The Boom Booms
If you come from East Vancouver, Canada, you know that it’s not uncommon to be surrounded by neighbours hailing from eight or nine countries. What happens when you grow up listening to music of the families coming from Barbados, Argentina or Pakistan whose kids you ride bikes with? The Boom-Booms happen. Aaron Ross and Geordie Hart have never lived less than three blocks away from each other for more than six months their whole lives. Growing up together they absorbed every decibel of music that resonated in their ears. It shows. In a typical day, they will pick up and jam with instruments you’ve never heard of, as well as ones you have. The group (formed in 2008) is also made up of East Van Native (attended the same elementary school as Aaron and Geordie) Theo Vincent whose vibrant talent made a lasting impression on Halle Barry after a performance with his African rhythm band. He has even performed for the Queen of England. Tom comes from the enchanted Kootney Mountains and plays guitar as though some holy wizard granted him with a mystical musical competence. Rich the formidable drummer has close family ties with Aaron. While tree planting together with Geordie and Tom, they realized their power to make people dance around bonfires while in forests not found on maps.
Maps might be useful for the Boom Booms but they aren’t really the type to keep them around. They are the rulers of the musical pilgrimage. They have crusaded in a camper down the pacific coast (not the first time Aaron and Geordie have taken a van full of instruments down south), along dusty roads in Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama and Brazil. Playing for rum lust lovers in smoky cantinas lit with a single fifty-watt red light bulb. They played along the Amazon River and for half naked Carnavalers. They made locals sweat and holler, playing in crammed cucaracha tequila taverns as dancers spilled into the street. They’ve rocked bars and street corners all over France, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland and Spain. They inhale the locals’ air and on the spot can get a crowd to gather around as they jam on the sidewalk. They move from town to town to leaving people with unforgettable memories and some with broken hearts. They have become East Van icons for their annual block parties (going on four years) enjoyed by grandparents and even the chowder head graffiti writers. It’s where you will get a chance to see Aaron’s talented brother Sean (also a musician) get up on stage. Sean’s growing up was no less musical than Aaron’s and has played in the band on all their trips.
The Boom Booms take voyages to develop their artistry, to perfect their skill. It is a group of musicians who not only need music to nourishing their blood and souls, but a pulse that resembles a Baile Funk joint in the Rocinha Favela. The music they play feeds their own being and stopping means to stop existing. The Boom Booms’ music is an energy powered by the thirst for righteousness that captures anyone who hears. Their music allows listeners to feel unchained when their real lives do not, delivering them from Babylon. Their saga is perpetual. The Boom Booms aren’t like gypsies, they are gypsies.