 The brainchild of Christchurch musician Dean Karena.
Karena first came to local prominence with his previous band Naked Lunch in 1990.
Naked Lunch were a three piece outfit which featured
Dean Karena on Vocals / Guitar,
Randolf (Tuck) Tucker - Drums, Peter Blackman - Bass.
Karena
formed Atomic Blossom in late 1993. The original
line up included:
Dean Karena - Guitar / Vocals
Prudence Stone - Guitar / Vocals
Greg Hirtzel - Bass (Debris)
Trevor Hall - Drums
The band did their first performance at an outdoor
concert at the Dux de Lux in Christchurch, first up on
a rainy outdoor show featuring Cinematic, The Headless
Chickens and Dave Dobbyn.
Trevor Hall had previously worked as an Orientation and
Activities co-ordinator for University events, but he
was a relative newcomer to drumming, and the band felt
they had to replace him almost immediately, shifting
Hirtzel from bass to drums and bringing in Layton Pace
(Trawler, Swirl).
This line-up quickly cemented itself and recorded 5 songs
almost immediately, one track appearing on the Good
Things compilation, the other
4 eventually being re-recorded toward the band's album.
Pace left the band after 6 months choosing to commit
himself to Trawler, where he got to sing and write his
own music.
Pace was replaced by Matt Monopoly and this line-up
stayed solid till the band eventually disbanded in disastrous
circumstances in New York in 1995.
The story goes that the band continued to grow in popularity,
working toward their self-released album, and building
a strong following for their heavily British sonic guitar
sound.
The band secured support slots for Smashing Pumpkins
on the 1995 New Zealand tour, impressing the Pumpkins
and management.
Meanwhile Atomic Blossom's manager was in the US working
at securing the band industry support and arranging concert
dates for them stateside.
AB put the finishing touches on the CD and pressed 500
copies. This was used as a demo of the bands material
and hardly any of them saw public release. The album remained pretty much impossible to obtain for ten years, until Failsafe Records remastered and rereleased it in 2005.
At the end of 1995 Stone left for the US, the rest of
the band were to follow early in 1996.
Unknown to the rest of the band Stone had tired of playing
in the band and felt her leaving for the US was indication
enough to the others that she wanted to leave.
The other members followed in 1996 and the band united
to play American concerts which secured them heavy interest
from US labels, notably Maverick Records.
A record deal was as good as signed apparently before
Stone chose this opportune moment to abandon the band,
effectively scuttling the project.
Stone stayed in New York, and Karena, Hirtzel, and Monopoly
returned to NZ and disbanded.
Karena left NZ for Australia, probably disheartened by
the turn of events.
Hirtzel concentrated his efforts on his other band Debris.
Monopoly has since moved to the UK and is presently rehearsing
with Jeremy Taylor toward possible work as Cinematic.
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