Tiassa
11-08-07, 12:54 AM
The Sonics live again. And they still rock! I envy anyone in New York who made it to Cavestomp for the show. One of garage's most important bands, MIA for forty years, returns triumphantly. I am nearly giddy, and simply waiting for the good news that tells me when and where they will kick our asses on the home front.
“If we come back with our tails between our legs, I’m not goin’ out of my house,” Parypa joked. “But if it goes as good as I hope that it does ... I would like to (play locally) if there’s a venue that we agree to. We want to do it in a prominent (place). We don’t want to play some local tavern or anything.”
(Jasmin (http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/193696.html))
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2007/11/02/01/735-NWS1102_BAND_P2.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.jpg
The Sonics: Larry, Bob, Rob, Andy, and Jerry
(photo: Etiquette Records)
I used to work with Larry. Well, same company, same building. I did ask him about a photo at his desk once. And after he told me, I went home, dug out the two Sonics' vinyls we had, got really stoned, and listened to them. I knew some of the songs, but I'd never actually listened to the albums.
And yeah. They are all that.
Going AWOL was a great if not exactly calculated move. The band’s mystique has grown to near mythic proportions in its absence, bolstered by its acknowledged influence on bands that range from the Stooges to the Hives.
Some feel their raunchy riffs, surly mod demeanor and shocking lyrics about psychos, the devil and chugging strychnine paved the way for punk.
“They really were this kind of proto-punk rock band,” said Experience Music Project curator Jacob McMurray. “I can imagine at the time (their music) came out, parents of kids that were fans of the Sonics being scared of the Sonics.”
McMurray sees an even more blatant connection to grunge.
“You could listen to (Mudhoney’s) ‘Touch Me, I’m Sick,’ and you compare it to ‘The Witch’ and you know – wow – this could be the same band,” he said.
Still, it took years for the Sonics themselves to realize just how much influence they had.
“We just started seeing stuff a long time ago – Patti Smith and then the Sex Pistols and then Nirvana,” he said. “All these major Seattle groups that are millionaires – and we’re not – they all said that one of their primers of rock ’n’ roll was listening to the Sonics.”
Roslie said he gets a kick out of checking his royalty statements and seeing where Sonics music is being played – increasingly, places like England, Germany, France and Japan.
“The whole thing has just blown our minds,” he said. “When we quit I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, and (we’ll) go do other things.’ It is really mind blowing because it’s such a rare thing that somebody’s been out of business for 40 years. So needless to say we’re really pleased, and we realize what a lucky break that is.”
(Jasmin (http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/193696.html))
See Also:
• Bring the Noise (http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/ej/?cat=652)
• The Sonics, live @ Cavestomp 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ityrrkSdvHo)
“If we come back with our tails between our legs, I’m not goin’ out of my house,” Parypa joked. “But if it goes as good as I hope that it does ... I would like to (play locally) if there’s a venue that we agree to. We want to do it in a prominent (place). We don’t want to play some local tavern or anything.”
(Jasmin (http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/193696.html))
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2007/11/02/01/735-NWS1102_BAND_P2.standalone.prod_affiliate.5.jpg
The Sonics: Larry, Bob, Rob, Andy, and Jerry
(photo: Etiquette Records)
I used to work with Larry. Well, same company, same building. I did ask him about a photo at his desk once. And after he told me, I went home, dug out the two Sonics' vinyls we had, got really stoned, and listened to them. I knew some of the songs, but I'd never actually listened to the albums.
And yeah. They are all that.
Going AWOL was a great if not exactly calculated move. The band’s mystique has grown to near mythic proportions in its absence, bolstered by its acknowledged influence on bands that range from the Stooges to the Hives.
Some feel their raunchy riffs, surly mod demeanor and shocking lyrics about psychos, the devil and chugging strychnine paved the way for punk.
“They really were this kind of proto-punk rock band,” said Experience Music Project curator Jacob McMurray. “I can imagine at the time (their music) came out, parents of kids that were fans of the Sonics being scared of the Sonics.”
McMurray sees an even more blatant connection to grunge.
“You could listen to (Mudhoney’s) ‘Touch Me, I’m Sick,’ and you compare it to ‘The Witch’ and you know – wow – this could be the same band,” he said.
Still, it took years for the Sonics themselves to realize just how much influence they had.
“We just started seeing stuff a long time ago – Patti Smith and then the Sex Pistols and then Nirvana,” he said. “All these major Seattle groups that are millionaires – and we’re not – they all said that one of their primers of rock ’n’ roll was listening to the Sonics.”
Roslie said he gets a kick out of checking his royalty statements and seeing where Sonics music is being played – increasingly, places like England, Germany, France and Japan.
“The whole thing has just blown our minds,” he said. “When we quit I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, and (we’ll) go do other things.’ It is really mind blowing because it’s such a rare thing that somebody’s been out of business for 40 years. So needless to say we’re really pleased, and we realize what a lucky break that is.”
(Jasmin (http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/193696.html))
See Also:
• Bring the Noise (http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/ej/?cat=652)
• The Sonics, live @ Cavestomp 2007 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ityrrkSdvHo)