Craig Boom: Guitars

  The Grass Valley native is the lead guitarist for the band and started playing guitar after seeing Kiss on TV. “From that point on I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Boom said.”
He was inspired by Michael Schenker, Ace Frehley, and Eddie Van Halen but says his favorite it George Lynch.
“I like to pick up things from all the music I hear because you can always learn new things from any style of music,” he said.

  Boom’s been playing guitar since he was 14 years old and spent a few years tickling the ivories. His parents bought him his first guitar and amplifier for Christmas – a Gibson SG copy and a crate SL-1 amp that he said looked like a wooden crate, he still has it.
“Playing music is my passion. It’s what keeps me full of life,” Boom said. “I don’t need to be rich and famous, although at one time that was the dream. These days it keeps me sane and I just really enjoy it.”

  His day job?
When I’m not playing I’m slaving away as an engineer at a large computer company. I do physical layout design on computer chips,” Boom said.
In his free time he prefers to be outdoors jet skiing water skiing or riding bicycles and spending time with friends and family.

  “I’m also a bit of an eBay junky and I’m always looking for deals on cool guitars and other gear,” he said.
Growing up Boom listened to Iron Maiden, the Scorpions, Def Leopard etc. and still enjoys those bands as well as Godsmack and Disturbed.

  When asked about his most outrageous moment on stage, Boom said it wasn’t fit for print, however he did share one of his most memorable.
“If I had to pick a single event it would probably be playing at the “Just Plain Folks” show where we received the award for metal song of the year. It was a great feeling of camaraderie and was one of the last times we played with our dear friend and crazy man Craig Ortega,” he said.


Email boom: boom@kattywompus.com