Drug buddies

>> Ex-Spaceman Sonic Boom gets stoned and re-throned

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Like the cult bands that came before them (Joy Division, the Velvet Underground, Big Star), Spacemen 3 would also enjoy their fame posthumously. After calling it a day on the eve of their first American tour in 1988, the band became one of the most influential acts in the underground scene. Spacemen 3's two creative sparks, Jason Pierce and Sonic Boom (aka Pete Kember), would go on to form Spiritualized and Spectrum, respectively. Until now, both members avoided questions on their old band, but Pierce's recent media blitz is peppered with Spacemen references, perhaps explaining why Sonic Boom is now eager to talk, and eager to play Spacemen 3 songs live on a tour titled "Sonic Boom and Spectrum in a Tribute to Spacemen 3." The Mirror talked to Sonic Boom in the middle of his tour.



Mirror: With Spacemen 3, there was an obvious drug angle with records like Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to. Does that title still ring true today?

Sonic Boom: I don't think I have ever played a show without being stoned, so obviously I still use drugs as a tool and I still find them inspiring. I like to think that there is such thing as intelligent drug use. There are drugs I do maybe once or twice a year but weed is something I expect to do everyday. We've always tried to capture the feelings available through drugs and translate them into music so people can experience those feelings without drugs.

M: What would be the best drug to enjoy with Spacemen 3?

SB: Hmm... I always thought ether or some sort of throbbing, buzzing drugs. We used to play ecstasy parties in '87 before it became a dance-oriented thing, when it was more of a broad psychedelic thing. Ecstasy would not be a bad drug to take to listen to us, no doubt about it.

M: In the October issue of Mojo, your former partner Jason Pierce painted you as a greedy drug fiend and blamed you for the band's breakup.

SB: What he said in Mojo was absolute bullshit. He stopped writing songs and I told him I would not credit him with half of everything while I was writing all the songs. I said that just to get him to start writing again. He has tried to rewrite history in a lot of his interviews lately and he has a very subjective view that is far removed from the truth. That's his Karma to deal with.

M: What made you want to do a tribute to your old band?

SB: Well, I just realized that there was more and more demand. There are people who want to hear new stuff, but there are more people who want to hear Spacemen 3. Since the band split up, it's become new to people and those people never got a chance to hear the songs live. The songs that [Pierce] wrote, I don't touch. Anything that was his territory, I leave up to him to do. :

With the Centimeters and the Unireverse at La Sala Rossa on Sunday, Nov. 18, 8:30pm, $10-12