The Punk Archive: Talk us through Natty Hawks? Obviously you've never been afraid to mix-up genres, but what was this one born from?
Barney: I can't remember how it started but I've been aware of From The Cradle To The Rave for years and saw them a few times at Manchester punk shows and was always blown away by Kenny's productions. From what he told me, I think Kenny had been a fan of our early stuff and to a certain extent was inspired by the punk-rock genre-mashing we did, so in some small way I guess we had influenced C-Rave. I Facebook'd him or something and he couldn't have been more enthusiastic about us working together. He did a Boom remix a few years back but he's also in a hip-hop production duo called Capitol 1212 who ended up doing a remix of Keep On Believing on the last album that was amazing. So me and Laila lent our vocals to a couple of their tunes and there's always been stuff bouncing back and forth for the past few years. Kenny sent us over the track for Natty Hawks, and he'd already decided on the subject of the Banda Aceh authorities 2012 arrest of punk concert-goers for the track's lyrics. We simply added our parts and it went back and forth a lot until it ended up how it did. My song-writing instincts are always very poppy so I added some hooks to make it feel more like a song and I think what we ended up with was very much a true collaboration. He definitely did the majority of the music but we still influenced the writing of the tune rather than just featuring on it. It's got the abrasive, left-field edge of From The Cradle To The Grave but it's got the cheeky hip-hop poppiness of SB6 and that's an interesting combination. We decided to put it on the B-Side of the High Cost of Living single but, because of the philosophies of the acts and the nature of the tune, we thought it would be cool to give it away on Soundcloud so everyone can have it and hear the lyrics.
The Punk Archive: What are you hoping the reaction is to the track?
Barney: I hope that people dig the tune but I also hope that people consider the lyrics and have a little look into the situation the song is about. It seems like small potatoes compared to the madness that's happening in the Middle East right now I guess, but I think that whole situation is important to consider if you call yourself a punk. In a society that bans punk-related attire, would you stick your neck out and wear punk clothing? Punk in this country isn't do or die like that, it's basically an acceptable fashion choice. Can we lend solidarity to the punks over there with our support and by highlighting the situation? Ultimately, it's all over religion. And there's that line in the sand between a country in the West where freedom of religion could generally be considering a good thing, and a country where religion rules over basic human rights. And that discussion goes far beyond punk-related subjects, but the whole Banda Aceh situation was an interesting thing to write a song about as 'punk' bands that don't always sound like what people traditionally think of as punk.
The Punk Archive: Are you pleased with it? Was the process for finishing it an arduous one, with many emails flying about?
Barney: Yeah, we're pleased with it. It is what it is, it's an interesting collaboration. We'd like to do more. It absolutely wasn't arduous at all. At any one time, us and Kenny and Dave (Capitol 1212) might have like three or four tracks bouncing around between ourselves so it's never done to a deadline. We're just musically kindred spirits so it's always been very easy. And all of us are very much about doing it for the music and aren't over-zealous about the business side of it. Which makes it very easy.
The Punk Archive: Does the track give us pointers towards Operation Boombox? Will there be more of a drum'n'bass edge to the new record?
Barney: No, not at all. The new album is, if anything, a pop album. There's ska and reggae and SB6 but it's really just straight-forward trying to write some genuinely good songs and record them to sound as huge and banging as possible. That being said, there's a jungle inspired tune in the running which is gonna have a bunch of emcees on it which is sounding great. It's called Jump In and Try It and it's about people judging certain types of music before they've listened to them. It's just a fun tune in the vein of All In and old stuff of ours lyrically.
The Punk Archive: Your Pledge scheme (http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sonicboomsix) has gone superbly, with 63% of target achieved already. How do you feel about that? Is it something you'd do again?
Barney: Yeah, we were honestly really surprised at how well it went from the get-go. It's meant we can concentrate on getting the album done instead of belabouring over pushing that which is fantastic. I think it is something we'd do again, it's certainly using the internet and fanreach in a very positive and novel way. Things like crowd-funding go a certain way in redressing the balance between the drawbacks that the internet has had for band economics through illegal downloads and such.
Barney: Camden Rocks was tremendous. It was one of those memorable, triumphant sets that had a buzz to it. The crowd went crazy and that makes it so much easier. We've played another few over the last week or so and they've been great. I think we're a band that came from the whole free party thing so it's very natural to us to play a festival set.
The Punk Archive: You're also playing, amongst others, Nozstock and Boomtown Fair. Are you looking forward to those?
Barney: Yeah. Boomtown Fair actually had a massive influence on the new SB6 album's genesis. After the last album, we played a lot of one-day festivals aimed at rock kids and the rock scene as it's presented in rock magazines and the rock channels and stuff. And we tried to go down that road because we'd made a rock / dance crossover album but it got to the point where we were playing to teenagers who hadn't really ever heard anything but rock, and were that age when they are passionately 'against' rap and dance and anything they deem different to what they like. So we're playing in front of these teenage girls, who want good-looking, fresh-faced lads playing rock and doing simultaneous jumps and you've got us coming on and they're just not having it. It is what it is, I'm not mad, but it wasn't for me. So I was thinking I didn't want to do it any more. Then we played Reading and Leeds on the Punk Stage and blew it to smithereens and played Boomtown with Suicide Bid and it lit a firework up my arse. I started writing songs again and it didn't matter that they were reggae or ska, they just were SB6 to me. So without last year's Boomtown Fair, I wouldn't be doing this interview so it's cool to be playing it again this year.
The Punk Archive: How has the recent relocation South gone for SB6?
Barney: Really good. We'll always rep Manchester but it's meant that we're kind of in the centre of things musically. The impetus behind the move was definitely SB6-centred. We just needed a shake-up and there's just lots going on in London we could get to grips with.We're doing different things career-wise too: I'm working for a music website, Laila's doing PR: which actually makes being in a band more fulfilling because it's something you come back to and enjoy rather than the thing that everything revolves around constantly. At the moment, we're busy, happy and can't wait to get the new album out.
You can download Natty Hawks for free at https://soundcloud.com/sonicboomsix/nattyhawks
Sonic Boom Six play Nozstock Festival (1st - 3rd August; http://www.nozstock.com/) and Boomtown Fair (7th - 10th August; http://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/home)
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