The Sonics: Making a Boom in Tacoma

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Mymy Nguyen T ARTS 225 A The Sonics: Making a Boom in Tacoma Starting in 1960, a teen-aged Larry Parypa and his siblings, Andy and Jerry, laid the foundation for the Sonics in Tacoma, Washington. The name was inspired by the sound of sonic booms throughout the area, coming from the U.S. Air Force field in close range. To them, it symbolized the true nature of the band: “Loud, scary, and annoying” (Blecha, 2008). Larry Parypa was an aspiring guitarist who decided to form a garage band with the encouragement of his music-loving parents. They had Larry and Andy on guitar, Jerry on the saxophone, and their mom on the bass at some rehearsals. The band initially focused on an R&B sound and played instrumental music, which had lead them to become known in teen night clubs and the dance scene. The Sonics’ members would often change early in the years, but it wasn’t long before the band found it’s solid lineup.

1963 was the year that the group had added three new members and became stable, making it the permanent and official Sonics band. Rob Lind, who was on the sax, Bob Bennett, who was on the drums, and Gerry Roslie, who was in charge of the keyboard, were the three new permanent additions to the band, joining Larry and Andy Parypa. These musicians came from another band, the Searchers. The Sonics discovered Roslie’s ability to sing with a distinct raw sound, and ever since then, their popularity has only risen. With this new variety and talent, the group evolved into a hard rock band (Deming, 2018).

The Sonics finally had the opportunity to sign with a recording label in 1964, when Buck Ormsby, the bassist of the Wailers and a co-founder of Etiquette Records, reached out to the group after a friend recommended them to him. Ormsby met up with the members at a garage in

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Tacoma where they were practicing, so that he could hear what type of music they were producing. He described hearing the beginning of “The Witch,” an original song by the Sonics, and instantly became more interested as they shared their music with him (Albertsen, 2015). The sonics moved on from the small gigs and started getting gigs at venues with larger capacities, like the Tacoma Armory and the Tacoma Sports Arena. Within a year together as a solid group, they were able to begin performing at venues like the Crescent and the Spanish Castle ballrooms, with a much bigger audience.

The first single released by the Sonics was the same song that had Buck Ormsby eager to sign them. Released in 1964, “The Witch” can be described as having a dark theme, “kicking off with Bennett's startling gatling-gun snare-drum blast, the tune bulldozed ahead with an astoundingly simple, yet addictive, interlocking 3-chord guitar/sax/bass riff, and snarling putdown lyrics about some icky girl who'll ‘make you itch ... 'cause she's the witch,’ which were periodically punctuated by Roslie's patented blood-curdling screams” (Blecha, 2008). It was a sound that people haven’t heard before from a Northwest native band, which plays into why radio stations initially didn’t approve of playing this song on the radio. It was too bold, intense, and barbaric to fit in with the popular top hits at the time. It wasn’t until October of 1964 that a small Seattle radio station played the tune on air and the single started to catch on. The record sales blew up, and the band had gained a ton of fans after hearing their game-changing music.

“The Witch” climbed up on the charts faster than anyone could’ve predicted, and the Sonics decided it was time to release another original hit song.

“Psycho” was recorded after Etiquette Records realized that the cover of Little Richard’s “Keep A Knockin’,” released alongside “The Witch,” meant the label had to continue to give pay to the owners of the original song. It also quickly became a hit after Roslie’s powerful vocals and

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bold lyrics were heard through the radio. The Sonics’ influential music started to spread to several different points on the map, including San Jose, Orlando, and Cleveland. (Blecha, 2008).

After the success of both hit singles, “The Witch” and “Psycho,” the Sonics wasted no time in releasing their debut album, Here Are The Sonics, in 1965. This album included some of the local classic hits, “Strychnine” and a version of “Have Love, Will Travel,” written by Richard Berry. As expected, the debut album received great response, and by the end of the year the band was doing pretty well.

The Sonics were at a prime time in their career, having released several more hits with the drop of the Sonics Boom LP in 1966. Their musical influence was beginning to really take hold on other Northwest bands as their songs included the same kind of energy that the Sonics exuded in their music. Soon enough, covers of “The Witch” and “Psycho” emerged and gave the Sonics more recognition in the music industry. They were also able to play at the Seattle Coliseum alongside other famous artists, including the Beach Boys, the Kinks, and the ShangriLas. Another opportunity had popped up for the Sonics when they were offered the chance to fly out and be featured on a “teen-dance show” in Cleveland, Ohio (Blecha, 2008). The band’s unique sound continued to be recognized as time went on.

There are many different elements that make the Sonics’ music truly authentic. Gerry Roslie thinks “the screaming had a lot to do with it…[he] also [thinks] the songs being about witches and strychnine and psychos...that was so different for the time. That was an attraction too” (Reid, 2012). He also explains how other musicians at the time mainly sang about more pleasant topics and pop tunes, while he liked “strange things” because of how new and different it could be presented (Sparks, 2014). Their music could be described as having an “over the top style, complete with roaring guitars, pounding drums, and the fevered howls of lead singer Gerry

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Roslie, anticipated the mania of punk and pushed rock & roll deep into the red zone during their 1963-1966 heyday” (Deming, 2018). Rob Lind says that their motto was pretty much, “come out on stage and punch you in the mouth, come at us” (Casebeer, 2017). The members have expressed that they looked up to groups like the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Wailers, and have even tried to make their music sound more pleasant, but it would always turn out to be more rock than anything (Reid, 2012). As the Sonics reached their peak with their ferocious and mindboggling music, it wasn’t long until unfortunate circumstances led them to break up.

Etiquette Records had put limits to the band’s growth, which affected the band to a great extent, and eventually costed them their chance to become a hit outside of the Northwest. The recording label decided not to fly the band out to San Francisco to headline a popular show with the support of a famous DJ, because cost of traveling was too much. Some more missed opportunities passed when Etiquette Records declined big record labels like Columbia Records and RCA with the offer of interest in the group. Some of these life-changing decisions convinced the Sonics to leave Etiquette Records and sign with Jerden Records, based in Seattle. Their last album before the break up, Introducing the Sonics, was released in 1967 after they joined the new label (Blecha, 2008).

Introducing the Sonics was recorded in an LA studio, where it all went downhill for the band. The album lost its spark and energy that the first two albums had, causing the Sonics to lose their streak of heat. The members explained that the engineers who worked with them on this album weren’t on the same page as the band, because they were used to producing “more mellow music” unlike the group’s hard rock sound. Roslie stated that they “wanted to do what [they] wanted and not pretend [they] were somebody else” (Reid, 2012). This experience proved to be one of the last for the Sonics, at least for a while.

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Bennett and Roslie ended up leaving the band in 1967. Bennett joined another group while Roslie got married and lost focus on the Sonics. As the years passed and the 1970s rolled by, most of the members went in different directions with their work, but still dabbled with music on the side. The Sonics only moved up to the legendary status during the break up, as their music began spreading to the younger generations, who wanted a taste of the more edgy and hardcore songs the band created, unlike the pop music that they were so used to hearing now (Blecha, 2008).

The band’s music reached new heights, being discovered across the map in America and Europe. As their music became marked as very influential for the punk rock genre, artists like Nirvana, Mudhoney, the Hives, and the White Stripes noted that the Sonics were inspirational to them. All of the hype about the Sonics after the break up caused them to think about getting the band back together for a reunion show.

2007 was the year that the fans got what they had dreamed for, as the Sonics played together in New York for the first time in a long while. After years of turning down the big offer, the members finally got down to thinking about reuniting again. Two of the original members, Bob Bennett and Andy Parypa, declined the opportunity because of health issues and lack of practice from the long break. Roslie, Lind, and Larry Parypa were still included in the lineup, along with two new members, Ricky Lynn Johnson from the Wailers on drums, and Don Wilhelm from the Daily Flash playing the bass (Deming, 2018). Lind talked about his experience being back on stage with the Sonics again after 40 years, sharing that the crowd was full of younger people and maybe some that were actually there when it all started. It made him feel much more motivated, and he thought it was “just the coolest thing for [him] that it could possibly be� (Casebeer, 2017). The band started playing at more festivals and clubs in Europe

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before doing another reunion show in Seattle, Washington in 2008. This time, Bob Bennett decided to join them again, and Don Wilhelm split from the group a year later, eventually becoming replaced by Freddie Dennis. The reunion show was a big success, which led to bigger and better things for the Sonics in the 21st century. (Deming, 2018) The Sonics released their latest album, This is the Sonics, in March of 2015. Their goal was to keep the same energy and recklessness as the first two albums that caused an uproar in the Northwest. The band went on tour with the impressive album in 2016 across America, and are currently touring again in late 2018 (Sullivan, 2015).

Over the past 50 years, the Sonics have proved to be an inspiration to a wide range of generations, both musicians and audience members. Their distinct sound from the early ‘60s have still made an impact today. The band has achieved a well-deserved legendary status, and has brought great pride with their connection to Tacoma and their influence on music history worldwide.

Bibliography Albertsen, J. (2015, July 6). IndieGoGo trailer for: BOOM! A film about The Sonics [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/132776424 Blecha, P. (2008, December 14). Sonics, The: Tacoma’s ‘60s Garage-Rock Teen Titans.

Retrieved from http://historylink.org/File/8844 Casebeer, G. (2017, June 8). NWMS interview with Rob Lind of The Sonics. Retrieved from http://www.northwestmusicscene.net/nwms-interview-with-rob-lind-of-the-sonics/

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Deming, M. (2018). Artist Biography by Mark Deming. Retrieved from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-sonics-mn0000428717/biography Reid, G. (2012, March 22). GERRY ROSLIE OF THE SONICS INTERVIEWED (2012): The noise of the Pacific Northwest. Retrieved from https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/absoluteelsewhere/4848/gerry-roslie-of-the-sonicsinterviewed-2012-the-noise-of-the-pacific-northwest/ Sparks, R. (2014, October 14). Tacoma’s Rock-n-Roll Legends [Video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/108946751 Sullivan, J. (2015, April 9). Garage-band legends the Sonics roar back to life. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2015/04/09/garage-band-legends-sonics-roarback-life/XCLllM2hxOPYuG1I0jomRL/story.html