Bangarang (Bungarung!)

Lots of things are happening. I think we’ve all reached a point in our career where our minds happily balance thinking about where we have been and where we are going. A trusty leather bag of world adventures in the rear mirror and a whole bunch more out the front windshield keeps us motivated and gives a smooth path for the music to wander down and out of our mouths and hands on. We’ve been back in our fair city of Vancouver, BC for almost a month now, after a packed out homecoming show at the Electric Owl (Adam I have your jerry can by the way, thanks for the clark-side gas saving mission – I’ll get that back to you pronto!) with Maria and the Shower and Su Commandante.

We’ve been frequenting The Armory studios here, beginning to work on our new album with local beat/funk/hiphop/soul legend Chin Injeti… who is one of the coolest cats we’ve had the pleasure of working with. The control room of the studio is kind of like the bridge of the Enterprise. It’s so minty fresh in there. Chin is putting us through band boot camp in a different way than the PEAK did: this time it’s about the playing, and we are doing our best to find the zest and not make jests or rest… so we can pass the test and throw open the chest of groove gold and melodic magic and present you with our official sophomore album from THE BOOM BOOMS.

If you’ve ever been to The Armory, you’ll notice that the above photo is actually from The Warehouse Studios in gastown. That’s Bryan Adam’s spot. Why are we there, you ask? Are the boom booms full of shiz? No is the short answer: We had the pleasure of participating in the Strong Sessions, a fundraiser for GF Strong. We got to work with the very talented Sylvie and be her backing band for a lovely tune called “Little House In A Big World” (working title). Theo tracked some excellent mouth marimba for this tune, which you can find a video of on our facebook wall

We will be playing at Uptown Live! in New West this saturday at 6pm, along with most of the good bands in Vancouver… although when I look through the list I notice a few missing that I’d like to shout out, and that you should check out!
The Star Captains
Jackie Treehorn
Small Town Artillery
The Ponderosas
JP Maurice
Connor Roff
Tatiana Speed
Alex Badger
Carly Walde AKA Color The Wild
Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
and more… Vancouver Music 4 Life.

Tom
Boom Boom
Que Te Vayas Bien Mi Ciudad

The Tour & The Homecoming Show

Hey All.

We are finally home. East Van in all it’s spring time glory. There is something so nice about missing as many of the messy months as is manageable, you know? Before I get into the story, I’d like to let you know we are playing our homecoming show at the Electric Owl in Vancouver this Saturday. If you or some friends would like to attend, tickets are going fast, so head on over to this link to pick some up: http://boomintheshower-es2005.eventbrite.ca/?rank=1
This is going to be quite the show, with some new tunes we have never played in this city on the roster… and our pals Maria In The Shower are gonna crush a set as well. See you there!
Facebook Event Page

ok.

We drove down the west coast of the USA, played some great shows on the way. Stopped in LA. Then drove east for 2 whole days. Lost ourselves (and found a bunch of fans, friends, and wiiicked bands) in Austin, TX for SXSW. Then did another 2-day drive to Florida. And as soon as we got there, we caught a flight up to Toronto for Canadian Music Week. Saw HEART play. unreal! Played El Mocambo to a packed house. Good good people came out. Made our way via plane again to Miami and played 7 shows in 10 days down there, under the guidance of the ever-vigilant Black Key Group. Played at the SoHo house… that’s members only people! Who would have thought we’d be in there looking all clean and respectable and such. Well, the cool thing about being in a band is you get to infiltrate almost every imaginable environment (aside from deep space) for a night or two… you know, get a flavour. Suits, ties, shoes and cocktails on a Thursday, and then rice, beans and jeans on friday. Yes, we cook in the bus – yes, we make delicious food – yes we have hot sauce.

So after that we drove all the way back west across the states in 55 hours. here is the video.

Got ourselves to Los Angeles again and played to a full house, with the help of the good people at Balcony TV etc. Felt really good. A few more shows on our way north to Seattle… and then a flight down to Haiti. Covering in 4 hours by plane what took us nearly 8 days in the bus. Wow.

We flew to Haiti to help our treeplanting pals BRINKMAN & ASSOCIATES (mission headed by the one and only Erik Brinkman) establish a connection with Haiti and get involved planting some trees… well, a lot of trees – there to help combat the desertification of the country and provide a more cyclical, sustainable crop system down the line. This went really well, with an all-day earth summit well attended by the right people, and some good progress towards beginning this was made. We also flew to Haiti to explore the opportunity of a music school there… and see what kind of music Haitians are making. We got educated. Spent most of our time in the back of a pick-up truck, bouncing through the crazy traffic – we did an evening at a canadian-run orphanage and played soccer and music until the lightening was the only light to see by… and we jammed down in Citi Soleil after planting some trees around a brand new school.

Our good friend Alex Genis is building a little something of her own down there… add her up on twitter to get informed. @alexandragenis7

Our Music Tree Charity is designed to bring bands and artists together to fundraise simultaneously and globally, to put good energy and money where it is needed… we learned a lot in Haiti that will not only bring a new direction to our movement but also bring us back there many more times before our sun sets.

So, we are home… much more to tell but maybe you’ll hear some of it in a song on Saturday. Or buy us a drink and we’ll tell you anything!

With love
Tom
The Boom Booms.

Miami <3′s To Boom Boom

Laying Hot Rum To Rest

We love the album, we’ve played the songs thousands of millions (well, thousands) of times across the world in the last 3 years, and we are moved by the enjoyment that this record has brought to people from all over! It’s been a good run. And now we’re happy to say that the meat for our new album is on the grill. We’ve been road-testing these tunes, playing them and tweaking them and falling inside them to find their cores… Que rico! We’ve got a few more USA shows before we head back home for our May 4th homecoming at The Electric Owl. We’ll see you there Vancouver. We miss you.

Te Quiero

Boom.

The Journey Continues For The Boom Booms

What is happening world. May the birds of spring #tweet at you off many branches – may the caps of afternoon beers come off easily in your hands, and may the doors of opportunity open up to you like the gates of troy for that horse from monty python.

We are sitting in a cool, como mexicana casa in beautiful Miami, Florida. I’ll rewind the tape and tell you how we got here, what we did, and how much fun we had. (tape rewinding sounds)

We started in ol’ greycouver, after returning our tour van to east van and pulling the mighty big bus out of storage. Freshly equipped with new fuel filters and tactfully tweaked to traverse the terrain by Mr. Alan King of east van fame, she sounded better than ever. In fact when he stopped by Studio Pandora to have a look at the engine, he spent most of his time listening to it purr and grinning and nodding, kind of like we might at a slick groove or the tone of a maple drumkit played in a stairwell. So we packed ourselves inside our familiar road house on wheels and hit the border.

First stop after we crossed was those american outlet stores, all grouped together for our shopping convenience. The Boom Booms walked out of the complex with the most mint shoes and boots and pants and shirts, bro. If you’ve seen us in the states then you know what I’m on about. We stopped in and played Seattle at the Sunset Tavern. Shared the stage with Picoso, a great latin/urban groove band, and friends of ours. A good first show.

Then it was south bound. Made it to Eugene OR and had a big crew DRIVE out hours and hours to see us… I’m talking about the Bend crew and the Kate squad. you know who you are. Thank you.

Off to San Fran. Another show. Met a very tight trio called The Mark Sexton Band and explored the city because it was THEO’S BIRTHDAY! a brother is a year older!

Off to Los Angeles to hang out with Uncle Bruce G for a day. Revisited the spot where we wrote the first arrangement for “You Know”. We were just able to dig it out for you here:  You Know Demo

Hung out with the good folks at Balcony TV and ate enough pasta to put me in a coma. Hit the road at around 10:30pm for Austin Texas. Met a bunch of people along the way at rest stops and gas stations… it was like a pilgrimage to mecca. “You going to South By?” “See you at SXSW!” So after a 27+ hour drive with no stopping (minus one full top-to-bottom search by a texan policeman, who came away with a Boom Boom CD and a Shirt we pulled in to Austin as the sun poked it’s head up, and nestled in to the strip of grass owned by the amazing Laura, who opened her doors and allowed the Trojan Boom Horse to use her facilities and make hundreds of tacos in her kitchen. From her place, about 25 minutes on foot to the heart of the festival, we made frequent and long out-trips into the madness. SXSW is probably the coolest experience a band can have: when you aren’t attending a seminar on the expansion of your music career or drinking free, cold beer on the 4th floor rooftop patio of the convention center overlooking the city, you are taking in the sounds and sights of a new band about every 3-10 minutes. Constant stimulation! We collectively got to see The Budos Band, Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones, The Dap Kings, Allen Stone, Paramore, Hey Ocean, Current Swell, Gold & Youth, The Skatalites, Red Baraat, Ozomatli, Ain’t No Love and so, so many more.

This is a video re-capping our showcase day there.

our showcase was awesome. played to a nice full house at Maggie Mae’s with a bunch of friends and fellow canadian bands there. Our lovely publicist Teresa flew down and did a fantastic job helping to spread the boom sauce on Austin. Had a wicked dinner with the family of a friend of Geordie’s dad, and then closed out a sunday night at The Stage on 6th to a mostly hungover yet highly energetic crowd of locals and people left over from the epicness. Played right past closing time and had one more sleep before the equally draining 27+ hour drive to Miami!

Pulled in to Miami International and slept in the parking lot overnight, clandestine style. Got some suspicious looks from the gatekeeper as we skateboarded around… like “they sure do look at home here…”

Caught the 10am plane to Toronto. Then it was CMW time! Met with our whole management team from Paul Mercs Concerts come and support, not to mention take Aaron, Geordie and I out for a delicious lunch on game day. Stayed in a seedy hotel with half the band, about 2 blocks from our treeplanting girl Miryam’s casa… casa BOOM!

played our showcase at the legendary El Mocambo of rolling stone fame, and played to a packed house. Lots of old and new friends showed up for this one. Had a real hoot!

And now we are back in MIAMI with a string of Florida dates ahead of us! And then we’ll be cruising back across the states, playing some more shows on the way home (check our tour page for details, TOUR). Right before we get home though, we’ll be flying out of Seattle to Haiti………… more on that to come. The ball just keeps on rolling……….

Here’s the FB event page, which we’d like to you SHARE and INVITE your florida friends to, pronto!

Florida Shows

Thanks for tuning in.

Tom

Boom Boom.

SXSW Re-cap

and head over to our TOUR page for live details – we’re still on the road!

SXSW

The Road To SXSW is about to begin. Share this photo with your allies and friends if you believe Austin needs to BOOM BOOM. CLICK on the photo to travel to the SXSW event page of the show.

Winter Heat

Back on the road

Fuera el ciudad!

Woo frikkin hoo! We’re touring again! After a much-needed break over december, we re-formed the boom boom sextet in january and began prying open Aaron’s oysters to get at the pearls inside. We’ve traditionally approached songwriting from a group standpoint: Aaron might have a verse or chorus, some kind of white hot heat that come from above, and we would pack the whole operation into a jam space and write instrumentals to match up. It took a long time. So in the name of efficiency and creative space, our lead singer took his ass down to central america again, this time alone, and stayed on the beach writing the acoustic versions of songs on our new album. Then he came home and we broke into groups and attacked the tunes from different sides, building them slowly and meticulously up from blueprints to stage worthy songs. This took us through January and into February. Then it was time to hit the road.

I’m writing from some bar in the surprisingly art-stuffed downtown core of Calgary, Alberta (Canada) ((North America)) (((Earth))). Such cool art in this town! You wouldn’t think… or at least I didn’t. (therefore you wouldn’t?) Forgone is the afternoon beer – a slipperly slope – replaced by a nice large grilled burger. But back to business! We hit Invermere first, after braving the Coquihalla highway in the snow the night before with some wonky steering on the Boom van. Got it fixed in Kamloops and made the long haul. Last time we were there, we played a bit o’ shinny on the frozen lake behind resident soundman Oso’s remote cabin with the sun shining down, nutting cardboard goalies and having a real time. Awesome. This visit included a late night chat with local hotel aficionado James, and a setlist stuffed with new songs! They are finding their feet. Rolled out under bluebird skies and headed to Calgary to rock it with Lazer Cake (the bassist of which used to play with our very own sticky ricky!) and Class Action at The Palomino for Valentines day. “Take These Chains” got some slow dancing in motion and our brand-new “Idle No More” tune had a chorus of voices raised… we’re on your side. Go and google Idle No More if you don’t know what it’s about.

Golden’s show was at the Civic Center… an awesome building with salvaged support beams from the Columbia River Lumber Company, originally built in 1911 – they span the massive run of the ceiling and are capped on either side by fresh local wood, and they are huge. The show was a Masquerade Ball and Golden came out in force, decked out in their weirdest and best: An elvish knight, some pretty creative carnival costumes, and my personal favorites: two brothers that must have been around 7 and 9 who reminded me of my brother and I… they were the blues brothers, complete with microphones and cables dissapearing into their belt lines. They won the costume prize in their division. There is still JUSTICE in the world! Bill Usher was a great host.

Then it was off to Edmonton! Discussions on the long drive ranged from the hows, whens, whos and wheres of this summer’s block party to the new album. Rolled in to Edmonton and found out about a huge meteor that impaled Russia! Holy Shit! Check out the video…

ALIENS??

The show was at the revered Avenue Theatre, and our buddy and brother in arms Nathan Richards, who has brought us out to Edmonton before with great success, threw a wicked party. From my seasoned eye it looked to be about 350-400 people. Venue is very cool – concrete floors that slope away from the stage slightly and an upper mezzanine to peer over the crowd. Got our mojo in full swing here, highlights including a particularly enthusiastic version of “You Know”… and for some reason our Bill Withers/Blackstreet/Kool & The Gang Medley always lights shit up in this town! Thanks to house manager Jesse and his people for a well run event, too.

Then we played Red Deer on a Sunday and who would have known that it would be a killer night! Wicked venue called Slumland: an underground spot with checkered floors, a full wall of floor-to-ceiling mirrors and trippy, schizophrenic light rigging. Had a good turn-out (including 5 people from Kaslo!) and shared the stage with some local acts, including the talented Thomas Hutlet – go check him out.

So we’re on our way to the lovely Kootenays for our next run of shows, starting tomorrow at the Snoring Sasquatch in Creston, and moving through Kalso and Nelson before heading over to Merritt. Check the tour page for details! We are excited for all the new stuff in the pipeline this year, from songs to projects to block parties… and we are so happy and honoured to have all you along for the ride!

to leave you all, please enjoy this video of goats who bleet like humans, it’s so so awesome.

Tom

BB

En Vivo!

There are 17 new songs on the table.

In the meantime, a review from our latest Victoria show.

SOURCE: http://www.mondaymag.com/entertainment/190391591.html

“T-shirts emblazoned with “I luv to Boom Boom”  were proudly sported by many members of the sold out crowd at Canoe Brewpub Sat. Feb.2.  In case you were unable to attend, here’s what it means to “Boom Boom.”

The Boom Booms and are a high energy band of six guys from East Vancouver who write their own lyrics and music.  In the span of five years, they have developed a huge following and taken their craft across Canada, the U.S.A. and Brazil. They competed in the 2011 Peak Performance Project, a prestigious B.C. contest for musicians and took second place. Their style is a combination of Ray LaMontagne meets happy vibes! Their lyrics are honest, and inspiring, and celebrate the beauty of humanity, love and their youth. Throughout the evening the crowd lent their enthusiastic voices to many of the songs they knew from a band that has appeared in Victoria on a handful of occasions and as part of the Ska Fest in the past.

Lead singer Aaron Ross looks like he could be the handsome son of Fidel Castro and yet his sultry voice is distinctly his own.

The Boom Booms signature guitar sound flows from the hands of it’s youngest member Tom Van Deursen; he sounds like a skilled veteran player and throws down chords influenced by world music that scream get your dance on!

Drummer Richard Brinkman expertly contributed to the infectious rhythms.

Geordie Hart adds a flair of James Dean on bass. Percussionist Theo Vincent rallied the crowd to sing along to the Boom Booms classic, “You Know”  and then to join in on some Motown influenced dance moves; something the crowd jumped at!

Sean Ross is Aaron’s brother and he spun a delightful sound on his Cavaquinho, a Portugese four string ukulele.

The guys also mingled with their crowd at intermission, so you ended up feeling like you were at a house party with these talented musicians and new friends.  In spite of a huge stage presence, they follow the lead of solid blues bands, by giving each member an opportunity for a  solo performance tucked inside of a song. Saturday’s crowd was treated to an almost three hour dance party.

They dedicated their song “Fire” to the efforts  of the “Idle No More” movement and to people around the world working to protect the environment.

The encore saw Aaron introduce this mostly under 35 crowd to the old soul classic “Grandma’s Hands” and with his heartfelt rendition, he skillfully brought down the house .

If these dudes sold tickets so fans could join them on the road as they tour, no doubt there would be a long waiting list and some fans might never want to part company with this feel good dance band.

Last summer they raised $13,000.00 for a few of their favorite charities from a single concert. On my way out of Canoe, I spoke briefly with Tom and Aaron. Tom says “my favorite thing about The Boom Booms is how much of the world we’ve seen and how much of it we have left to see and I don’t see that changing in a long time.”

Aaron hopes his band of brothers will be able to continue touring Canada and the USA and keep breaking into both music markets.

This gang of troubadours is in the thick of bringing new lyrics and music together to be released on a CD for September 2013. Until then you can still get your Boom Boom on and check out their webpage to find out when they will be back in Victoria and to order their current CD “Hot Rum.” www.theboombooms.com”

Review by Teoni Spathelfer

arts@mondaymag.com

Winter Heat!

We’re writing a new album. We’re playing SXSW. We’re playing CMW. We’re driving all the way back to Miami because it’s worth it. However before we get into all this, we’re touring BC & Alberta! So head on over to the FB event page and get involved!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/329971847119025/

Boom Boom