The Boom Booms

It’s boom, not bust, for East Vancouver’s funk-soul band of brothers and friends The Boom Booms.

Fresh from playing Penticton’s Boonstock festival and Gatzke Orchards in Oyama this past summer, the six-piece indie-soul band is back in the Okanagan with new sophomore album, Love is Overdue.

Made up of siblings, childhood friends and family ties, the Boom Booms are on a western Canadian tour that stops in Vernon’s The Green pub Friday, Feb. 27.

The band has been receiving plenty of praise for its sophomore album, which includes some heavy hitters on the production credits including Grammy-award winner Chin Injeti (who has worked with Drake, Eminem, Pink, and Vernon’s own SonReal) and L.A.-based producer DJ Khalil (Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent).

Described as R&B, Love is Overdue draws more on the band’s childhood influences such as Bill Withers and Al Green

“If you listen to our first album and EP (2011’s Hot Rum) we had a mix of Caribbean influence, Latin influence, a very West Coast sound. This album we haven’t been travelling around as much but it is basically an R&B album,” said lead vocalist Aaron Ross, when interviewed by Black Press reporter Kristi Patton in the summer. “It is a matter of what we were feeling and we wanted to hone into one thing and not spread ourselves into too many sounds... It mostly stays in that funk-soul genre.”

Besides releasing their album in 2014, The Boom Booms were also featured on Aloe Blacc’s platinum selling single The Man, which became the feature track for the Beats by Dre commercial starring Kevin Garnett of the National Basketball Association.

This past summer, they not only played Boomstock, but headlined at the Vancouver Jazz Festival and appeared at the Pemberton Music Festival, as well as hosted their own music festival, the East Van Summer Jam, which was an evolution of the band’s charity block parties.

“We grew up in East Vancouver and this community is changing so fast, we just wanted to get money and be ambassadors in our own way. We want to make money to give back to the community,” said Ross. “It is all about supporting grassroots projects that involve youth. We also work with communities in Nairobi, Uganda and Brazil too.”

The band’s connection to Brazil can be seen in the 2012 documentary Boom Boom Brazil, which followed members on unpredictable adventures as they toured Brazil and were immersed in native traditions and customs.

“We long had the idea of doing a travel music show and pitch it to a television network, and we still do. We would like to do Haiti, Cuba, the Congo and learn about the music and also report on important social issues going on in that country,” said Ross. - The Morning Star

Just as the band’s name suggests, the Boom Booms are set to explode with their latest album.

“We brought these new sounds and it is deeper, bassier and sexier. It is nice,” said lead vocalist Aaron Ross, who with the band is about to return to perform at Gatkze Orchards in Oyama Sunday.

The six-piece Canadian indie-soul band based in Vancouver are putting the finishing touches on their sophomore album, Love Is Overdue. They have some heavy-hitters in the business on the production credits including Grammy-Award winner Chin Injeti (who has produced albums for Vernon’s own SonReal along with Drake, Eminem, and Pink) and L.A.-based producer DJ Khalil (Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent).

“If you listen to our first album and EP, we had a mix of Caribbean influence, Latin influence, a very West Coast sound. This album we haven’t been travelling around as much but it is basically an R&B album. It is a matter of what we were feeling and we wanted to hone into one thing and not spread ourselves into too many sounds,” said Ross.

One of the tracks, Real Love, is a single they released last summer and helped develop the overall feeling of their new, focused sound. Ross co-wrote some of the songs with Injeti for Love Is Overdue.

“That is the title of one of the songs on the album. We thought Love Is Overdue is so right because the album was overdue for us,” said Ross. “It is your typical R&B things and I also wrote a song If My City Was A Rich Girl that talks about gentrification in East Vancouver. It mostly stays in that funk-soul genre.”

The band consists of childhood friends and has taken them on international tours influencing the music scene in countries such as Brazil, Spain, Canada and the U.S. Each of the members share an appreciation for artists like Bill Withers and Damian Marley, causing their music to be drenched in rich, roots soul.

Ross had success with his debut album in 2008, Butterfly Man, with the party anthem When the Night. It reached No. 6 on the Much More Music chart and was featured in an episode of the teen drama series 90210.

Delivered, a ballad on the album, earned the award for Best Roots Song at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards in Nashville, TN. But it was the band’s first album ¡Hot Rum! that earned the Boom Booms a spot in Vancouver’s PEAK Performance Project. The second place win of $75,000 opened new opportunities for them.

“We decided that we wanted to not just use music as a means to travel the world, but to make a career for it and that is when we applied. It was the perfect jump start to get things going,” said Ross.

The Boom Booms produced and released their travel documentary, Boom Boom Brazil, with the help of prize money. It followed the band on unpredictable adventures as they toured Brazil and were immersed in native traditions and customs. It also raised awareness of the Belo Monte Dam’s impact with candid discussions with locals and stunning videography. It caused the production crew some trouble because they didn’t have official documentation to film and were asking questions about the construction of the controversial dam. Then the director caught malaria and another member of the production team was robbed and stabbed in the arm. Still, the idea of exposing social issues and the cultural impact music has on its people keeps the Boom Booms wanting to pursue the concept more.

“We’ve loved the idea of doing a travel music show and to pitch it to a television network, and we still do. We would like to do Haiti, Cuba, the Congo and learn about the music and also report on important social issues going on in that country,” said Ross.

Since the documentary, the Boom Booms have only been rocketing upwards. Last year they were featured on Aloe Blacc’s smash single, The Man. The platinum selling song became the feature track for the Beats by Dre commercial starring Kevin Garnett of the National Basketball Association.

This year, they have been invited to the Pemberton, Squamish, Invermere and Boonstock music festivals and will play the PNE in Vancouver among a number of other gigs on their summer tour. They haven’t forgotten their roots in Vancouver though. They started a small block party in 2008 with a bare bones stage and barbecue to raise funds for the community they grew up in. Last year they raised around $14,000 for non-profit group The Music Tree and the annual event has evolved into the East Van Summer Jam featuring a number of bands.

“We grew up in East Vancouver and this community is changing so fast, we just wanted to get money and be ambassadors in our own way. We want to make money to give back to the community,” said Ross. “It is all about supporting grassroots projects that involve youth. We also work with communities in Nairobi, Uganda and Brazil too.”

About to return to Oyama after performing one of the most popular concerts ever at Gatzke Orchards last summer, the Boom Booms are bringing special guest and producer of their new album, Chin Injeti.

One of the founding members of Bass Is Base, Injeti is currently a member of the New Royales and is promoting his new album, The Reverb, coming out in the fall.

“I can’t wait for some peace and tranquility on the orchard by the lakes and to be inspired in Oyama, but be prepared as I’ll be bringing down some funk,” said Injeti. - BC Local News

You think community isn’t important? Take a look at the Boom Booms, dummy.

Some of the tightest, smoothest, sexiest soul and funk produced in the city right now comes courtesy of six guys who all grew up within a few blocks of each other on Vancouver’s East Side.

“I can walk around and still see everybody, friends that I see kicking around Hastings Street or the Drive that I went to school with,” says vocalist Aaron Ross, calling the Straight the day after a show in Penticton. “That’s one of the challenges as housing prices go up. I think it’s important for everybody to feel a sense of place and belonging. That’s what it comes down to, and ideally you also have a sense of tradition that’s rooted in something and passed down. I grew up in the same house where my grandpa grew up. And that’s cool! I like being there!”

With an ineffable groove that won them $75,000 at 2011’s Peak Performance Project and made them nascent stars in Brazil (where groove is a birthright), you could speculate that the Boom Booms’ chemistry comes from a lifetime of shared experiences and psychic proximity to one another. You could further speculate that the band’s relentlessly positive outlook comes from that same place of emotional security, as on their recent blue-eyed single “Real Love”. Or you could put it down to Michael Jackson.

“We’re listening to Off the Wall and Thriller,” answers Ross, when asked what’s in rotation in the tour bus. “They’re both such incredible records, man. We’re listening to that not just cause we like it but because, man, we gotta play in that pocket and write those funky lines and those funky tunes.”

The pocket was already there on the Boom Booms’ Latin-spiced 2011 debut album ¡Hot Rum!. With “Real Love” and the material the band has recently worked up for its forthcoming album, Love Is Overdue, the Boom Booms have toned down their more exotic inclinations and focused hard on making a straight-ahead soul record. Producer Chin Injeti was the obvious choice for the job, suggesting, among other things, an “Al Green-y kinda thing” for the Hammond-washed slow jam that gives the album its title.

“It’s been a treat getting to work with that guy,” says Ross, whose speaking voice is every bit as euphonious as his vocal work. He wanted to be Otis Redding when he started singing at 17, but as Injeti told him, “You can do the smooth thing”—and he does. The singer continues, smoothly: “We’ve definitely got something beyond the regular producer-band thing. We’re building together. He knows those genres that we’re referencing. We’ll be in the studio and maybe Tom’s playing a guitar part, and he’s like, ‘Nah, give me a Prince 1984,’ or, ‘Take it to Philadelphia,’ or he’ll be able to drop a reference to a certain track. He’ll say, ‘Listen to this, this is what you guys are trying to do.’ And we’ll listen—and it’s totally it.”

In short, Injeti has helped sex up the Boom Booms’ package, which is now primed for long, slow fucking. You can hear (or even act upon) the results when the band headlines the first annual East Van Summer Jam fundraiser in Strathcona Park this Saturday. They’ll be bringing the limited-edition East Van Summer Jam Mixtape with them—a five-track preview of the full-length (which is released later in the summer).

The Summer Jam itself, meanwhile, is the Boom Booms’ way of giving back to the borough that raised them. Proceeds from the fundraiser, which also features the Rascalz, the Funkhunters, and the New Royales, go to Ross’s nonprofit, the Music Tree. In past years, the Music Tree has donated money to organizations like the Vancouver-based CLICK (Contributing to Lives of Inner-City Kids).

See? See what kind of good things happen when you don’t trade in your neighbourhood for a bunch of glassy condos and a Whole Foods minimall? - The Georgia Straight

The East Vancouver rapper collaborates with the East Vancouver band to record an East Vancouver song.

Juno-nominated rapper SonReal has had a very big couple of years. The Vancouver-based artist put out a joint tape with Toronto native Rich Kidd in 2012 which saw the duo trade bars over top of Kidd's luxurious production. Last year, SonReal released a handful of singles in anticipation of his new mixtape, one of which was "Everywhere We Go," the infectiously catchy song with a hilarious accompanying video. Now, SonReal has finally put out his solo effort, One Long Day, which features production and guest features from some of the most talented individuals to come out of Canada in recent memory.

To celebrate the release of One Long Day, SonReal hooked up with fellow East Vancouver residents, The Boom Booms, to perform "Let Me" off his new album. Since the two acts only lives a few blocks away from each other, they linked up for an almost-impromptu basement studio jam session. The visuals come courtesy of Dane Collison and Dave Ehrenreich, and "Let Me" is produced by 2oolman. - Noisey

"Aaron's music combines the raw emotional intensity of Ben Harper and the cultural diversity of Manu Chao, with a sound that harkens back to old time folk and soul." - CBC Radio 3

Quick question for all you students out there: have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a 'real' band perform at your high school? Chances are, many music lovers have. And those at Moscrop Secondary School have to wonder no longer after Vancouver-based soul-reggae band, The Boom Booms, showed up to play a few tunes at Woodstock, the school’s annual spring festival.
The Boom Booms formed in 2007, and released their debut album, iHot Rum!, in 2011. That year, they participated in the Peak Performance Project - BC’s most prestigious contest for emerging musicians - and went on to win second place.

The band had the crowd energized immediately after coaxing everyone to step past the tape - separating the spectators and performers - on the ground a few feet away, and come right up to the stage. They played a few original songs, along with a cover of Nelly’s ‘Ride Wit Me.’ All in all, it was a great time. Thanks to The Boom Booms for coming out! - The Permanent Rain press

The Boom Booms are coming back to town with some “Real Love”.

The East Vancouver-based group finished a 50-date North American tour this past summer and then released their first single Real Love in September, with Grammy-Award wining producer Chin Injeti.

Lead singer Aaron Ross said the group thoroughly enjoyed the recording process.

"This particular song has had a magical quality to it ever since we wrote it,” he said in a press release. “Recording the song with Chin at Armoury Studios was one of my favourite musical moments ever. We had a bunch of our friends and family in the studio passing rum around while we recorded the choir backups and then the lead vocals on it.

“Once the parts were done we just kept it on repeat and had a dance party and man, the real love was flowing! So now we're excited to share it and look forward to people having their own beautiful experiences to this song."

The Boom Booms are performing at the Parksville Community and Conference Centre on Friday, November 15 at 7 p.m.

The Boom Booms formed in 2008 as a six piece band playing a mixture of folk, reggae, latin and soul, among other influences.

In 2011 The Boom Booms released their debut Album Hot Rum and earned a spot in the Peak Performance Project, B.C.’s biggest contest for emerging bands. They snagged second place in that contest and a cash prize of $75,000.

Ross told The NEWS this summer that five out of the six people in the band are former tree-planters and they’re all environmentally conscious. That’s why they protested the Belo Monte Dam project, a complex slated to be the second-largest hydroelectric dam complex in Brazil and the world's third-largest. They have released a travel documentary titled Boom Boom Brazil with live shows, interviews with activists, jams with local musicians, and an appearance by the band’s idol, Manu Chao. - The Parksville Qualicum Beach News

Stabbed, robbed, sick with malaria in the Brazilian rainforest and chased out of town by men with guns. That's what members of a Vancouver production company had to endure when they travelled to Brazil with Vancouver-based rock band The Boom Booms to film a documentary released online Thursday.

Boom Boom Brazil, the 22-minute documentary filmed and produced by Point Blank Creative, was released as part of International Day of Action for Rivers, an environmental campaign aimed at raising awareness for watersheds and the dams that threaten them. The documentary follows the six-man band over a 3-month musical tour of Brazil.

When the band learned of the Belo Monte Dam, a controversial hydroelectric project being built on the Xingu River in northern Brazil, they decided they had to see it for themselves, said bassist Geordie Hart.

That's when the group started attracting some unwanted attention.
"We started overturning some stones and asking some questions," Hart said. "I guess the equivalent of the Brazilian FBI or the Brazilian secret service found out that we were there."

Producer and director Jorah Porteous said the group lacked official permission to film a documentary of any kind, let alone one involving the contested dam, which, when completed, will be the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world, according to environmental groups.
Before the group was chased out of town, Porteous caught malaria. But the group's troubles didn't end there. Nathan Lusignan, the CEO of Point Blank Creative, said he took a wrong turn in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival and a trio of men jumped him with a rusty knife.
"I was actually trying to give them my stuff, but I couldn't get my iPhone out of my pocket with a knife to my throat," said Lusignan. "Eventually he just started to jab me in the shoulder."

Porteous said he hopes the documentary will contribute to a greater level of awareness for environmental and indigenous issues.
"People should really be learning about what's happening on some of the remaining frontiers of the world, because it's really important both from an environmental and also a cultural perspective," he said. - Metro Vancouver

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 - Monday Magazine

The Boom Booms are a six-piece Latin-soul-funk-rock-reggae band, forged from friendships born on the schoolyards, soccer fields, café patios and, eventually, bars of East Vancouver.

They make music that makes people want to dance, or “get up and love somebody,” as lead singer and guitarist Aaron Nazrul calls it, and will be performing on Aug. 1 at the Snoring Sasquatch.

Whether breaking into song and dance on the streets of Paris, storming stages with Congolese musicians in Brussels, playing to thousands at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival or serenading abuelitas in South America, the charming sextet is able to reach across cultural barriers and connect with people of all stripes, on levels equally rhythmic and emotional.

The video for their 2007 feel-good party anthem When the Night made it to No. 6 on the Much More Music countdown in 2008, and was optioned for a recent episode of 90210. Delivered, a surreal banjo ballad that conjures up images of a jungle river baptism, earned them the award for best roots song at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards, which are judged by the world’s largest independent music organization.

The talented lineup is Aaron Ross on vocals and Latin-friendly nylon guitar, Geordie Hart on stand-up, sit-down and strap-on bass, Sean Ross on vocals, ukulele/cavacino, Tom Van Deursen on black, sexy electric guitar, Theo Vincent on ragin’ percussion and drum kit, and Richard Brinkman on drums that he keeps deep in his pocket.

“Aaron’s music combines the raw emotional intensity of Ben Harper and the cultural diversity of Manu Chao, with a sound that harkens back to old time folk and soul,” said CBC Radio 3.

“The Golden Voice of the [Edinburgh] Festival. … Aaron pours his heart and soul into each and every song. … Definitely a talent to watch for in the future,” said Festival FM.

The group’s magnanimous influences include the Buena Vista Social Club, Gregory Isaacs, the Budos Band, Manu Chao, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Damian Marley, Otis Redding, Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, Ray LaMontagne, Tabu ley Rochereau and Paul Simon.

Their latest album, Hot Rum, is fresh on the market after a year in the pipeline. As the band tours this summer, the album can be purchased from shows and, soon, online. Aaron Nazrul’s previous release, 2007’s Butterfly Man, is available on iTunes. For more information, visit www.theboombooms.ca. - BC Local News

The Boom Booms are bomber!! What I’m saying is that The Booms Booms, a six piece Latin-soul-funk-rock-reggae band from Vancouver, could easily turn your Tuesday into a full-blown dance party. They offer a medley of musical stylings that could turn a Tuesday into an international musical odyssey. And really, who doesn’t want that? Touring veteran, Aaron Narul heads the group, vocalizing the sweet sounds of cultures beyond while strumming the latin-friendly nylon guitar. Geordie Hart on stand-up, sit-down and strap-on bass, Sean Ross on vocals + ukulele/cavacino, Tom Van Deursen on electric guitar, Theo Vincent on ragin’ percussion and drumkit, and Richard Brinkman on drums that he keeps deep in his pocket. The band plays with a confidence learned by touring the world, entertaining and connecting with people of all walks. The group’s influences are vast and can be heard in each of their songs. Echo’s of The Buena Vista Social Club, Gregory Isaacs, The Budos Band, Manu Chao, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Damian Marley, Otis Redding, Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, Paul Simon all resonate throughout their repertoire. The sound is going to get you to get up, dance, and love somebody. Major keys and uplifting messages of hope and love are the go here. Blow your Tuesday into an uplifting musical adventure with The Boom Booms. They will be gracing the stage of the Central bar in Fernie on Tuesday, October 11.

By Colin Lock - The Free Press