| Sonic Boom Six – Bigger Than Punk Rock Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
This is why I absolutely love the radio clip at the start of "The Rape of Punk to Come;" "They are punks, those who threw out the commercial disco sound in the 70s for something else..." Punk was never about 4/4 time signatures and shouted vocals over three chord progressions. Punk was never about who owned the latest Fred Perry top, who wore braces and had massively crazy-coloured hair. Punk was simply a triumph of being different - and that's why "it's not about choosing guitar or the decks, it's doing it yourself that gets the respect." Ben is able to rattle off so many punk references, such as Minor Threat and Strike Anywhere, whilst still retaining the fact that he himself is more a folk singer, and the Boom are a reggae-punk-hip-hop-dancehall-hardcore soundclash of absolutely everything and anything. And it sounds amazing. The song is a view on how "punk" can be "anti-punk" - "not America, we're in UK, gonna' sing it like we're from UK," they're not every single "punk" band that adorns the pages of Kerrang! and similar popular magazines. Punk isn't simply a fashion, where thousands of guyliner-wearing kids can conform to one idea, and sing the words to Green Day's "Minority" in unison and not see the irony. If the Ruff Guide to Genre Terrorism was your first experience of Sonic Boom Six, yes, it is their first album, but not their first recording. This song harbours similar views to "Play Inna Day" on the Sounds to Consume EP - "all the stickers in the world on your guitar don't change the sound if it's a birthday toy, when you rock a reggae riddim like a middle class white boy!" Sonic Boom Six are quite possibly the most punk band I've ever seen, and that includes Rancid - they came into my life as Grimace, when I was a young teenager, bored of the staleness of the "third wave" ska punk scene arguably started by the Bosstones in the 1980s and kept the same for the last 20 years. I've always hoped that their label, Rebel Alliance Recordings, and the bands on it, being all so incredibly different to the norm as they are, might help to usher in a new, "fourth-wave" - where nothing is simply defined by a pre-existing idea, and nobody's afraid to mix it up a bit for fear of scorn from elitist wankers. Revolution is more than sound. :) |
|
| Sonic Boom Six – Through The Eyes Of A Child Lyrics | 15 years ago |
|
I feel obliged to post up what I have discerned to be King Django's lyrical contribution to this song, as misguided and inaccurate as it is: So, whatcha' lookin' at? Got a problem witcha' eyes? You don't? Then maybe I gi' ya' one, now don't look so surprised! Cut you outta' ya' clothes, so you had better recognise, I'm like a steppin' razor, I'm dangerous, so don'tcha watch my size! (... hello Peter Tosh) I don't believe in your love, I've only ever been abused, Accused of takin' advantage of the beaten, and broken, and bruised, (I have no idea what he says here, something about the children at school? :P) So don't you try to trick me, and tell me that I am the one that's confused. As for the actual song, well. I'm not gonna' try going too pseudo-English student on everyone, but it suggests not only the robbing of the innocence of youth, but also how this "damage" to the children of the present day can be passed on from generation to generation. The child in question doesn't appear any older than nine, yet he's grown up too fast through a rough life on the streets and the perils of a harsh domestic environment, be that for whatever reason. I personally love how the writer has adamantly taken the side of the boy in question - "bless the rough little boy, growing up too fast, now the die's been cast." He's the product of a harsh environment, the effects (a lack of) nurture has over nature. I love this suggestion, purely because I myself can relate - having to grow up too fast as a working class child on the streets of London town isn't easy by any means, and so many the world over turn to crime, drugs and gangs simply because they know no better and are demonised by society; even before doing so, forcing them to act that way - Paradise Lost's "I could've been thy Adam" springs to mind. This song provides not only a glimpse into the perspectives of a broken child, but also a chilling but strangely accurate commentary on the society that broke him in the first place. King Django's guest vocals bring the song "full-circle," as it were, the words of the child in question, providing the listener with a "response" to both the writer's views on the child and how society has depicted him. This child has no cares for the politics and biases of society, he doesn't know how a class system or unfairness in Westminster (or any government for that matter) has forced him into this position. He doesn't know that his family who may mistreat him may have been mistreated and abused themselves. All he cares about is "cutting you outta' your clothes," where the next meal is coming from (it's no surprise that Laila - I will say Laila, 'cause she's singing, but the narrator could be anyone - is holding a takeaway, a seemingly normal thing for "us," but a treat seemingly out of reach for the child) and how he'll survive through the next week hounded by the guns and drugs and crime of the streets. A word on the live performance of the song, because I've heard different vocals in place of Django's, and they all seem to fit (just for some perspective). Barney has written another verse, which I don't remember any of at this present time, but it's similar to the one on record. I've also heard him replace the lyrics with the Skints' "too much violence and bloodshed inna' my hometown, inna' my hometown!" refrain from "GET ME!" - a song about incredibly similar subject matter ("We stay unreported, like a jackin' on the bus, wi' de man too scared a' repercussions fi' de dish the dirt on us, and I'm a fearless lickle mug who really couldn't give a fuck..."). I have also written my own lyrics for this part, drawing from my own experiences "inside the M25" - "Ya' make a mistake, an' dem the sound a' the police, another stab, another shooting onna' these London streets..." Other songs I'd suggest you listen to include: Peter Tosh - Steppin' Razor The Skints - "GET ME!" Dirty Revolution - Where Are The Police? (EP version, the Before The Fire version cuts a verse) Sonic Boom Six - Meanwhile, Back in the Real World Jaya the Cat - The Carnival Damian Marley - Stand A Chance Rise Against - Voices Off Camera There are probably loads more, but... I've already written too much. Anyway, that's what this song means to me, and until this day, Through the Eyes of a Child remains my favourite Sonic Boom Six song. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.