Sonic Boom Six
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| Sonic Boom Six | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Manchester, England |
| Genre(s) | Punk, Ragga, Hip Hop |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Label(s) | Rebel Alliance (UK) Deck Cheese (UK) Pyropit (Japan) Asbestos (USA) |
| Associated acts | Babyboom Suicide Bid |
| Members | |
| Laila Khan Ben Childs Paul 'Barney Boom' Barnes Neil 'Madfish' McMinn |
|
| Former members | |
| Davey 'Hellfire' Kelly | |
Sonic Boom Six are a four-piece punk/reggae/hip-hop band from Manchester, UK.
Contents |
[edit] History
Sonic Boom Six first appeared on the Manchester punk scene in April 2002. Some of their members were originally in the band Grimace, and released an album under this name. However, a new line-up came together as Sonic Boom Six. Their sound has been described as "Notting Hill Carnival on a punk CD".
Their original, self-titled, demo recorded with Jerry Melchers, was self-released in October 2002. To promote the CD, they toured the UK with ska veterans The Toasters and London 'Wildstyle Ska-Punk-Hip-Hop' band King Prawn. They also toured with Coolie Ranx (ex Pilfers) as well as appearing as his backing band.
In September 2003 they released The Turbo EP, their first release for Moon Ska Europe. This was produced by Ace (of Skunk Anansie) and Christophe. After a series of good reviews, Sonic Boom Six were invited to perform a session on BBC Radio One's The Lock Up.
After further touring with Catch 22, as well as the Moon Ska 'Launchpad Tour 2004' (alongside Zen Baseballbat, Graveltrap, Babar Luck and Dumpster Pop), the band re-united with Ace and Christophe to record their second EP.
Sounds to Consume was released on Moon Ska Europe in August 2004, and featured the whole of the Turbo EP as bonus tracks.
After tour dates with Leftöver Crack and The Suicide Machines the band appeared on BBC2's Asian arts programme Desi DNA performing in a scrap yard as well as being interviewed by Adil Ray for his show on the BBC Asian Network.
In early February 2005 Sonic Boom Six parted ways with guitarist Dave "Hellfire" Kelly who was replaced with current guitarist Ben who used to play sax, thus making SB6 a four piece. Ben's old sax parts are now played through a sampler when performing live, or by other bands at the show, such as when on tour with Grown at Home and The Flaming Tsunamis.
In 2005 the band opened the Love Music Hate Racism event on the Leftfield Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, played Belgium's Sortie 23 festival and performed at the premiere of the Rock Against Racism film Who Shot the Sheriff? with HARD-Fi and Roll Deep.
2005 also saw the release of the Champion Edition of Sounds to Consume, which featured 4 of their original demo tracks (remixed by Tim G), 3 remixes, an acoustic track and a video. They also embarked on several dates on the inaugural Good To Go Tour alongside The Aquabats and Never Heard of It.
2006 saw the band record their second session for BBC Radio 1's The Lock Up, which was broadcast on 27 June. They were joined by Pete and Tucker from Jesse James and Itch from The King Blues.
Their debut full-length album, The Ruff Guide to Genre-Terrorism, was released on 10 July 2006 on Deck Cheese Records[1], and in August 2006 the band played the Reading and Leeds Festivals as a last minute replacement for Paramore. They were joined again by Itch of The King Blues for a performance of All In (singing the parts of the song written by Coolie Ranx) and Nick 'The Blade' Horne of Howards Alias, current partner of vocalist Laila - who played trombone on the songs Bigger Than Punk Rock and Until The Sunlight Comes. During May 2007 they played at the Slam Dunk Festival at Leeds University Union with Paramore and Reel Big Fish. During Reel Big Fish's set Laila joined the band on stage to sing parts of She Has a Girlfriend Now alongside Aaron Barrett. She joined them again during Reel Big Fish's Monkeys for Nothin' winter tour in 2008. They played the Reading and Leeds Festivals again in 2007, on the Lock Up stage, playing not only their own material but covering the song Sound System by Operation Ivy. During this song, Itch from the King Blues once again joined them on-stage to sing it.
November 2007 saw the release of the band's second full-length CD, Arcade Perfect, on their own Rebel Alliance Recordings[2].
In May 2008, the band will embark on the Rude Awakening 2008 tour, alongside Big D and the Kids Table and Random Hand.
[edit] Members
- Laila Khan: vocals/melodica
- Ben Childs: guitar/vocals/saxophone
- Paul 'Barney Boom' Barnes: bass/vocals
- Neil 'Madfish' McMinn: drums/samples
- Francis Hunt: Flute
[edit] Side-projects
In addition to Sonic Boom Six, all four members are also in the acoustic reggae band Babyboom. Their self-titled debut EP was recorded in February 2006. Laila, Barney and Ben also contribute vocals to the ongoing dub/punk project Suicide Bid and feature heavily on the collective's 2006 album The Rot Stops Here as well as performing live on rare occasions such as Rebellion punk festival.
[edit] Discography
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Sonic Boom Six EP | self-released |
| 2003 | The Turbo EP | Moon Ska Europe |
| 2004 | Sounds to Consume | Moon Ska Europe |
| 2005 | Sounds to Consume Champion Edition | Moon Ska Europe |
| 2006 | as Babyboom: Babyboom | self-released |
| 2006 | The Ruff Guide to Genre-Terrorism | Deck Cheese |
| 2007 | All-In (single) | Deck Cheese |
| 2007 | Ruff and Ready: Live in Manchester (DVD) | self-released |
| 2007 | Arcade Perfect | Rebel Alliance |
| 2007 | While You Were Sleeping (single) | Rebel Alliance |
