Punk History 1 - Part 1: The Exploding Hearts

Top 200 albums of the 2000s

On Number 60th - The Exploding Hearts
Guitar Romantic
[Dirtnap; 2003]

I can't think of many bands as aptly named as Exploding Hearts. They played something you might call power-punk-- teenage kicks, leather jackets, glue-sniffing, pop tunes so classic they might as well be "I Want to Hold Your Hand"-- and they did it with huge hooks and even huger enthusiasm, this chest-bursting ardor that makes it almost impossible not to be on their side. They sounded like teenage dirtbags in love, and they recorded Guitar Romantic with a fuzzy, needle-in-the red energy that makes it sound like they're having the time of their lives playing every single song. (And just about every single song turns out to be worth the time of your life.) But then their tour van flipped over and three of them were killed, and I guess we can just console ourselves that their contribution to the world of music was so joyful, so vital, so packed with full-throated, heart-exploding life. --Nitsuh Abebe
http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7708-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-100-51/5/

Biography

by Wade Kergan

Punkish Portland, OR, power pop quartet the Exploding Hearts had been playing together for over two years before their debut recording, Guitar Romantic, was released by Seattle-based indie Dirtnap Records in spring of 2003. Taking influence from bands like the Clash, the Undertones, and the Only Ones, the group comprised bassist Matt "Lock" Fitzgerald, drummer Jeremy "Kid Killer" Gage, vocalist/guitarist Adam "Baby" Cox, and guitarist Terry Six; early on, the band also included keyboardist "King" Louie Bankston and original bassist Jim Evans, but they both left prior to Guitar Romantic's release. The album won the guys (all in their early twenties) a well-deserved buzz among music fans, scribes, and labels, and the band was in high demand on the West Coast touring circuit. Tragically, though, just as the group was gearing up for a nationwide tour and rumored to be signing with Lookout! Records, their van veered out of control while returning home on July 20, 2003, from a San Francisco concert, killing Gage, Cox, and Fitzgerald. Six managed to escape with only minor injuries. Dirtnap released the LP Shattered in the fall of 2006, compiling singles from the band's much-too-brief career, including alternative versions and mixes, as well as their unreleased final recordings; the album also featured five songs of live footage from (what became) the Exploding Hearts' final show at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p554526/biography


Death in the Family
Portland's Music Scene Suffers Another Tragedy

by Marjorie Skinner

Early last Sunday morning, around 6 am, Adam "Baby" Cox, 23; Jeremy "Kid Killer" Gage, 21; and Matthew "Matt Lock" Fitzgerald, 20, of local band the Exploding Hearts were killed in a car accident. After playing a show at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill, the band members were returning to Portland, along with their manager, Rachelle "Ratch Aronica" Ramos, 35.

Just outside of Eugene on Interstate 5, Fitzgerald, who was driving, apparently fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the van as it veered onto the road's gravel shoulder. The van flipped twice. Of the five passengers, Ramos was the only one wearing a seatbelt. Gage and Cox were both thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, and Fitzgerald died later in the hospital. Ramos and guitarist Terry Six, 21, both survived with minor injuries.

Well known in the Portland music scene, the Exploding Hearts were just beginning to garner a great deal of attention, showing up recently on the covers of Maximum Rock and Roll and Shredding Paper. There were rumors about a possible record deal with Lookout! and a live performance on a TV talkshow. The mutual enthusiasm between the Hearts and the music world broadens the scope of those mourning the losses to include family, friends, and fans.

The tragedy is made particularly shocking by the youth of the victims, whose dancey bubblegum punk exuded enthusiasm and energy. It also comes uncomfortably close on the heels of other recent accidents that have struck members of the Portland music scene. This summer alone, Orion Satushek from Spooky Dance Band and The Reeks & The Wrecks was killed when a drunk driver plowed through a group of bicyclists. His bandmate, Caroline Buchalter, was also injured in the accident. Last week Josh Skins from Systemwide was also critically injured in a hit and run accident (see "In Other News").

In an effort to garner some meaning from this catastrophe, benefit shows are quickly being organized to aid the families and friends of the victims with whatever help they may need. Those whose lives have been touched by the victims and by their music are invited to honor both the memories and verve of these three musicians.

Benefit Shows: The Diskords, The Spits, Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine, Wednesday, 7 pm, donations, all ages; The Minds, The Riffs, King Louis, and The Epoxies, Dante's, 1 SW 3rd, Wednesday, 10 pm.
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/death_in_the_family/Content?oid=29450