Bullet LaVolta performed their first show at a dive bar in Boston called Chet's Last Call to a crowd of about fifteen people, but soon became one of Boston's most popular live acts. They gained most of their notoriety by playing college shows in Boston (usually at either
MIT or
Harvard, with bigger acts like
The Lemonheads,
Dag Nasty, and the
Rollins Band). The band released their self-titled EP on
Taang! Records with
Moving Targets guitarist Kenny Chambers joining the line-up in 1988. In 1989, they recorded and released their first full-length album,
The Gift, originally released on Taang!. The band's road manager around that time was actor
Donal Logue. In 1990, they released the
Gimme Danger EP (which includes a cover of "
Detroit Rock City") on
Metal Blade before signing to
RCA Records, who purchased and re-released
Bullet Lavolta and
The Gift on a single disc. The record was reviewed in
People magazine and given a good rating. The album sold modestly and the band became well-known enough that their contract was renewed by RCA. A year later, they recorded and released their follow-up,
Swandive, which debuted the same day as
Nirvana's album
Nevermind.
Swandive was produced, mixed and engineered by
Dave Jerden, who has also produced
Jane's Addiction,
Alice in Chains,
Social Distortion,
Fishbone, and
Anthrax. Bullet LaVolta played a show with Nirvana around the time of the album's release, with the opening act being a then-unknown
The Smashing Pumpkins. In late 1991 the band went on tour with
Corrosion of Conformity and
Prong in support of
Swandive. The band broke up in 1992, the same year
Matador Records issued an album of older recordings (mostly from 1987 and 1989) called ''The Gun Didn't Know I Was Loaded''. As of November, 2015, none of the band's releases are in print by any label but
Swandive and
The Gift are available via digital download. Yukki Gipe was later the lead singer of a band called
The Konks and played drums under his given name for
Kustomized. Drummer Todd Philips drums in Model/Actress, the band formed by ex-
Brainiac bass player and video director Juan Monostereo and former
Chamberlain members Curtis Mead and Charlie Walker. Kenny Chambers reformed Moving Targets in 2018. As of 2026, they are still active. Bill Whelan died by suicide on November 1, 2021. == Discography ==