Based in Pacific Beach, Dive Bomber was formed in 2006 when Chris Gutierrez aka Toad (Glory Stompers) and Ray Comstock aka Catfish left their band of ten years, DAMA, to start a new musical project.
Comstock was serious about guitar from an early age. "I flunked out of school because of guitar way back in the day." He lived and breathed guitars and suffered the life of austerity common to most start-up band leaders. To supplement his income as a musician, he did what so many rockers before him have done: he worked in sales at Guitar Center and Guitar Trader.
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to find a bass player, Catfish was reunited with an old friend, Dwight Frejia (Doc), with whom he worked in the late 1990s at the local Music Power store.
After playing in an instrumental band for over a year, they picked up singer J.D. Campos, replaced in 2006 by Kris Keyes, aka Nomad (from the bands Blind Justice and Gargantua Soul). "He actually lived in India in a cave for a year," Comstock says of Nomad. "He's in a place all by himself." Keyes is also an actor and a martial arts instructor.
In August 2008, Dive Bomber played the HyperFestival in New Mexico and met producer John Kurzweg (Puddle of Mudd, Creed, Godsmack, etc.), who agreed to mix and produce the CD Pinups in Parachutes.
As of 2012, the band lineup is Keyes/Nomad (vocals), Catfish (guitar), Pain (bass), and Toad (drums).