band Biography
Formed in the summer of 2008, midwest native cousins, musicians, and songwriters Thomas Pulda and Joseph Kramer joined forces with drummer and Arizona native, James Richards, and New Mexico native guitarist Gino Martinez, to create the Phoenix based band Anomaly. Using such influences as Tool, Deftones, and Porcupine Tree to name a few, Anomaly took over their local music scene after the release of their 5 song EP, The Liberation Within. They continue to amaze audiences throughout the southwest performing their latest full length release Amethyst Sun.
Two In One, the first single off their first Full Length album entitled Amethyst Sun made its debut on July 6th 2010 accompanied with their first music video. The album was released in January of 2011 and is available at many sites around the web. Visit the links page for more info.
Thomas Pulda - vocals, guitars
Thomas Pulda grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He started playing music in Elementary School at a young age, experimenting with instruments like the Trumpet and Piano. At age 10 he decided to pick up a guitar. He discovered however, that all the young bands in town needed drummers so he decided to put together a drum kit. The drum kit consisted of a snare, cardboard box, some buckets for toms, and yet another five gallon bucket for a bass drum. After seeing the potential he had with this archaic drum kit, friends told him he needed to step it up. So he traded in all of his guitar equipment for a drum set (little did he know that some years down the road he would end up trading the drum kit in to get his guitar equipment back!). After being the drummer in multiple bands in the midwest, Thomas formed the band Needles Eye and soon after brought in his cousin Joseph. They both realized soon after that with their combined talents and creativity, they were writing music that was ahead of its time. Needing a change in scenery, Thomas left the Midwest for Fort Collins, Colorado. But it wasn’t long before he received a call from cousin Joseph to come down to Arizona and start something entirely new.
Thomas is an avid outdoorsman and rock hounder, and what he calls “the master of adventure”. These adventures manifest many of the lyrics that Thomas writes. Keep an eye on the blog for stories about these adventures and insight behind the songs.
Joseph Kramer - bass, backing vocals, guitars
Another Cedar Rapids, Iowa native, Joseph Kramer and first cousin Thomas come from a large family of very talented musicians. Joseph started his extensive line of musical instrumentation with the piano at age 3 and took his first piano lesson at age 5. He added instruments such as contrabass, violin, and drums in elementary school and teaching himself both acoustic and electric guitars. He stuck with his love for the bass, playing the upright bass and bass guitar from middle school through out high school, Joseph’s desire to be the best was rewarded by being positioned first chair every year in his schools orchestra from 6th grade on. Winning also first chair honors in all city and all state orchestras. This is what inspired him and gave him the talent to play the fretless bass guitars he’s always played. After playing in multiple bands and recording with multiple projects including the heavy experimental project Needles Eye with Thomas, Joseph decided to make the move to Phoenix with a couple year stop off in Sacramento, CA. Shortly after arriving in Arizona and well into the music scene, he convinced Thomas to make the move to Phoenix so they could collaborate once again forming their best project yet, Anomaly.
Gino Martinez - lead guitars
In the small community of Silver City, New Mexico, Gino Martinez began teaching himself the guitar at the early age of 10. Throughout his middle school and high school years he continued to refine his guitar skills enrolling in multiple elective classes until his graduation. Just out of high school, Gino again kept building his skill and knowledge of the guitar taking as many courses as he could on music theory as well as classical guitar, at the same time working full time for a local radio station. In 1993 Gino graduated from RECW Music & Audio Production School. Soon after finishing he landed a position as live sound engineer for an El Paso, Texas based band. Staying true to his first passion of guitar, In 1996 Gino relocated to Phoenix, AZ to join the music scene. He played in a handful of bands in Phoenix yet none of them could satisfy his hunger for music. One evening, while practicing his guitar for his current band, Thomas walked into his rehearsal studio and asked him to join what was then just the very beginning of a band that would soon become Anomaly.
James Richards - drums and percussion
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, James Richards spent most of his youth very active in sports. With football being one of his favorite things to do, James had very little interest in music. At the age of 16 he decided he wanted to try something different, and gave drumming a shot. James quickly realized that his true talents were in music. He decided to stop playing organized sports and started concentrating on music full time, joining his high school concert band as well as jazz band. In 2001 James joined his first band playing both cover and original tunes and continued to play in various musical projects over the next few years where he initially met Joseph. In early 2008, James and Joseph disbanded from their current project and later that summer joined with Thomas and Gino to form Anomaly.
