Sonic Boom Six are a band that have been doing the rounds for the best part of 8 years now, they have always been one of Britains hardest working bands with their relentless touring and churning out so many decent albums. We were lucky enough to talk to drummer Neil McMinn and Bass/ Synth player James Boom ahead of their TWO sets at this years Vans Warped Tour UK!
HTF: Hey guys, how are you on this chilly sunday afternoon?
James: Very well thank you, how are you?
HTF: I’m good thanks, a bit ropey
J: How come?
HTF: I after partied last night
J: Ahh the after party
Neil: We went for a band curry last night
HTF: Ahh nice, going anywhere nice?
N: A place in Kenilworth Green..can’t remember what its called, Nick lives in London so its his local place
J: I recommend the mushroom Bahji
HTF: Ahh I’m allergic to Mushrooms
James: That’s a shame, they are one of my favourite things
HTF: Yeahh…You’ve been busy touring at the moment, with the likes of Hadouken! hows it been so far?
N: Yeah, we did the Hadouken! tour, which we finished about a week and a half ago which was great, good vibes on the tour, we got on really well with the band, its been hard getting our schedule sorted, we did a one off headline show in Manchester earlier on this year and then they got us on their latest tour, so yeah the crowd was good
J: Lucky for us as well, we actually played some of the dates that we are going to be playing in February
N: Yeah we got a tour in February so it was good to get out to some of the towns we will be playing, its nice.
HTF: Oh yeah, tour in February, with Rat Attack in support, have you played with them before?
J: Yeah know them quite well, they live at the studio we did our last album at so, you know we always had dinner around the table with them, very nice.
N: Very hospitable hosts.
HTF: Hows the reaction to the new album been so far?
J: You say new, its actually two years old now haha…but yeah on the whole really good, obviously some people remember the band from 8 years ago and they’ve had a few gripes with the electronic sounds, but its the minority.
N: Yeah it took us a while to get it out, but we were really happy with it, so yeah its gone down well.
HTF: Yeah you mention that you’ve added electronic sounds, was it something you were planning to put into the mix before writing the new album?
J: No it wasn’t, there was never the technology to do it before, so gradually as we have got new gear, we could incorporate more of the ideas that we had in the first place.
N: I think it was James’ first album and he likes to put a wob on anything haha…he would put a wob on a ballad this one haha…no its all good, so you know at first it was just finding the new sound with the new lineup, obviously Ben left, the old guitarist as he moved to America. Yeah James joined and it changed a tiny bit, but we have got this new sound now and we are writing a new album, so yeah we are just busy working on that at the moment.
HTF: Nice! Any ideas when the fans can expect the new album to drop?
J: Next year
N: We just literally writing, getting ideas together and getting into the habit of getting back together and writing it, getting in the same place, but yeah its going well.
HTF: You got two sets today one on the Jagermeister Stage and an acoustic set on the Punktastic stage as well, what can we expect?
J: Playing brand new tracks on both sets as well, so if anyone can check them out now is the chance.
HTF: Have you done many acoustic sets before because normally you are quite a lively band
J: Yeah, we did an instore, what was the store called?
N: Banquet Records
HTF: Oh yeah in Kingston
N: Yeah in there, we used to do it loads with the old lineup and the old guitarist had a lot of material that wasnt suitable for the full band setup and we actually released an EP, when Ben left we didnt do it as much, but its a really good way of not just doing big live shows, its good to get out there in different way, we have worked hard the past few weeks to make it sound perfect.
J: Some of the new tracks we are giving them a more stripped down reggage vibe
N: We are actually getting a new tune ready for it now.
HTF: The UK is producing a lot of fantastic talent at the moment, what bands do you look at think, Yes they are going to be the next big thing?
J: I’d like to see Gnarwolves get to that next stage up, i’ve got friends who absolutely love them, Rat Attack as well you know
N: I was about to say Rat Attack, I love the Rat Attack guys, they have got so much energy as well, they are really enthusiastic and they are really good at what they do, we always try and select support bands we have on tour, we are going to take those guys out on the February tour and obviously there will be locals each night from each town, you know its in our interest to have a really good bill every night.
HTF: I saw you posted on Facebook a days ago, Bassist with Dogs, featuring your very own Barney, would you ever try and re-created the marvellous photo-shopping from that article?
J: haha I don’t think it will be allowed, plus Dogs don’t like to be picked up as much, holding them half an hour would not be a good idea
N: But Sublime used to go on the road with their dogs, Barney is the one holding the animal and he has an allergy to animal hair, so he would be sneezing the whole time.
HTF: Just like to say, its been cool chatting to you guys
J: Thanks for interviewing us, normally nobody wants to talk to us haha
N: You didnt get to choose we just came up
HTF: haha its been a pleasure
N: Nice one
J: Yeah thanks man
Interview by: James Hingle
