Posted on January 24, 2010 - by Editor

Thinking Back & Looking Forward: Sonic Boom Six

All words by Emma Stone. Photo by Imelda Michalczyk.
SBS represented by Barney Boom (Bass and Vocals)

Emma: Obviously, one of the biggest things to happen to you this year is Ben’s decision to leave.  How has this affected you as a band?

Barney: Well, let’s just say it didn’t exactly come out of the blue. We had at least a year to get our heads round the idea that Ben wasn’t going to be able to keep up the band at the rate that he previously had. For him there were wedding bells in the air but, because of conversations and goings-on on tour, it became clear that for us there was also writing on the wall. So we had time to adjust so that, in the event that Ben did decide to leave, the band would be able to continue. Once he did make the decision that he couldn’t continue touring he was cool and we were all friends enough to be able to smoothly make the whole thing transition in a way that made us all reasonably happy.

I just think that life sometimes throws problems at you and no matter how difficult things look at the start of it you can always change your plans. And, in those kinds of situations, there is never any point shouting and screaming and getting mad at each other. Because people need to do what they need to do. The moment he said ‘I dread the band getting bigger because it means I’ll be away from home more’ was the minute we all totally dropped any worry for ourselves and accepted that Ben needed to be at home. There is no point burning bridges. Ben is still our friend and is still going to be involved and around the band, just not in a full-time capacity. In terms of it affecting us as a band, it’s a cliché but I’m sure that it will make us stronger, a new beginning and all that. Whatever we come out with as a band next is going to be affected by whatever new line-up we work out. We’re going to move forwards from this and use the occurrence of an unwanted change in the line-up to build something positive from it.

Emma: Any plans to replace him, or do you fancy trying to see how things work just the four of you for now?

Barney: No, he’s definitely going to be replaced but whether or not we’re just gonna get another guitarist is something that’s still work in progress. We don’t know what exactly is going to go into the slot that Ben has left. Matt (ex Howards Alias, current-Drawings) has done a wonderful job of filling the guitarist role for the past few tours and we’re very happy with what he’s doing. Seeing as we don’t really need to write anything new right now we’re totally cool pushing “City of Thieves” and keeping busy.

Emma: “City Of Thieves” is a lot darker than your previous albums, and makes a lot of socio-political statements about Britain today, a hot topic with quite a few of today’s underground bands.  Do you think music of this style will ever make a difference?

Barney: I think that it does make a difference and I think that punk music has made a difference in the past and will continue to do so. Even if it’s at a very grassroots level, it is felt. The way it does it is very disparate and subtle but throughout the globe I’ve seen so much positive come from punk music over the years. Pockets of kids who start out by bonding together through a certain kind of music and then go on to do all kinds of pro-active things that really wouldn’t gel as successfully without a soundtrack behind them that inspires them and re-enforce convictions and observations that they already feel.
I feel that too often punk gets turned into a style and a product and a certain look and I think that should be resisted. It’s the ethic and aesthetic of the idea of punk that is powerful, not the musical genre or the fashion. Punk should simply be the anti-cool, the idea of doing something your own way that doesn’t conveniently fit in with everyone else’s art or look or vibe. I’d prefer it if there was a bigger influence of these kinds of ideas across the mainstream in the UK but at the same time the beauty of a subculture is that its echoes are felt everywhere without it necessarily being on the covers of the magazines.

I guess we all have our different ideas and views on what the whole punk thing is about but ultimately, we don’t write SB6 stuff to ‘make a difference’ as much as ‘make some music’. We wrote a song called ‘Tell Me Something That I Don’t Know’ which is a reply to those people and magazines that tell us that our music isn’t going to change the world or whatever. And my reply is basically that they are really missing the point. When I sit down to write a song – probably because of the music I like is basically hip-hop and punk – I don’t write songs about love or the fact that the sun is shining or my inner angst or whatever. I write songs about stuff that I think about and that cause a reaction from me in society. And if that’s ‘political’ then that’s something that someone else has called it; I just call it punk music. The world has enough love songs and 6th form poetry masquerading as a deeper meaning. I’d rather cut through those layers of posturing and depth and all that and call a spade a spade. I’m compelled to be in a band and do this and live like this and explore these ideas and it’s a very simple fact that our songs need lyrics. I have a girlfriend and I look into her eyes and I think ‘I love her, I’ll take her out’ or something. But some people think ‘I’ll write a song about her to prove I love her’. That’s fine, it’s just not what I’m into. I read the article Jan Moir wrote about Stephen Gately and I think ‘what a hateful bitch’. Some people might think the same and then go about their day, I would choose to write a song about it, it’s as simple as that.

Emma: You made it to the main stage of Leeds & Reading this year.  Were you surprised to find yourself up there, or did you think it was par-for-the-course considering the way you’ve been progressing?

Barney: It was somewhere in between the two. Of course we were pleasantly surprised that we were placed on there because there hasn’t really been a tradition of bands like us opening the main stage. But at the same time we knew we could do the job and that for them it made sense to have a UK band with a lot of grassroots support to kick the stage off. It meant that kids were at the front and moving from the get go, even in the rain, so it was very good booking on their part.

We have been progressing nicely over the past year across the radio and magazines and stuff so we definitely saw this as a another manifestation of the hard work and the hours we had put into making the band work as a band that can play a punk festival but can also play on any rock music stage in there world. Also – as a band that have taken a lot of criticism within the punk scene about our style and our vibe – it was a vindication for us. It was a clear indicator that the way that we have forged our own way and stuck to our guns has got our music and ideas out to kids that would never have heard us otherwise.

Emma: Let’s go back in time.  It’s the year 2000.  If someone told you you’d be where you are today, would you believe them?

Barney: Hmmm, yes. To be honest, I thought I’d be in a band and doing this in the year 2000. Of course, I didn’t know exactly what it would entail or how far along I’d be but I knew I would be in a punk band of some form or other in ten years time, without a doubt.

Emma: You’ve toured with some big names this year! Who’s been your favourite band to tour with?

Barney: It was great to tour with Random Hand and the Skints this year, because both of those are incredible home-grown bands that are part of the Rebel Alliance family as well as being great friends. It was particularly cool to do a European tour with Random Hand in tow with us because that’s the first time we’ve had a support act over in Europe with us. And it was great to tour with our friends Big D and the Kid’s Table. Those guys are from Boston, which has a lot of an Irish and UK vibe about it and we are similar characters to them so touring with them is always really cool and easy. But the fave band to tour with this year was actually The Levellers. We did a full European tour with those guys and played a lot of huge venues in the UK. They were awesome to us and – as someone who was never particularly a fan of them one way or the other – it was cool to see them and hear their music and learn about all the things that they have done as a band, especially in terms of putting into practice the ideals they talk about in their music. As with bands like Crass and Chumabawamba, The Levellers were a band that translated the rhetoric of their lyrics into positive and meaningful action. And they were a band that always had a very passionate grassroots following and went against the grain and were never press-darlings which we could see a lot of ourselves in. So to see a band manage to keep their definite line-up together and still go out on tour and be great and make the whole thing work was totally inspiring. And they were just really cool to us and made the whole tour a real experience rather than simply a support slot. It was a great tour.

Emma: What does 2010 have in store for you?

Barney: First of all we have a UK and European tour with Reel Big Fish that should be really fun. Big D and the Kid’s Table are also doing the UK dates so it’s just gonna be such a laugh, I can’t wait. After that, we’re having some time off to concentrate on the label. We’ve got recent releases by The Skints, forthcoming releases by Chris Murray and we’ve just started working with another band so we need some time to streamline everything there and maybe do a compilation or something. Rebel Alliance is going to be massively important in 2010. After that, we are gonna be still concentrating on “City of Thieves” in the UK, maybe a single or video or two and there is talk of a compilation release in Europe and the US which we’re going to go over and tour and do all that. We’re not thinking too hard about the next record yet, though we all have ideas of where we want to go with the music and all that so it’s all kind of exciting. Whatever happens, we certainly won’t have any shortage of things to be getting on with, that’s for sure.

Emma: Did you make any New Year’s resolutions for 2010?

Barney: Erm, I was going to stop drinking and get a bit healthier and all that but the trouble with Christmas is that there is always a metric tonne of leftover chocolate lying around every day and at the moment I’m on antibiotics for an infection I picked up on tour so I can’t drink without feeling sick anyway. So no, I don’t really have any resolutions, just vague plans to exercise more and drink less, same as every year in the past decade.