In 2012, their first EP Oblivion Hunter was released on Load Records.
In 2009, their album Earthly Delights was released on Load Records.
Their official appeal was rejected after 48 hours, and they were deported back to the United States. Band members were detained on arrival on the grounds that they did not have work permits. In 2006, Lightning Bolt was deported from Japan days after they arrived to continue their tour from the UK. In 2005, Lightning Bolt released Hypermagic Mountain, their most critically acclaimed album to date. It is expected to be available at the end of the summer." No official word has since been released. A post on Lightning Bolt's official website in early 2004 read "The next Lightning Bolt album, Frenzy, is currently in the works over at Load Records. Rumors have persisted concerning the release of an improvisational album entitled Frenzy. Lightning Bolt have also performed in DVD compilations such as Pick a Winner (2004) and Sleep When You are Dead by performance artists Mighty Robot (2007). The band starred in the 2003 tour-DVD The Power of Salad directed by Peter Glantz and Nick Noe. Lightning Bolt's second full-length album was Ride the Skies, released in 2001, followed by Wonderful Rainbow in 2003. In 1999 the album was re-released on CD, including "Zone" as bonus tracks and alternative cover art. The album was initially released in a limited edition pressing of 750 copies, and a 50-minute companion cassette titled "Zone" was released later. The band's first full-length album was a self-titled vinyl record on the Load Records label. The space eventually came to house a number of local avant-garde artists and musicians, including Brian Ralph as well as Lightning Bolt. The concept of writing songs and recording an album didn't occur to the band until 1997, when Ben McOsker, founder of Load Records, approached the duo.ĭuring these formative years, Chippendale and his freshman-year college roommate Matt Brinkman began to set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse space in the Olneyville district of Providence. For the first few years, Lightning Bolt was primarily an improvisational band, touring the United States for months at a time and "just playing". The only officially released music with Bharoocha was a track on the Repopulation Program compilation. Bharoocha left the group in 1996 to continue with another RISD band that would eventually become Black Dice, and Chippendale took over vocal duties. The band formed while Chippendale and Gibson attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, and Chippendale had heard about "a new kid who was a whiz on the bass guitar." The two formed Lightning Bolt, with Brian Chippendale on drums, Brian Gibson on bass guitar, and with Hisham Bharoocha on guitar and vocals joining the group after their first show.