Bobaflex

Bobaflex formed in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1998, the creation of brothers Shawn "Beaver" McCoy and Marty McCoy, who are direct descendents of the McCoy family from the famous Hatfield-and-McCoy feud of the 19th century . Shawn, on lead guitar, and Marty, on bass guitar, were joined by drummer Ronnie Castro and co-lead singers Lutz and Drebbit, and the quintet made their debut on June 5, 1998, in Huntington, West Virginia, playing rock in a rap-influenced nu-metal style. They built up a following in the tri-state area of West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, and self-released their debut album, Bobaflex, in August 1999. A chance encounter proved pivotal early on: at a gig they met Shifty Shellshock, lead singer of Crazy Town, who helped them get a production deal and got them into discussions with Columbia Records for a record contract. That major-label deal ultimately collapsed, reshaping the band into the lineup that would define its breakthrough years. The Columbia deal fell through when the band split over musical differences, with Lutz and Drebbit departing, while Shawn, Marty, Castro, and Steele, retaining the band name, opted for a more mainstream rock sound, with Marty switching to guitar and adding bass player Jerod Mankin. This quintet made the five-song EP Primitive Epic, released in May 2002, which attracted the interest of independent metal label Eclipse, who signed Bobaflex in March 2003, while Castro left the band and was replaced by drummer Thomas Johnson. Bobaflex recorded new songs and remixed existing ones to expand Primitive Epic into their Eclipse debut in August 2003, then went on to TVT Records, where they released 2003's Apologize for Nothing and 2007's Tales from Dirt Town , the latter widely regarded as their breakthrough, a record "a mix of contemporary Metal intensity and Classic Rock melodicism." During this era the band earned notice touring alongside major acts, having been part of Gigantour in 2005 and Rock on the Range in 2008. The band's career has been marked by relentless touring and steady reinvention rather than a single explosive rise. After TVT Records folded, Bobaflex left the label in 2009 and pushed forward independently, releasing Chemical Valley in 2010 followed by Hell in My Heart in 2011, an album that produced the singles "Bury Me With My Guns On," "Chemical Valley," and a cover of "The Sound of Silence." They followed with Charlatan's Web in 2013, whose lead single "BAD MAN recently entered the charts at #38, their highest ranking for a single in their history." The band continued releasing music through the 2010s and into the 2020s with Anything That Moves (2015), Eloquent Demons (2017), the Lights Out EP (2018), and a string of newer singles including "I'll Blow Your Dreams into the Sky," "My Dark Flight," "Horrible Things," and "The Womanizer." Throughout, the McCoy brothers have remained the band's constant core alongside longtime members Jerod Mankin and Tommy Johnson, with guitarist Dave Tipple joining later lineups.