The Paranoid Squirrel ep 445

This week I ventured out of the Studio into the realms of gigland and found myself at The Forum in Kentish Town to see a band so influential that without them the Garage scene as we know it today wouldn’t exist. Who am I talking about? The Sonics of course. Influencing everybody from Bruce Springsteen through The Cramps, Nirvana, The White Stripes and The Damned.  If you’re not familiar with the band name you sure will have heard of some of their recordings. They popularised the Richard “Louie Louie” Berry “Have Love Will Travel” from which all subsequent covers have been based, with their own “Strychnine” covered by artists as diverse as The Fall, The UK Subs The Surf Trio and the aforementioned Cramps. The band formed in Tacom, Washington State in 1960 but it wasn’t until four years later that the classic line-up of Gerry Roslie on vocals and keys with Bob Bennett on drums, saxophonist Rob Lind and the Parypa Brothers of Larry and Andy on guitar and bass got together and recorded “Here Are The Sonics” and “Boom” on the Etiquette Record label in 1965 and 1966 respectively. The band sort of finished around 1968 but the name carried on featuring no original members until 1980. However three of the classic era line-up were persuaded to reform for The Cavestomp Garage Rock Festival in Brooklyn at the beginning of November 2007. At the end of January this year news broke that the band would be releasing a brand new studio album on the 31st March, their first in over 40 years, called “This Is The Sonics”. And this is the Sonics live at The Forum, Kentish Town 30th July 2015.