Bio

Cluster Bomb Unit was founded in Stuttgart in 1989 by Oliver Barth (drums/vocals) and Werner Nötzel (guitar). With Mike Gunser (bass), the trio was complete and started touring in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and England alongside Extreme Noise Terror in 1990 and 1991.

After several concerts, including performances with bands like Disrupt, Slapshot, and Integrity, they released their first Flexi Disc in 1993, together with the band Resist (USA), on the American label Consensus Reality. Further releases followed in Germany, Japan, and the USA.

In 1994, the band expanded to include Marc Dambrowski (vocals) and Roland Sesulka (guitar). With this lineup, they played more concerts in Germany, France, and Slovakia. In 1995, they released the EP "Opfer" on the Japanese label DIY Records. During a visit to Japan that same year, Oliver performed with the band Power Of Idea, where some songs by Cluster Bomb Unit were also included in the setlist.

Later in 1995 they played several concerts with the US band Defiance, leading to Cluster Bomb Unit's first US tour in 1996. The tour included cities like New York, Boston, Indianapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. They shared the stage with bands like Aus-Rotten, Code 13, Drop Dead, Los Crudos, Detestation, Noothgrush, and many others. Mike couldn't join the tour on bass, and Moritz Finkbeiner from the band Midget stepped in as his replacement.

In 1998, Marc and Roland left the band due to time constraints, and they were replaced by Sven Öhler (vocals) and Theo Steng (guitar). With this lineup, the band embarked on another short US tour on the East Coast in 1999 and a 2-week tour in Japan in 2000, playing in cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Niigata, and performing with bands like Disclose, Gloom, Power of Idea, Battle of Disarm, and others. During this tour, they recorded their first LP, "Die Stationen von Cluster Bomb Unit," in a studio in Tokyo. The LP featured both re-recorded old songs and new songs with Japanese guest singers. Once again, Mike couldn't play on this tour, and Moritz Finkbeiner filled in for him.

After further tours and concerts in Switzerland, France, Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia, Sven and Theo left the band in 2001 due to time constraints. Kelly Halliburton (Resist, Defiance, Detestation, Masskontroll etc.) from America, who was living in Germany at the time, joined as the bassist, and Julia Finkbeiner, Moritz's sister, joined as the vocalist.

In this lineup, the band embarked on their first Southeast Asia tour in 2005, traveling to Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and performing with bands like Appäratus, Minus, The Idiots, Dirty Dogs, and more. A friend of the band, Andreas Geiger, documented the tour with a camera, creating the documentary "Punk Im Dschungel - Pang Nat Det." During this tour, Kelly switched from bass to guitar, and Moritz became the permanent bassist of the band.

To complete the documentary, the band traveled through Southeast Asia again in 2006, conducting interviews with the band and people from the region. As Kelly had moved back to the USA by then, Roland returned to the band. With Julia being six months pregnant during the tour, she was supported on vocals by Marc Dambrowski. This lineup only performed together during this one tour.

The documentary "Punk im Dschungel" was first aired on ZDF on August 13, 2007, bringing the band nationwide attention.

Since then, the lineup has solidified, and the band has released several 7" EPs and primarily performed concerts in Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Holland.

In 2019, they began recording their second LP, "Abgesang," which was completed in 2022 due to the global pandemic. The LP is set to be released on May 12, 2023, on the German label Power It Up Records.