Atomic Opera is a hard rock band from Houston, Texas. Their style blends art rock, metal, medieval influences, and eastern music into a unique product. Hard rock is a form of rock and roll music which finds its closest roots in early 1960s garage rock. ... In music, a band is a group of musicians, or musical ensemble, usually popular or folk, playing parts of a musical arrangement. ... Houston redirects here. ... Prior to 1821, Texas was part of the Spanish colony of New Spain. ... Art rock is a sub-genre of rock music that is characterized by ambitious lyrical themes and melodic or rhythmic experimentation, often extending beyond standard pop song forms and toward influences in jazz, classical, or the avant-garde. ... Heavy metal is a form of music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars, generally with grandiose lyrics and virtuosic instrumentation. ...

Formed in the late 80s, the band began when founding member Frank Hart moved from Missouri and joined forces with producer/manager Sam Taylor. The lineup was fleshed out with a few different Houston-area musicians over the next few years. In 1994, they landed a deal with Giant records and released their first full album, For Madmen Only. Missouri, named after the Missouri Siouan Indian tribe meaning canoe, is a Midwestern state in the United States with Jefferson City as its capital. ...

Often compared with King's X (who was also managed and produced by Taylor), Atomic Opera forged their own path with poetic lyrics, varied instruments, and strong Christian influences. Unlike some of their contemporaries, the band did little to hide its faith in its lyrics, but in some ways avoided the stereotypes of Christian rock, as most songs focused on challenging the norms of Christianity and on the relationship between God and man. Kings X is an American hard rock/heavy metal band noted for its spiritual lyrics and sophisticated music (including vocal arrangements very much inspired by The Beatles). ... ‹The template below has been proposed for deletion. ...

After struggling to gain mainstream popularity, the band broke up in 1995 and parted ways with Taylor. Hart continued to write music and decided to release a followup album in 1997 under the Atomic Opera name called Penguin Dust, recruiting former drummer Mark Poindexter and multi-instrumentalist Kemper Crabb to assist; this album was released directly by Hart and shopped to various independent outlets.

Due to the strength of Penguin Dust, Metal Blade Records quickly signed the band to a long term deal. Crabb became a full time member, with longtime Hart friends John Simmons and Ryan Birsinger also rounding out the lineup. While working on new material, Hart compiled the album Alpha and Oranges, a collection of unreleased tracks originally from the For Madmen Only lineup, and released this independently as well. In 2000, the band released Gospel Cola on Metal Blade with its new lineup; the album garnered some positive notice in both Christian and mainstream music outlets.

Since that time, the band has endured a lot of setbacks (such as a flooded recording studio) and pursued various side projects (such as raising families, session work, multimedia projects, and managing Hart's label Feverdream Records). After adding Trip Wamsley to the lineup in 2004, the band is currently working on finishing their next recording, The Mystery of Hope, for release in 2005.

Band Lineup

• Frank Hart - vocals, electric guitar, cello, bass
• Kemper Crabb - vocals, mandolin, recorder, dulcimer, harmonica (on Penguin Dust and Gospel Cola)
• Ryan Birsinger - bass, Chapman Stick, vocals (on Gospel Cola)
• Trip Wamsley - bass (joined after release of Gospel Cola)
• John Simmons - drums, vocals (on Gospel Cola)
• Mark Poindexter - drums (on For Madmen Only, Alpha and Oranges, and Penguin Dust)
• Jonas Velasco - bass, vocals (on For Madmen Only and Alpha and Oranges)
• Jonathan Marshall - electric guitar, vocals (on For Madmen Only and Alpha and Oranges)
• Len Sonnier - bass, vocals (on Alpha and Oranges)

In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The violoncello, or as it is more commonly to refered to as the cello or cello (pronounced Cheh-loh), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Fender Precision Bass For other uses of the term see Bass (disambiguation). ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Carved and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument. ... Various recorders The recorder is a flute-like woodwind musical instrument. ... Dulcimer is the name given to two types of stringed musical instrument: The Appalachian dulcimer, a three-course, fretted, plucked instrument which is also referred to as a mountain dulcimer or just a dulcimer, and The Hammered dulcimer, which is a hammer-struck, trapezoid-shaped zither The instruments are quite... A harmonica A harmonica is a very common free reed musical wind instrument (also known, among other things, as a mouth organ, french harp, simply harp, or Mississippi saxophone), having multiple, variably-tuned brass or bronze reeds, each secured at one end over an airway slot of like dimension into... Fender Precision Bass For other uses of the term see Bass (disambiguation). ... The Chapman Stick is a musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Fender Precision Bass For other uses of the term see Bass (disambiguation). ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Fender Precision Bass For other uses of the term see Bass (disambiguation). ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Fender Precision Bass For other uses of the term see Bass (disambiguation). ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ...

Discography

• For Madmen Only (1994)
• Penguin Dust (1997)
• Alpha and Oranges (1999)
• Gospel Cola (2000)
• The Mystery of Hope (coming in 2005)

External links

• Official website
• feverdreamrecords.com - Hart's record label
• johnnydrums.com - Simmons' web site
• Atomic Opera Lyrics