The rolling conga drumbeats and snake rattles heard on the Boom Booms’ tracks conjure up scenes of tropical escape, so it’s not hard to discern by listening to them that the six-piece indie soul outfit likes to travel.
In fact, the local sextet often leaves Vancouver before penning an album, whether their adventures take them to New York City, New Orleans, Mexico, Cuba… the list goes on.
Since the band hit the road with its latest album Love is Overdue nearly a year ago, the Boom Booms are home to celebrate seven years of making music.
“Writing songs was just a hobby of mine, really, until I went to South East Asia. [I was] travelling around and wrote a bunch of songs and I just decided to record them,” reveals lead vocalist Aaron Ross over the phone from his East Vancouver home.
Called Butterfly Man, Ross’ solo album became the Boom Booms’ unofficial debut, and ultimately what launched the band’s career. Seven years and two studio albums later, the Vancouver-based group is still drawing on its journeys to write music.
From motorbiking across South America and driving from one US coast to another in their signature yellow school bus, the Boom Booms always bring home a piece of culture from any place they go.
“I think we took a lot of inspiration when we went to Cuba and saw the music culture there and how live it is; how much everybody really knows and loves and feels the music. People dance, sing, and it permeates the entire culture,” says Ross, who is joined by his brother Sean on keys, bassist Geordie Hart, guitarist Tom Van Deursen, drummer Richard Brinkman and drummer/percussionist Theo Vincent.
“It was really like a revelation so we wanted to do that with our own band and we felt like that was something that was lacking in Vancouver.”
The troupe’s sophomore album, Love is Overdue, reveals themes of love and culture, all while boasting tight arrangements and a mastery of songwriting. Produced by Grammy Award-winning Chin Injeti, Love is Overdue is a 13-track record full of jazz cuts, Motown-style throwbacks and, ultimately, emotional complexity.
But as much as the brightly tuned guitars, funky R&B grooves and dreamy chimes may evoke images of distant, azure-blue beaches, the Boom Booms have a soft spot for their hometown.
Evidenced by their yearly block party, the East Van Summer Jam, the guys care about giving back where they grew up. In recent years, they’ve rounded up several other music acts all in effort to raise cash for charity. Having drawn a screaming crowd like a ‘60s boy band would — think of them as the Beach Boys with a philanthropic twist — it wasn’t difficult to fill the piggy bank.
“There started being enough people that we actually started making money off this thing, but we thought, ‘We don’t really see it as a moneymaking venture, so let’s donate it to charity,’” Ross explains.
“We did that for one year, two years, three years, and the last time we did that, which was 2012, we had about a thousand people in the alley and we raised $14,000 for charity.”
Organizations benefitted by the Boom Booms’ block parties include CLICK (Contributing to Lives of Inner-City Kids), the St. James Music Academy, and a few international charities.
Ross chalks the success up to the universality of music — with it, he and the band are able to accomplish just about anything.
“That’s another thing that attracted me to music,” he says. “It’s just like a master key. If you have a guitar in your hand, you can open any door.”
And, for the first time, the doors opening for the Boom Booms are those at a well-known Granville Street venue. The Boom Booms celebrate their seventh anniversary at the Commodore this Friday (Oct. 2), playing songs from Love is Overdue and more.
