The Boom Booms want you to bring your A-game.
“That means booty shorts, revealing clothing, shiny shoes, hands in the air, sweat on the brow, music on the lips,” said Tom Van Deursen, the lead guitarist for the Vancouver indie soul band, who will be playing at Spiritbar (which he called a “dungeon of dancing”) at 10 p.m. on July 11.
The sextet of guys, who released their single Real Love in September, have cultivated a reputation as a party band akin to LMFAO. They originally came to prominence when they took second-place during the Vancouver’s Peak Performance Project in 2011. More recently they were featured in a commercial’s song starring Kevin Garnet of the NBA. But none of that is as important as producing music that brings people together, Van Deursen said.
“We used to be an eclectic band that did a lot of traveling. Spain, Brazil, Cuba, Europe, Central America, Mexico. So we’re very influenced by the vibrant cultures and the family values and the unanimous approach to music,” he said.
“There are folk songs in Mexico that everyone knows the words to. There are samba tunes in Brazil that everyone from the poor to the embarrassingly rich know. But North America still hasn’t quite figured that out yet.”
Van Deursen said their ambition as a band is to change that. They’d like their music to reach beyond niches and aspire to a more universal human experience, so anyone from an infant to a senior could enjoy their beats. He describes their music as “all the good music in the world squeezed through the cheese grater of soul”.
And every now and then, it gets a little sexual.
“I think we’re six dudes creating. I don’t know how to describe that. I think sexuality is a part of all live performance to a certain degree. When you sing about love and you’ve got six guys playing the shit out of their instruments and having a great time doing it, the sexual element is going to come across whether we want it to or not.”
But, he said, look at it this way: “Being at a sexy show is better than being at a show that ain’t got it.”
The show at Spiritbar will be the first they play in Nelson after the official release of their album Love is Overdue on July 5. It will be for sale at the venue. Van Deursen said long-term fans will sense a shift with their latest output, but that they’ll find plenty that’s familiar too.
“We wanted to make a record where love was the theme, and the songs were dirtier, more groove-based, bottom end and sexier,” he said. “We wanted to make a record that the black people of America would like.”
Aaron Ross, their principal creative force, worked on this album with legendary producer Chin Injeti from the seminal 90s band Bass is Bass.
“He worked closely with Aaron and they worked really well. They’d be up to 4 or 5 a.m. frequently writing and tweaking, and in my opinion everything they came up with was solid gold,” he said.
He said the guys are looking forward to returning to the Kootenay.
“I’m a Kaslo boy,” he said. “I’m excited to play our brand new stuff for a home crowd. You guys are such a faithful crowd and you’ve come out so many times to pack Spiritbar, even though we haven’t released a new album in three years. Now the wait is over.”
Van Deursen was amused to hear they were performing in the same space as the Heavy Petal Burlesque the week before.
“We have impromptu burlesque from time to time,” he said. “In our audience.”
Tickets are $15 and are available from the Hume Hotel.
