Five.Bolt.Main formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 2004 out of the wreckage of the hard rock band Flaw. After Flaw grew out of the hard rock outfit that released two albums for Universal in the early 2000s, and the label dropped Flaw after 2004's Endangered Species , frontman Chris Volz began looking for a new project. Volz met with ex-Flaw members Ivan Arnold and Ben Patrick, who had both been part of Flaw prior to its breakthrough album Through the Eyes (2001) . At the time, Arnold and Patrick were in a project called "Silent Q," which had enough material written for an album, and that lineup included guitarists Aaron Welenken and Jason Chandler . Volz joined the band, which was tentatively titled "Vent" before the name was changed to Five.Bolt.Main, blending Volz's melodic-yet-aggressive vocal style with the nu metal and alternative metal sound the members had honed in their prior bands.
The band's breakthrough came quickly. Within seven months the band had scored a record deal with independent label Rock Ridge Music, and Five.Bolt.Main's debut album Venting was released on September 13, 2005 . The album produced the single "The Gift," which reached number 38 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 2006 , alongside other tracks like "Pathetic" and "Seem to Be Fine." Commercially modest but respectable for an independent release, the album sold nearly 25,000 copies, a decent amount considering the band's limited exposure . The classic lineup that recorded Venting consisted of Volz on vocals, Arnold on drums, Patrick on bass, and Welenken and Chandler on guitars, a group whose pedigree in Flaw gave the young band instant credibility on the touring circuit.
Success was quickly complicated by internal turmoil. Roughly a month after the album debuted, members Jason Chandler, Ben Patrick, and Aaron Welenken left the group, with Rock Ridge Music citing "musical differences" and "unforeseen rigors of the road," though the exiting members pointed to Volz's alcohol and drug abuse . Kobie Jackson of Primer 55, Alex Cando of Darwin's Waiting Room, and Ronny Paige were recruited to fill in, with Cando and Paige staying on a permanent basis . The band pressed on and released a live album, Live, which Rock Ridge released on October 10, 2006, recorded in Louisville during their 2006 tour . Turbulence continued when June 2006 saw the departure of Ivan Arnold, who left due to growing personal differences with Volz following a well-publicized onstage dispute at Club Sonar in Baltimore, Maryland , which led to all the band's remaining tour dates being canceled after attempts to find a replacement drummer fell through .
The band's story came to an end not long after. A planned compilation titled Complete was in the works, with pre-production demos co-produced by Chris Henderson of 3 Doors Down, but Rock Ridge ultimately released Complete despite most band members not consenting to it, citing poor sound quality . On February 28, 2007, a press release from Rock Ridge Music announced that Five.Bolt.Main had disbanded, with Chris Volz planning a solo album for that fall . Former members scattered into other projects. Alex Cando returned to play with Flaw before moving to bass duties with Silence Is Broken, while Ronny Paige went on to start the band Forever Oeuvre while also taking hired-gun jobs with bands like Rev Theory and Fuel . Despite the split, the band never faded from listener memory, and its brief catalog, most notably Venting, continues to circulate among nu metal and alternative metal fans as a document of the mid-2000s post-Flaw scene out of Louisville.
Among the countless bands Wayne Dennon trained his lens on during his years documenting live music, Five Bolt Main holds a small but meaningful place in the archive. Wayne photographed the band at a single show back in 2005, right around the release of Venting, capturing the group at the peak of its brief run before the lineup upheavals that followed. That night yielded 23 photographs now preserved on this site, images that have drawn 18,538 views from archive visitors over the years, a quiet testament to the enduring curiosity fans still have for this short-lived but memorable chapter of 2000s nu metal.
