Outsider Records, the B side with a new version of The Way it Ends a song that was released on their first album, the A side with Jaks, a song that would become the band's biggest hit and most often played live song. Next they were picked up as the first band on Tim Armstrong's new Epitaph affiliate Hellcat Records for a 4 record deal. The first album on Hellcat was "War Birth" which would become the band's most famous and well heard album all over the world. It is even rumored that Joey Ramone had "War Birth" on his turntable when he died.

Unfortunately due to a serious illness that was killing him and would eventually take his life, longtime guitarist Chuck Briggs was unable to record the band's 4th full length "The World". Briggs was replaced by Jonny "Two Bags" Wickersham, formerly of Youth Brigade and The Cadillac Tramps. "The World" was released in 1999, and when the Bombs returned from a European tour, tensions were high among the band mates due to basically living on the road together the last 5 years and Duane left to form Duane Peters and the Hunns.

During the constant touring and album recording the U.S. Bombs developed a relationship with Beer City Records/Skateboards based in Milwaukee and released three 7" records with them. In 1997 they released "Outtakes from a Beer City Basement" which had two exclusive songs that can only be found on this recording, Hot Seat (an Empire cover) and Rejected (a song originally recorded by Duane's early 1980s band Political Crap), it also had a new recording of the song Bubble Gum originally released on their first album. Next was a split with The Bristles, the Bombs did a cover of the Radio Birdman song Breaks My Heart. The third Beer City release was called "The Great Lakes of Beer" in 2001 and had two exclusive songs, The Great Lakes of Beer and The Critic!, both written on the road and recorded live/drunk. To support "The World", the U.S. Bombs also released a 7" on TKO records based in San Francisco for Hobroken Dreams which had an exclusive song The Captain on the B side.

2000-2003

Duane left the band to start his new band Duane Peters and the Hunns. After a few releases and some touring, in 2001 he had to return to the studio with the U.S. Bombs as they were still under contract to make 2 more records with Hellcat. Duane, Kerry, Chip, and Wade went in and the result was "Back at the Laundromat". Their fifth full length named after the early years when the Bombs would set up their gear at the local laundromat and play until the cops broke it up, was very well received but would be the last album with veteran drummer Chip Hanna. In 2001 they played the Holidays in the Sun concert in San Francisco which would be recorded and released as a live CD as well as a DVD. Chip left the band and joined San Francisco trio One Man Army. With the help of Hellcat Records and relentless touring the U.S. Bombs had begun to make a place for themselves in punk rock history. They appeared on Premium Blend as the stage band during Jim Breuer's hosting stint, and contributed a track from Back at the Laundromat, "Yer Country", to the soundtrack for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

Duane Peters and the Hunns: Before Duane had to go back to the Bombs he was able to release a 7" "Not Gonna Pay", The Hunns debut album "Unite", and the follow-up album "Tickets to Heaven". Once Duane had finished contractual obligations for the Bombs with Hellcat he went right back to the studio with the Hunns and put out a split album with The Revolvers and a third full length "Wayward Bantums" in 2002.

Again it was time to return to the familiar and make another album for Hellcat Records. With Chip replaced by Jamie Reidling, and with new guitarist Curt Stich, Peters, Martinez, and Walston went back into the studio in 2003 to make the Bombs next full length "Covert Action." After the resulting tour the U.S. Bombs would take the longest break in the band's history, 10 years of constant touring and recording had left them needing a break to save the future of the band.

2003-2006

With the Bombs on a break Duane was able to concentrate on his new band. DP and the Hunns picked up new bassist/vocalist Corey Parks (formerly of Nashville Pussy) and changed their name to Die Hunns. They released 3 more albums, "Long Legs" in 2004, "Live Fast Die Hunns" recorded between 2004–2006, and "You Rot Me" in 2006. During this time Duane and Corey Parks were married and had a son named Clash Peters. After the release of "You Rot Me" in 2006, Die Hunns cancelled their US tour as both Duane and Corey were fighting longtime drug and alcohol addiction, and with a new son they felt leaving on tour would be not only bad for their own lives, but also their new son. This was the last time that the Hunns would be a full-time band, and since then they have periodically re-united with some of the original members to play some shows in the southern California area.

With Die Hunns on hold, in 2006 the U.S. Bombs went into the studio again to record their 7th full-length album. With Peters, Martinez, Gove, Jaime Reidling and studio bassists they released "We Are The Problem" on Sailor's Grave Records. The following tour picked up One Man Army bassist Heiko Schrepel to rock the 4 string.

2006-2010

In 2005, as if the U.S. Bombs and the Die Hunns wasn't enough, Duane started another side project called "The Duane Peters Gunfight". They released a self-titled album and a couple 7"s. With the U.S. Bombs on a break after the "We are the Problem" tour and Die Hunns on hiatus DP had time to focus on the Gunfight, which resulted in touring where the band would play songs from all of Duane's previous bands. In 2009 the DP Gunfight released a second album "Checkmate", a tribute album to Duane's 21-year-old son Chelsea who died in a car accident the previous year. They also released a tribute single called "Forever Chess" featuring songs from Checkmate, an acoustic version of U.S. Bombs song "Not Alright", and a song called "Skyway".

Aside from playing in 3 different bands in the 2000s, Duane still managed to make time for his true passion of skateboarding. With a shoe release by Draven shoes and the US skate tour with Mike Vallely in 2010, and over 20 albums released by his multiple bands since the 1980s Duane Peters is still one of the most hard working skate punks in the world even at 50 years of age. The Bombs even managed to throw a tour in here and there in between all of the other activity.

2009 and 2010 saw 2 different European tours by the U.S. Bombs and a few shows in California. These shows have reunited the classic late 1990s U.S. Bombs lineup of Duane, Kerry, Wade, Chip, and the ever changing rhythm guitar spot was filled by Jonny Two Bags again. Although, as second guitar for Social Distortion Jonny Two Bags was unable to participate in the 2010 European tour with the Bombs, leaving the very rare experience for US Bombs fans to see them perform as a 4 piece. 2010 also brought the inception of Duane's latest act The Great Unwashed.

2010–2013

In the summer of '11 the Bombs hit the road to Europe for a monthlong tour. Johnny 2 Bags was still with Social Distortion and Wade Walston was getting shoulder surgery, so they went as a 4 piece again and had a fill in bassist from Kerry's other band The Bad Luck Charms. Later in the summer they did a west coast tour with Wade back on bass, and then the band shifted back into a dormant state.

In the meantime while the world waited for Duane and Kerry to unleash the U.S. Bombs next explosion, Kerry had been playing and recording with his side project The Bad Luck Charms who released their latest full length "5ive" in 2012, and Duane released the debut album for The Great Unwashed called "Beautiful Tragedy" in spring 2012 on Black Vinyl Ltd Records.

Duane and Kerry began writing songs for a new Bombs record at Kerry's home in New York in October, 2012. In May 2013, the U.S. Bombs made their first appearance in almost two years with a short stint of shows in San Diego and Arizona and as one of the main acts of the Punk Rock Bowling Festival in Las Vegas.

In the Fall/Winter of 2013, U.S. Bombs hit the road for another European tour with a few homecoming California shows scheduled at the end. It was announced via Facebook that the band would have a new full-length album and a new 10" picture disc on sale at these shows. These new records have been done in the DIY punk rock fashion and can currently only be purchased directly from the band at their shows. The picture disc is called Death From Above and the full length is titled Generation Kennedy No More. The album contains a mix of 1 unreleased song, a few B-Sides released previously on compilations, and alternate versions of a handful of hits from the War Birth & The World era never heard till now. The picture disc contains the original version of "Jaks" that was released on the 1997 picture disc released on Outsider records and has since been out of print. On this original "Jaks" recording it is easier to understand the lyrics that Duane sings during the outro of the song, which can be hard to understand on the "War Birth" version. The b-side of the "Death From Above" pic disc is an alternate version of "Skater Dater" and a live recording of "Roll Around".

In March 2015, Duane Peters posted on Instagram - "The Bombs 1993-2013 RIP" and then in a separate post talked about the band having a good 20-year run and pretty much confirming that with the members living in 3 different states that they are now broken up.

Members

current

past

Studio albums

EPs

Live albums

Misc.

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