Sugarbomb

The Fort Worth, TX, alt-pop quintet Sugarbomb is comprised of members Les Farrington (keyboards, lead vocals), Daniel Harville (guitar, lead vocals), Michael Harville (drums, vocals), Greg Bagby (guitar, vocals), and Kelly Riley (bass). Although officially formed in March of 1998, most of Sugarbomb's bandmembers had been friends for years beforehand. They settled on their name because, according to Harville, "The sweetness of sugar and the chaos of a bomb fits our music and personalities." Beginning in October of that same year, Sugarbomb played around the Texas area on a regular basis, signing with indie label Rainmaker Records in early 1999, and issuing their debut recording, Tastes Like Sugar, in the summer. The album successfully caught the attention of RCA Records, who signed the group shortly thereafter and released their sophomore effort, Bully, in September of 2001. Produced by Mark Endert (Fiona Apple, Vertical Horizon, Semisonic, Madonna), the album is a showcase of Sugarbomb's power pop influences (shades of Jellyfish and Todd Rundgren/Utopia's stellar late-'70s/early-'80s output immediately come to mind), and shows that they're in step with such modern day alt-popsters as Ben Folds and Jason Falkner. ~ Greg Prato