The rhythm section was rounded out by Neil Hornick, a jovial heavy metal-rocker type on drums, and Chris Ticknor on bass. Chris was considerably younger than the other members of the band and left after only 3 shows. Wade Coleman, a portly drummer in the UF marching band, known for wacky onstage clothing and antics, replaced Chris on bass about five weeks after our debut.
Smart Bomb made it's debut on Saturday, March 23, 1991. The show was very unusual in that we played in a backroom of the old Skeeter's restaurant on NW 34th Street. Dave, who was an abstract painter, somehow talked Skeeter's into letting him have an art show/band show there. Smart Bomb played with three other bands we subsequently gigged with at other venues around town: Bicycle Thieves (another band that included another former Camp 7 member, original drummer Jeff Schwartz; Brian helped them record their first 3-song demo on his 4-track),Run Unidentified(Dave was friends with Richard Groene), and the Youngies.
This version (Brian, Dave, Neil, Wade) of Smart Bomb lasted until Dave moved, in August of 1991. This version of the band was heavily oriented towards Brian's material since Dave only contributed a couple songs and Neil had not yet begun writing. Gigs during this phase of the band included Gainesville clubs the Hardback, Gravity and Club Demolition, plus a two-day stint at Admiral Spacolli's in St. Augustine (who dicked us over pretty badly, refusing to pay us the second night, and then tried to have us arrested despite that we'd packed the dive).
Dave managed to get the "oldies" radio station he worked at let him have a local music show, which he called "In The Bunker," and on which he played Smart Bomb live unreleased recordings, plus those of our other local band friends. Dave even interviewed the other members of Smart Bomb once, without ever noting that he was the fourth member of the band! Wade took over the DJ spot when Dave moved.
After Dave moved, Chris Sessums played two shows with Smart Bomb (contributing one song) and recorded some of our songs on his 8-track. Wade and Chris decided that they no longer wanted to play with the drummer Neil, who was the only other remaining original member besides Brian. Wade and Chris gave Brian an ultimatum that Neil would have to go, so Wade and Chris were sacked and Brian and Neil decided to find two new players.
Thus Smart Bomb IV came about, our first practice being October 23, 1991, and our first show on November 12. In on guitar was E.D. "Stu" Stuart, who had a kind of John Lennon voice with a sort of retro-Lenny Kravitz psychedelic bent to his writing. And on bass was Jahna Balk (aka Rain), who wrote garagey-punk stuff. Stu wrote by himself, like Brian, but Jahna also frequently collaborated with Brian; even Neil got into the act, writing a song lyric that Brian helped fine-tune and wrote music to.
During this phase of the band the songwriting split was about 1/3 Brian, 1/3 Stu, and 1/3 Jahna. We continued playing the Hardback, plus the short-lived Club Velvet and a two-day stint at the Brass Mug in Tampa. Shortly after Stu and Jahna joined Neil moved to Jacksonville, but commuted down to Gainesville for weekend practices (the rest of the band would often have a drummerless "guitar practice" during the week). This version of the band lasted until mid-March 1992, when Jahna moved to Boston and Neil moved to Texas.
New drummer Mike Bruyere came in on drums and Wade sheepishly came back into the Smart Bomb fold on bass for Smart Bomb V. This version split the songs between Brian (2/3) and Stu (1/3). Wade and Mike often used to do a percussion breakdown at the end of whatever our finale was. Stu got a keyboard and occasionally used it onstage. We continued playing the Hardback regularly and did some recording at a home studio, Jam In A Box, owned by Mike Irwin. Although several songs were completed they were never released. Smart Bomb V lasted until the end of 1992.
1993 was a frustrating year; after finding ex-Slap of Reality (a group whose other members went on to found Hot Water Music) singer-guitarist Zack Frignoca, and recently-arrived Jacksonville bassist Jeremy Wolfe, Mike Bruyere moved. The remainder of the year was spent looking for drummers who never quite gelled, only managing to play out once, at an open mic night. Then Zack quit and Jeremy followed suit, and that was the end of Smart Bomb.