Mike Sversvold, widely known as "Bam-Bam," was a legendary drummer in the 1980s Phoenix punk scene. Sversvold was involved in many bands, and was a founding member of the skate punk band JFA.
Denise Moreno met Sversvold when she moved to Phoenix at 19 years old and she was at his bedside when he passed away earlier this year.
She says they always talked about writing his autobiography “Bam I Am” together. Although the pair never did get to write the book, Moreno did put together a 35-minute tribute video with the same title for Sversvold’s celebration of life.
DENISE MORENO: I don’t know exactly how he got the nickname. I wasn’t around at the time when it was decided that his nickname would be Bam-Bam, but obviously it had something to do with the fact that he was a drummer. He was young and "The Flintstones" cartoon had Bam-Bam in it. So I know that he had a little plastic Bam-Bam, like figurine or doll or something that was like, attached to his drum set, and one of the things that he said was you’re not supposed to pick your own nickname, that a nickname is something that others pick for you that you don’t pick for yourself.
He just had a heart of gold. He was a pacifist. He was just always accepting of everybody and connected with people on a level where every single person felt like that they were the most important person in his life and they were like his best friend. He just had this just innate way of connecting with people at the heart level.
I want to say that Bam was somewhat featured as kind of like the highlight of the band, mostly because he was an insanely good drummer and he was very young. So when I saw him play for the first time, I think he might’ve been around 17 and, he was just phenomenal. Super improvisational drummer. He added his own flair to not just to the JFA music, really as the years went on to almost anything that he was involved in. It was really exciting to see them play because it was just fresh and new and coming up in the punk scene.
He had so many stories to tell, he was just such a storyteller, and he would just go on for minutes or hours about different experiences he had, whether it was playing in different bands or going on tour, people that he had met, and he always just had these grandiose fun stories to tell that were- he was very very entertaining. And when you listen to the stories, it was like, wow, you should write a book.
He would always have the outward appearance of making a statement, whether it was like a shock value or just breaking outside of the norm… Outwardly he was outrageous with his style of dress, but inward, he was just such a genuine, loving individual, always put music first, and always encouraged everybody to explore music, whether it was from a listening perspective, attending and supporting local bands, or doing it on their own. And he really encouraged me to embrace creating music on my own in my life… he really encouraged me to learn guitar, get better at guitar.
He would always say: "Be" and "Do." Be. Do. Get out there and do it, you know, and just rock out, you know, put your heart and soul into it. And just don’t be afraid.
The very, very first show that I ever played in a band was actually on my birthday, which is New Year’s Eve. And he was just cheering me on in the crowd. And I really, really have him to thank for his love and encouragement and support, and him allowing me to explore music at a deeper level in my life.
So, thank you, Bam. For all the great. fun, interesting years, and everything that you’ve done. Not only for me, but for the local and national music community.
