Bam Bam – Free Fall From Space. From the ‘new’ 1984 album Free Fall From Space.
Founded in Seattle by producer/guitarist Tommy Martin in 1983, Bam Bam alumni include:
`Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden),
`Scotty Buttocks (Called In Sic),
`Nick Rhinehart (Jerry Cantrell),
`Mike Peterson (the Accussed),
`Tom Hendrickson (Called In Sic, the Fuzz w’ Rod Moody),
`and the incomparable Tina Bell, one of the first African American women to front a hard rock/punk/grunge band in the U.S.

In 1984 Bam Bam entered Reciprocal Recording, the Seattle studio famous for kicking off the ‘grunge’ movement, to make their first album with producer Chris Hanzsek.
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/bam-bam/1443948509
That same year, Bam Bam released the Villains Ep & Ground Zero single from those sessions. The master tapes were forgotten for years, lost & found again, literally surviving fire & flood. It is now time for those that were left behind.

Sopa Alternativa says: “The sound that Bam Bam made in the mid-1980s opened space for bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains in the 1990s”. {Oct 24, 2017}

The Sonic Mosquito: “A year prior to the birth of Green River, Seattle made acquaintance with an equally sludgy sound, the sound of Bam Bam. Fronted by the powerful voice of Tina Bell..Bam Bam are definitely a hidden gem of the Northwest and one of the most influential bands of the ’80s’ Seattle.” {Feb 19, 2019}

Om Johari writes: “The unwritten voice of grunge in the Seattle scene. (Tina Bell’s) presence and the band she fronted, Bam Bam, starting a musical genre that would later forget she existed.” {WordPress Nov 11, 2015}

Producers Chris Hanzsek and Jack Endino refer to Bam Bam as “part of Seattle history”. {The “D” Show April 2, 2015}.

Their 1984 EP “Villians (Also Wear White)” was one of the first recordings released on the early Seattle scene produced by Chris Hanzsek at Reciprocal Recording Studios {Billboard Magazine: Sept 17, 2011}

In 2012 TJ Martin, son of Bam Bam’s Tina Bell and Tommy Martin, won the Academy Award for Best Director of a Feature Length Documentary for his film Undefeated.

Twice voted best local band by listeners on KCMU, KEXP radio polls, Bam Bam were regular fixtures on Seattle’s developing punk/grunge music scene.

With Kurt Cobain as roadie, The Melvins started their first tour opening for Bam Bam on May 5, 1984.
Bam Bam performed at the first two Hempfests, the 1990 Pain In The Grass Festival, toured US, and Europe, toured and/or played with Alice In Chains, Temple of the Dog, Gunns N Roses, Soundgarden, Faith No More, Ywengie Malsteen, Bob Mould, No Means No, The Fastbacks, The U-Men, Skin Yard, Napalm Beach, SadHappy, The Refuzers…

Bam Bam endured for nearly ten years despite racism and misogyny, a “squatter” tour of Europe, busted in England, personnel changes, and passionate internal pressures. Plans for a Bam Bam reunion were crushed by the heart wrenching death of singer Tina Bell on Oct 10, 2012. Her spirit was the inspiration for completing this album. We carry her loving memory and her music forever in our hearts.

Eight ‘new’ songs from a Seattle original who helped define a sound three decades ago.
Produced by Chris Hanzsek & Tommy Martin, mastered by Chris Hanzsek.

Seattle music’s missing cornerstone. Bam Bam; the band that should have been!

video by Adam Burke. pics by David Ledgerwood, Mike Patnode, Chritina King, Cyndia Lavik. edited by Scott Ledgerwood.
(C)Buttocks Productions and TommySound 1984/2019
https://itunes.apple.com/artist/bam-bam/1443948509

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