With influences ranging from spaghetti western scores and video game music to ABBA and ELO, How I Became the Bomb blends vintage synth pop with jittery indie rock to create music that's witty, smart, and just a little unnerving. The band was born in 2005, acquiring its distinctive moniker at its first gig: a chaotic affair at a bar featuring exotic dancers (far from legal in Murfreesboro, TN). Word about the group soon spread to the independent scene in nearby Nashville, and before long the band was making the rounds of Music City's rock clubs, “capturing the attention of Middle Tennessee” with its “keen sense of a new wave hook and idiosyncratic quirkiness” (The Nashville Scene). After sharing bills with many of the region’s top acts, How I Became the Bomb began winning international acclaim for its angular music, mordant wit, and snappy outfits: Rolling Stone named the band “Pick of the Day”, and BBC Radio One dubbed them "a rollicking good listen, live or on the radio.” The band relocated to Nashville and embarked on a series of European tours, playing at clubs and festivals in England and Spain with some of the biggest acts in the world.

As the two thousands accelerated into the twenty-tens, the ensemble took a break from touring and arranged several prolific songwriting sessions at producer Olivier Chastan's Villa Anais studio, leading to months of recording at that very studio. Beginning with a list of sixty-plus songs and proceeding through many painful rounds of cuts, the band’s efforts bore fruit in their 2014 EP Adonis. The debut single “Ulay, Oh” captured audiences around the world with its interpretation of the true life story of the separation and too-fleeting reunion of performance artists Marina Abramovic and the titular Ulay. The accompanying video went viral, reaching well over 10,000,000 viewers in a single week, and the song debuted at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

How I Became the Bomb is composed of vocalist/keytarist Jon Burr, guitarist Russell Hanberry, synthesist Adam Richardson, drummer Andy Spore, and bassist Eli Beaird.