Bound

ADAM STIDHAM – started his musical life by joining a band in his hometown of Dalton Georgia. The band, Soulizerd, was already gigging around the Dalton and Chattanooga area as a three piece outfit. Adam had been playing guitar for four years and had basically taught himself up to that point. Soulizerd was looking for a lead guitar player who was young, versatile and charismatic; when they interviewed Adam, he was a perfect fit. Over the next three months, the band played regular gigs at the same regional venues: The Dalton Depot, Rhythm and Brews, The Blue Angel Café, etc. The core of Soulizerd stayed together for two more years, changing names as the lineup changed. First to Gattaca and then to Optimus Prime.

As Optimus Prime, the group made great strides; recording three original songs and playing even bigger events: Cinco de Mayo @ Los Reyes, St. Patrick’s Day @ The Dalton Depot, the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center in support of American HiFi. After receiving a degree in Sociology from Dalton State College, Adam decided it was time to move on.

During his experience with his Dalton band mates, he had been honing his skills as a poet/songwriter under Robert Webb and working on his vocal abilities under Andy Baker. Adam felt it was time to branch out as a musician and make an attempt at his own music. He moved to the Atlanta area and was met with resounding results. Immediately he found it possible to make a living as a working, gigging musician. During the period between December 2002 and January 2004, Adam played out as many as nine times in a period of seven days and averaged three gigs per week. The venues he played included: M’Vorneen’s Irish Pub, Eddie’s Attic, Shakedown Street, The 34/84 Festival and others.

In December of 2003, Adam and long time friend, musician Russ Bramlett created a vision for a band who were all friends, and who were bound by a mutual love of the music that they played. With the addition of friend/musician Aubrey Bailey in February, that vision manifested itself in the form of Bound.

RUSS BRAMLETT – had been playing the guitar with his high school band Three Way Zen for two years when the group all graduated and went their separate ways for college. Russ went south to the Atlanta area school Southern Polytechnic State to study electrical engineering. Russ didn’t get many opportunities to play his instrument again until his junior year. In order to keep connected to music, he began playing the bass. Immediately he caught on and was picked up by an original band, Doogan. Doogan was an acoustic outfit who played small coffee houses in the northwest Georgia area, performing for small crowds of attentive music lovers. Russ learned a great deal about the dynamics of music during this time and also learned about the construction of songs. He is quite gifted at the important little things associated with performing live and has a very good ear.

Doogan fizzled out after only two years of existence. Time to practice became an issue when Russ graduated from college and started his career. The other members generally lost interest in the coffee house scene and decided to move on as well. Russ was basically done with his music career until long time friend Adam Stidham decided to move to metro Atlanta. The two talked about creating a band that was focused on live performances, stage presence, and being disciplined workers. Their vision also included an extremely diverse list of songs that many bands had overlooked. They saw their intelligence and maturity as an asset that many young rock groups did not have. With the addition of Russ’ fraternity brother Aubrey Bailey on drums, their vision was realized and Bound formed.

AUBREY BAILEY – comes from a long line of professional musicians. His Dad played for years around the midtown Atlanta and Buckhead music scenes with the original rock band Clutch Cargo. His brother is currently playing in his own original rock band that is set for their first club tour. Aubrey began his life as a musician by teaching himself the basics of drumming while being helped along by the strong support of his family. The first band he joined, Speaker Hum, was comprised of players a good deal older than him. The more mature musicians could plainly see Aubrey’s potential and drive for his instrument were way above average. Speaker Hum played hard rock and heavy metal; this experience early in his music career would prove to be invaluable. The next band he would join was a bit more serious. Tec Lans was a group of musicians ages 18 to 22 who played like they were seasoned pros. This group played regular gigs at venues such as the Wreck Room and the Somber Reptile. Their aggressive new punk style propelled them to a decent amount of success around the northern metro area and gave Aubrey a lot of experience in the areas of dealing with P.R. and communication with venue management.

College caug