The Sonics – Here Are The Sonics

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK:

The Sonics – Here Are The Sonics

This week’s Recommendation of the Week is from a band that was my gateway into 60’s Garage Rock and who the catalyst for me to eventually discover an entire world of my favorite music.  Here Are The Sonics by The Sonics is a high energy, raucous, blistering album that, in 40 action-packed minutes, pushed Rock N Roll music into the future, bridging the gap between the 50s and Punk music. 

Here Are The Sonics, released in 1965, was the birth of Northwest Garage Rock, which was the original Seattle scene! Along with The Kingsmen and The Wailers (not Bob Marley’s Wailers), The Sonics were pumping out super high energy Rock N Roll in every gym, coffee house, VFW hall or wherever they could play. What they were really doing was showing how 3 chords can create a musical explosion, and if you can get your hands on a cheap guitar, and if you have the look, attitude, determination, and energy, you can start a killer Rock N Roll band!  Carrying on in the tradition set by their predecessors… Ritchie Valens, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran, they sent high voltage shock waves through the heart of anyone who dared to listen! 

I first discovered this album when I was 18.  In the Spring of 1998, I was planning a fall transfer from from SUNY Fredonia to Berklee College of Music in Boston. I was on spring break, and after attending an enrollment seminar at Berklee, I decided to go record shopping. I found this Record Store on Newbury Street. It was a small shop, and it specialized in Mod, Freak Beat, Psych, Garage, Punk and Heavy Metal records. Heavy Metal is what drew me in, but I ended up walking out with a reissue copy of Here Are The Sonics, upon a recommendation from the guy behind the counter. It was actually playing in the store and I couldn’t get enough of it! What an amazing curated selection this store had! I loved their records, set up, musical knowledge and couldn’t wait to go back. However, the next time I was in Boston, in late summer of 1998, the store was gone. I don’t even remember the name, but it was on the first floor of a brownstone somewhere in the middle of Newbury Street. Such was the story with record stores in the late 90s… here today, gone tomorrow.

What a bummer.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, that Sonics album would later open the door for me to discover the music that has shaped my life. From that day, I started down the path of diving into 60s Garage music, which led me to the Nuggets collections, the Psychedelic music of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, Love, the world of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, which then led me to The MC5, The Stooges, David Bowie, Punk, Post-Punk, etc... all the music that I love and then some! What all those bands have in common is a driving pulse, an undying spirit, and an attitude! Here Are The Sonics had an influence on so many genres and styles to follow. The simplicity found in its core is timeless, and is the same pulse found in every Rock N Roll song ever made.

If you’ve ever heard ‘Strychnine’ by The Cramps, they capture the spirit and energy of The Sonics beautifully.  Their version is raw, dirty and full of all the angst that makes Rock N Roll so great!

It has been said that you can’t kill Rock N Roll. You can agree or disagree, but when you feel what’s at the core of music like Here Are The Sonics, you realize that you really can’t!

Give this album a listen and I promise you’ll hear everything great about Rock N Roll… what we all love about it! It can be found here. If you love that raw, gritty, high energy angst and an undying spirit, I can assure you, you’ll absolutely love The Sonics!

Essential Track: ‘Strychnine’