Sonic Boom!
Laila K of Sonic Boom Six in the studio
Sonic Boom Six has been on my radar for a long while—they’re an Xtra Mile band and I’ve worked with them briefly at festivals. But my first chance to take on a real project with the group was last November, when I hopped on their tour before working with them on a music video for their cover of “Push Things Forward” by The Streets.
My biggest impression from touring with them was how connected they are with their fans. They made a big deal of thanking them each night from onstage, spending time with them after the show, and knew a good few of the longtime fans by name. That kind of dynamic makes for enormous energy in shows, with a connection obvious between the stage and the audience.
Laila K meeting and greeting after a show in Norwich.
I took the tour on partly to get a chance to be along for the ride with the band, and partly to prep for the video shoot. I wanted to get to know the band well, so that everyone would be comfortable on the day of the recording and so I knew I could get it right. They had the studio for six hours, and in that time they laid down the full recording for “Push Things Forward” while I took video. Straight through. There was a lot of pressure on everyone, and I was working in a tight space and with only the ambient lighting. For most of the shoot, I was right there in the sound booth, right up in their faces while they were doing the music and I was trying to get the right look for the video. I ended up with lots of tight-in, intimate shots of their recording, in what I hope shows the energy they put into the process.
The original plan for the video was to have almost an even split between the studio shots and footage from the live performance. When I looked back at what I had, though, what I loved was the grit and close-in feel of the studio as they were actually recording the song. I used live footage at the beginning and close of the video, hopefully capturing the vibe of the live shows as well as flowing well with the sound and energy of the recording as a whole.
Barney Boom 'spitting' some lyrics...
Laila K getting ready to record.
I didn’t get as many live photos as I would have liked— that tricky balance between video and stills. But what I got I’m really excited about, especially the photos from behind the scenes, when the band is exhausted and the shows have gone well. Combined with the music video, I feel pretty pleased about the work from that trip around England. I’m also looking forward to some of the new music and projects coming from SB6 in the near future…
