Sonic Boom's Revolution: Part Three

Click here for part two

My '91 Wire interview with Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember continues.

***** ***** *****

Wire: Which is

your favorite rec-

ord of all the ones

with which you've

been involved?


Sonic: My favorite track is probably something like "Ecstasy Symphony." My favorite LP is possibly either side one of the

new one [his side] or Perfect Prescription. I like them all. They

are all really great, so—I'm bad to say that, aren't I? [laughs]

Wire: How will you make records in the future? Are you go-

ing to continue to make one half and Jason the other or...

Sonic: No, no. The band split up. Spacemen 3 split up.

Wire: There have been these rumors that you

were getting back together. They aren't true?

Sonic: Let me set the record straight. You see, we'd been

drifting apart for various reasons for a number of years, and

we recorded Recurring, and decided it was a great album. It

would make a good swan song. We weren't getting on, so

we decided to complete the album and call it a day.

Wire: So you're gonna go off and do solo stuff and Jason's...

Sonic: No, I've got a new band called Spectrum—after the solo LP. I'm doing some gigs with them, I've already done some gigs with them. I'm doing more the end of this month and, hopeful-

ly, the end of this year—early next year—we'll be in the States.

Wire: Do you like that format better—working in a band—as opposed to working solo?

Sonic: Yeah. I've nev-

er done anything solo.

Wire: Well, except

for your record.

Sonic: I mean, I've recorded a lot of things solo. Even in Spacemen 3, there were things I've recorded totally by

myself. Even on my solo album, there are four or five peop-

le on each song. There's a band on each song, as it were. I mean,

I can do things by myself, as well. I can stand up and sing and

play a keyboard or stand up and sing and play a guitar. It's

an alternative thing I do sometimes, a low-budget set.

Wire: What can you tell me about the seven-inch Drone

Deam EP released by Sympathy for the Record Industry?

Sonic: In the UK, with the Spectrum album there was a

bonus offer to people where they could send for an EP with

those experimental tracks on it. The two tracks are playable
at any speed—16, 33-1/3, 45, or 78 rpm. That was a color-

ed vinyl ten-inch. In the US, Sympathy put it on a colored

vinyl seven-inch with a brand new picture sleeve.

Wire: Have you ever met Martin Rev or Alan Vega?

Sonic: Yes, both of them, several times.

Wire: Do you see the kind of music you make

as a sort of guitar version of what they do?

Sonic: Yeah, particularly. I mean, we actually cover "Ché"

on guitars on the B-side of our "Revolution" single. We did that

song on guitars. I also do a Suicide song on my solo album.

Wire: "Rock 'n' Roll Is Killing My Life."

Sonic: Right, that is done on keyboards in that instance.

Wire: Do you see yourself using keyboards more in the future?

Sonic: No, I've been using keyboards since Perfect Prescription, and I still mainly use guitar on stage, and in the studio I use both.

Click here for part four

Endnote: Spectrum plays Neumos on

5/2. Images from Last.fm and 991.com.