Sonic Boom Six: Craufurd Arms
Posted by jamie on Apr 15, 2010
Sonic Boom Six, Knock Out
Anti-Vigilante, AWarAgainstSound
Crauford Arms, Milton Keynes
9th April, 2010
Jamie
Few things are better than enjoying the music, live, of a shared favourite band with friends. Pineapple Malibu, for example, is much too sweet, even for me, and will go down as a lesson learned. A trip to a particularly good chippy, though, is surely something that would enhance any night: that pretty much goes without saying.
On certain days, though, everything just seems to go turn out perfectly, and this was one of those evenings. That it would later include Guinness-punch and Jonathan Creek, both of which were very welcome surprises, is proof, if proof were needed, that I really should have bought a lottery ticket and that, where ideas are needed for a party, my friends consistently come up with the goods.
When Theo produced a green-headed devil/dragon thing that lives in a plastic ice-cream and whistles, well that was just the icing on the proverbial cake.
The Crauford Arms, as has been said, is a lot better than the Woughton Centre. Instead of swimming pools, a psychedelic 60s rock covers gig in the other room was the stark contrast to our gig in the back. There’s a cheesy line here somewhere about music’s past and it’s future next door to each other in the same bar. It just feels too corny to put in. They were nice enough when we came in to use the bar, though.
Problems with various sound-checks mean that AWarAgainstSound start late, giving us more time outside to eat award-winning chips but less time to actually watch them. Undeterred, AWAS race through twenty minutes (twenty minutes!) of tight, technical, old-style skacore. Last song Pull Your Twos Out Your Pocket is the only one I knew (it’s on the TNS Comp) but their short set kicks off a great pit for the minority who are early and also very hard, so that lot got to do their thing at high speed. AWAS also went down very well with us pint-holders, though: they bring a refreshing sincerity to the ska/hardcore thing, and rip through a collection of startlingly good songs with such energy and so much physical effort that a few of us are left breathless just standing still. They have a new record out, by the way, which will be well worth a look.
Anti-Vigilante, who played next, were also cut short. Keeping in mind that the two bands have just completed a whole tour of their own, getting them both in to open on this show was something of a coup all the same, and, at a home-town show, Anti-Vigilante go down a storm. It’s still relatively early, and a beautiful summer evening outside, so the room still has plenty of space in.
It’s starting to fill up, though, and beginning to glisten with shared sweat. Most of that remaining space is around a growing and frantically moving throng right in front of the band. It gets pretty heavy in there, so you’re either in or out.
Anti-Vigilante have a large and devoted fanbase in Milton Keynes, and, playing to them for the first time in a while, they get a rapturous response. They deserve it, too: I’ve watched them a few times in the last couple of months and they keep getting better and better. They also seem to get less skacore and a little more ska every time I watch them. Tonight was an especially skankable example, with sax and upstrokes to the fore. Not that it stops anybody down front from gleefully throwing themselves around. That little bit of extra room for skanking and pogoing works out a treat all the same, and an energetic set is eagerly gobbled up by an appreciative pit and enjoyed at the same time by a steadily growing crowd at the back of the room, all of us working our way further and further forward to take in what’s going on and to get more involved.
Tonight was the second time in a week, and also the second time ever, that I’ve seen Californian punkers Knock Out, and both times I’ve been very impressed. A four-piece with two guitars (and no horns), they’ve got an impressive musical range, moving from the harder end of pop-punk to breezy, easy-going reggae with accomplished ease and confidently dominating the stage and the room in that way that US bands seem to be particularly good at. Knock Out hold the room pretty effortlessly and, once that respect has been earned, we’re all bobbing and swaying with them. Their cover of Madness’ It Must Be Love* is a particular highlight, and, put in earlier in Milton Keynes than it was in Birmingham, still provokes lines of sweaty arms over sweaty shoulders and has all of our heads slung back and happily singing along. We rock out with them too, and a good time is had by all. I was really impressed by these guys.
On nights like these, where everything happens just how you’d want it to, the Sonic Boom Six have a happy knack of showing up and starting a party. I still credit them, by the way, with the greatest gig I’ve ever seen.
This isn’t the first time they’ve played without Ben Childs, but it was meant to be. Matt Crosher’s misfortune on the Rebel Alliance Tour meant that new guitarist Jimmy T Boom actually made his debut in High Wycombe. In the dusty, sweaty heat and the half-light here, though, the first real sign of his presence is a dirty dub beat underneath the intro to Welcome to the City of Thieves. In his own words, Jimmy is “all about bass that goes right through you, and dubstep that f*cks you up”. We’ll take that first beat as a downpayment.
The Sonic Boom Six enter and open with Polished Chrome and Open Kitchens.
Meanwhile, Back in the Real World and The Strange Tale of Sid the Strangler come next, setting the tone for a set that’s taken mainly from the two most recent records, City of Thieves and 2007’s Arcade Perfect, which gets its American release shortly when they head over to the US, again with Knock Out. Laila’s “sshh” gesture, silencing a screaming crowd before the first words of Meanwhile, Back in the Real World still works really well, and, hushed and brought to a standstill by that, we immediately spring back in to life on “never one to break any rules..”. It all basically goes off from here on.
I wasn’t the only one to notice that the vibe in MK was friendlier in Milton Keynes than it was in Birmingham on Tuesday. That meant that, as there wasn’t as much full-on moshing and rocking out going on, there were more bodies down at the front jumping around, partying and swapping sweat with each other. I still smashed heads with three people, but the speed with which we scooped each other off the floor is a credit to the camaraderie and general goodfeeling in the pit. We still climbed all over each other to get an “Awooo” in in Strange Transformations, mind. New song Bandito sees Jimmy get his own special introduction and is really well received. Chants of “Oi! Oi! Oi!” go up during th verse, and Laila’s got a cool little “Ah-aaaaaaah” bit. The other new song, Shockwave, is more of a ska song and promises to be a real live hit. After that, the “Sonic Boom Six self-indulgence bit” sees us all under instruction to rock out to Jericho and For 12 Weeks, the City is Theirs - as if it’s possible to do anything else.
Barney gets his own little freestyle, dedicated to AWarAgainstSound and Anti-Vigilante who “bring a tear to his eye”. It’s about how important it is to nurture new bands and how tough it can be for them to break through, and it works really well in the live set. At the second time of asking (in Milton Keynes, at least), it leads in to Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang and then Ya Basta, both done without samples this time. Next up is the band’s addictive new cover, Puretone’s Addicted to Bass, where the bass really does go right through you. It is one of those songs you know that you know but can’t actually place until it kicks in, and that’s where we went totally nuts. The total opposite happens to The Rape of Punk to Come: when the opening lines of roll through the room it’s recognised immediately and a perfect end to hectic, sweaty set.
We were begging for more by then, though, and rewarded with Rum Little Scallywag, in which Nick plays trombone for the first time tonight, and finally Bigger Than Punk Rock, where he doesn’t. It works well with the guitars, though, and, though there is a feeling of watching a different band, what they’ve done has definitely worked: there’s enough of the classic Boom that we know and love in there too. There have, of course, been a few tweaks to the set-list, but those old favourites haven’t gone anywhere and the new material sounds absolutely fantastic. It was a stunning end to a great show and a great night out: Milton Keynes knows how to party.
Oh, and if you missed Jonathan Creek, the guy’s wife didn’t die: she helped him kill another woman and then dressed the body in her own clothes. I think. We weren’t really watching.
*It was Madness’s It Must Be Love that they were playing. Labi Siffre wrote it, but he didn’t play it like that.
