Adam Goren

Adam Goren (born January 14, 1975) is an American musician, and chemistry and physics teacher[1] best known as the artist Atom and His Package. Goren is a singer and guitarist who has released more than 18 albums between all his various music projects, his music is identifiable by its heavy use of music sequencers, high vocal tone, and frequent borrowing or referencing of lyrics from other bands and musicians.

Atom and His Package
Goren in 1999
Background information
Birth nameAdam Goren
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • teacher
Instruments
Years active1997-present
Labels
Websiteatomandhispackage.com

Biography

Background and music career

Goren was born in The Bronx, New York City, but grew up in Oreland, Pennsylvania with his friend Brian Sokel, an inspiration for many of his songs. He played in several local bands as a youth. In 1991, Goren joined the punk band Fracture, and he remained with them until 1995. While Goren was still in school, friend and musician Andrew Dick introduced him to music sequencers, and he began writing music with one in his spare time. Later he started performing shows under the moniker Atom & His Package, consisting of himself, a B.C. Rich guitar, and his QY700 music sequencer, although exactly what "the package" consisted of changed throughout the years as Goren cycled through various sequencers and laptops.

In 1997 he released his first album, named The First CD, on Bloodlink Records. He released several more albums and EPs and has performed on several compilations, all while touring internationally.

In 2003, Goren ended Atom & His Package when his wife Jennifer Schumow-Goren got pregnant and he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In April that year he played what was intended to be the final Atom & His Package show in Philadelphia and released a CD/DVD package of the show's recording titled Hair:Debatable [sic] in 2004. He continued making music in punk band Armalite who released a self-titled full-length album in 2004, then took a hiatus from music.

On November 1, 2008, Goren returned for a performance as Atom & His Package at The Fest 7 in Gainesville, Florida.

On July 14, 2009, a tribute album to Atom & His Package entitled Up End Atom was released, featuring Steinbeck, MC Chris, Math the Band, The Zambonis, Yidcore, MC Lars, Worm Quartet, Curt Allen, Locas in Love, The Emotron, and Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer covering various Atom & His Package songs, and The Golden Bloom covering Atom & His Package's cover of Radon's "Lying to You." Goren himself performed the vocals on The Zambonis' cover of "Goalie."

In 2010 Goren began playing shows with punk cover band TV Casualty. In 2011, TV Casualty released a self-titled collection of six Misfits covers on vinyl, and Armalite released a new three-song EP titled Humungous [sic]. Armalite performed at The Fest 10 in October the same year.

In 2017, Adam Goren performed a short set as Atom & His Package on the Chris Gethard show[2] and a full set at The Fest 16.

On January 4, 2020, Goren and Greg Simpson collaborated on a cover of John Linnell's Montana and released the track on Bandcamp, with Goren credited as Atom & His Package.

Music

The songs of Atom & His Package generally consist of electronic comedy punk music put together with a sequencer and guitar. A few songs are purely instrumental, and as Goren's career went on, he started writing occasional songs that were more introspective or political in nature, yet still retained his classic tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and sarcastic wit. In a documentary on the Hair:Debatable DVD, Goren is on record explaining that he writes about whatever he happens to be thinking about at the time, whether its observations of the world around him, events that happen to him, or people he is close to.

Atom & His Package discography

Studio albums

Extended plays
  • Behold, I Shall Do a New Thing EP (1998; Vital Music Mailorder)
  • Gun Court EP (1998)
  • Atom and His Rockage EP (1998; Wabana Records)
  • Shopping Spree EP (featuring Har Mar Superstar) (2000; Sub City)
  • Going to Ames: A Tribute to The Mountain Goats EP (2000) - A limited edition tribute album to The Mountain Goats; 500 were published.
  • Hamburgers EP (2002; File 13)

Live albums

Adam Goren continues to work with Armalite, although he maintains a website under the name of Atom.

Compilations
  • Punk Uprisings Vol. 2 (1997 Go-Kart Records)
    • "Punk Rock Academy"
  • The My Pal God Holiday Record (1998 My Pal God Records)
    • "What WE Do on Christmas"
  • Intellectos Manifesto (2000 Intellectos Records)
  • Flogging a Dead Cow: A Tribute to the Dead Milkmen[4] (2001 Superpickle)
    • "Nutrition" (Dead Milkmen cover)
  • Hopelessly Devoted to You Vol. 4[5] (2002 Hopeless/Subcity Records)
    • "Upside Down From Here" (from Redifining Music)
    • "Possession (Not the One By Danzig)" (previously unreleased)
  • Operation: Punk Rock Freedom (2003 Hopeless/Subcity Records)
    • "Mustache TV" (from Attention! Blah Blah Blah)
  • The Shape of Flakes to Come! (2003 No Idea Records)
    • "Radon" (Radon cover)
  • Short Attention Span[6] freebie spazzcore compilation (2009, Methodist Leisure Inc.)
    • "Bloody Lip" (I Hate You cover)

Tribute album
  • Up End Atom (2009 Hartless Hind Records)
    • Goren himself appears on The Zambonis' cover of "Goalie"
  • "Punk Rock Academy" was covered by MC Chris for his 2009 album Apple Tummy and later the compilation album Up End Atom.[7]
  • Throughout the four seasons of the television show The OC, the character Seth Cohen has an Atom & His Package poster displayed on the wall behind his bed.
  • In the bar on the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia many Atom & his Package stickers can be seen on the walls.
  • "Upside Down from Here" was covered by Math the Band on the 2008 album, Math the Band Banned the Math[8] and later the compilation album Up End Atom.[9][10]
  • "(Lord It's Hard to Be Happy When You're Not Using) The Metric System" was covered by MC Lars for his 2009 album This Gigantic Robot Kills[11] and later the compilation album Up End Atom.
  • Adam makes a cameo in the film Good Clean Fun.
  • "I Am Downright Amazed at What I Can Destroy with Just a Hammer" was included in the snowboarding game Amped 2 on Xbox.
  • In the film She's the Man, an Atom & His Package poster can be seen on Sebastian's bedroom wall.
  • Washington DC straight edge hardcore band Good Clean Fun has toured with Atom & his Package and covered "Punk Rock Academy" and "Hats off to Halford" on their 2006 rarities compilation Crouching Tiger, Moshing Panda

References
  1. "A Look Back on Atom and His Package, the One-Man Band That Made Punk Uncool Again". Retrieved December 14, 2020 – via Vice. Every so often, in the small independent high school outside of Philadelphia where Adam Goren teaches physics and chemistry, a student will tell him they spotted his face on a sticker behind the bar on the TV show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
  2. "Atom and His Package Made Its Glorious Return on 'The Chris Gethard Show'". Vice.com. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  3. "Live on WPRB - album by Atom And His Package". Retrieved January 16, 2021 – via Spotify.
  6. "METHODIST LEISURE INC. / SHORT ATTENTION SPAN". July 14, 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011.
  7. "Punk Rock Academy - song by MC Chris | Spotify". Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via Spotify.
  8. "MATH THE BAND Upside Down From Here". Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via YouTube.
  9. "Upside Down From Here". Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via YouTube.
  10. "Upside Down From Here - song by Math the Band | Spotify". Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via Spotify.
  11. "(Lord, It's Hard To Be Happy When You're Not) Using The Metric System - MC Lars". Retrieved December 7, 2020 – via YouTube.
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