All language subtitles for boom.a.film.about.the.sonics.2018.1080p.web.h264-grashopr_track3_[eng]

(tense music)

(screen crackling quietly)

- NBA champions.
- Yeah.

- '78, '79 season.

Oh wait, different Sonics.

(rain pattering)
(train horn blaring)

- They were before everybody
and it was dark,

and there was a meanness
to the guitar sound.

(rain pattering)
(train horn blaring)

- Their influence on me

at Soundgarden is profound.

(rain pattering)

- You know, can you make
a sound like The Sonics?

And I go, "Well,

first of all, you're not
The Sonics." (chuckles)

Can you play like The Sonics?

(rain pattering)
(train horn blares)

- They were driving
it right to the max,

like, right, pinning
the meter, you know?

(rain pattering)

- They're rooted in kind
of '50s R&B, rock and roll,

but like, as played
by a freight train.

(rain pattering)
(train horn blares)

- Music that just
kicked your ass.

- They sound fucking dangerous.

(train reverberating)

- [Jordan] I grew up on an
island in the northwest.

When I was a kid, my father
and I never really connected.

He was, and still is an umpire,
so sports were his thing.

See, I didn't give
a shit about sports.

Movies and music were my thing

and I hated his taste in music.

One day I was in my bedroom

listening to the
latest Nirvana record.

I had it cranked.

My dad came walking by and
stopped in the doorway.

I thought he was gonna
tell me to turn it down,

but instead he said,
"If you like this,

you should check
out The Sonics."

Who the fuck are The Sonics?

Is he talking about
the basketball team?

I just ignored him
until he walked away.

Couple days later,
I came home from school.

My dad had found an
old copy of "Boom,"

left it resting against my door.

(sentimental music)

So I went into my
room and put it on.

First Song, "Cinderella."

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, everybody ♪

- [Jordan] They instantly
became my favorite band.

I was right around
the ripe old age of 13

so naturally I thought
I knew everything

there was to know
about everything,

but this sounded like punk rock.

And historically speaking,
these guys were almost 15 years

before the Ramones.

This even predated The Stooges.

Why didn't everyone
know about this band?

And of all people, how
the hell did my dad

come to know about these guys?

(sentimental music)

I just sat there staring
at this album cover,

looking at these
five badass dudes.

(sentimental music)

Who were they?

And what happened to them?

These questions would
stick with me for years.

The Sonics were a total mystery.

That is until in 2008

when one of the most
unlikely reunions

in rock and roll
history took place.

This event sent me on a
10-year journey of discovery,

finally getting the
answers to my questions,

and would lead me to one man
in his unending determination

to make The Sonics boom.

But first, let's go back
to 1960 where it all began

with these five
badass motherfuckers.

Spin.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Somebody knows ♪

♪ What you have done ♪

♪ About you carrying on ♪

♪ And having fun ♪

- [Jordan] Good slate.

♪ It was so wrong ♪

♪ 'Bout you had to play ♪

♪ Now you're gonna learn ♪

♪ That lying don't pay ♪

♪ It's too late, it's too late ♪

♪ You lied, you lied ♪

♪ Now you, now you ♪

♪ Will fry, will fry ♪

♪ It's better, it's better ♪

♪ Than hate him, than hate him ♪

♪ He's waitin', he's waitin' ♪

♪ He's waitin', he's waitin' ♪

♪ For you, whoa ♪

♪ You stayed up late ♪

(sirens blaring)

- (chuckles) It was kind
of a dirty place in a way.

You know, some people
have likened it

to like the Pittsburgh of
the northwest, you know?

And it'd be like
comparing London

and Liverpool,

a little rougher on the edges.

- Seattle is a big urban city.

Tacoma is a blue
collar waterfront town.

All our dads were
blue collar guys.

- Especially
compared to Seattle,

Seattle there was a certain
sophistication to it

that I think Tacoma
didn't have, you know.

My parents moved there 1957.

I was 12 from Oklahoma.

Hence, that's why they
call me Bobby Joe,

because everybody has two
first names (chuckles)

in the Midwest.

(lively upbeat music)

- What got me all inspired
about playing guitar

was I have an uncle.

He brought a guitar
over to my house,

I'm guessing I was maybe
eight or 10 years old.

And it was just an
acoustic guitar.

Boom chick, boom chick.

I thought that was really cool.

He came back maybe two years
later and had an amplifier.

Electric guitar was even cooler.

I mean that was so good.

That's why I started
picking out stuff on my own.

- When I was about
in the third grade,

a music instrument salesman
came to the elementary school.

He looked at me and said,
"Oh no, you kind of got

a little overbite.

You need to play the clarinet."

And I played it all
the way through school,

all the way through
middle school,

all the way through high school.

- Seventh grade,
I got a snare drum.

I played in the
junior high band.

And guys would come over
and jam that I knew,

Gerry Roslie was one.

- I played accordion
for three years,

and I hated every lesson
my parents made me.

- [Jordan] Hey, Gerry, who
were your favorite singers

at that time?

- Little Richard, of course,
played the piano and sang.

Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis
Presley because of his energy.

I saw him come out and I
heard them girls screaming,

and I just got goosebumps.

I'm thinking, what the hell?

These girls going
crazy for this guy.

You know what? That's it.

No more accordion.

I'm changing to piano and organ.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪

(upbeat music)

- I was a senior in high school

the day that I met Gerry
Roslie in the music room,

and he was banging on a piano.

And I thought what he was
playing was real cool.

That's rock and roll,
you're playing, right?

And he said, "Yeah."
Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Said, "That's great.

There must be a sax
around here someplace."

So I found a sax,
I'd never played a sax,

but the reed went on the
same way as a clarinet.

So I started playing sax
and Gerry was playing piano.

And I thought, oh, this is cool

until the music director
kicked us both out of the room.

And he said, "Hey, I got
a piano over at my house.

You want to come over
and play some more?"

I said, "Yeah."

So I took this kid's sax,
I didn't even know it was,

went over to Gerry's
house and we played

and that's how he
and I got started.

- We got to play in
my folks' living room.

You know, you said we
were always a garage band,

but for once we made
it in the house.

- From that moment on,
started plotting and scheming

and meeting other guys.

And how do we get into
a rock and roll band?

- I didn't start playing

until I was a senior
in high school,

but I'd been listening
to music and all that.

I was aware of the music scene,

what there was in Tacoma.

There was Little Bill and
The Bluenotes and The Wailers.

And I used to go see
The Wailers all the time.

They were tough.

I mean, they were so cool.

(upbeat music)

- [Jordan] The Fabulous Wailers

were one of the most influential

and successful northwest
bands around at that time.

With the success of their
nationally charting hit

"Tall Cool One,"

the band even appeared on Dick
Clark's American Bandstand.

- We all liked The Wailers.

They were local gods to us.

- I felt like standing
up and throwing chairs

and screaming and yelling

out of pure, absolute
adrenaline rush

listening to The Wailers.

- [Jordan] These guys
were local heroes.

The band's lineup consisted
of John Greek, Richard Dangel,

Mike Burk, Kent Morrill,
and Mark Marush.

And eventually, buck Ormsby
would take over on base,

but we'll get to that later.

(upbeat music)

♪ Well I met a little girl ♪

♪ Walking down the street ♪

♪ Said what's your name ♪

- Yeah, now, Larry had a band,

well, he and a kid named
Mitch Jaber and Stuart Turner,

and I can't remember
the bass player's name,

but he played a
big standup bass.

And our drummer
had a snare drum,

but he had to rent a
high hat to go with it

when we got a gig.

- I don't think Larry knew

that I had been
scheming about weaseling

my way into his band.

There wasn't much
he could do about it

'cause I was bigger
than him at the time.

- And suddenly, I think the
bass player's name was Larry.

He was out and Andy was in.

- [Jordan] Andy and Larry
would call their band

The Sonics.

And aside from the two brothers,

the band was a bit of a
revolving door of musicians.

This was all about the change.

♪ I wanna hold your hand ♪

♪ Just a little bit of love ♪

♪ I wanna hold your hand ♪

♪ Just a little bit of love ♪

♪ I wanna hold your hand ♪

- [Rob] Gerry, Bobby, and I
were playing in a little band.

I believe it was
called The Imperials.

Over across the way, there
was this other little band

playing called The Sonics.

Boy, you know, if we could
put the three of us together

with those two guitar
playing brothers,

we'd have a pretty serious band.

- [Jordan] While out looking
for a new organ player,

The Sonics would stumble across

none other than
Mr. Gerry Roslie.

- And it was Andy saying,
"Well, a sax player?"

And I say, "Yeah,
my friend Rob."

- Gerry said, well, I've got
a good friend to play sax,

another good friend
that's a killer drummer.

- [Andy] Roslie said, "We'll
get ahold of Bob Bennett."

So we did.

- [Bob] You know, when
I joined the group,

I played a lot louder than
any of the other drum.

I don't remember any other
drummers playing as loud as I.

- [Rob] Bob was totally
dynamic and breaking heads

and breaking sticks.

- I would break my
pedals, the heads.

I broke a lot of stuff.

(upbeat music)

- Gosh, he played so loud

and so aggressively,

I think we all
started doing that.

- Here's Bob and he just beat
the crap out of his drums.

And I went, well, I like
that. (imitates cranking)

I turned my amp up

and next thing you know, we
had people pasted to the wall.

- [Bob] If you were standing
15 feet from my bass drum

and it didn't ruffle
your shirt when I hit it,

then I wasn't hitting
it hard enough.

- [Rob] We wanted to
play "Little Richard."

We wanted to play "Louie Louie."

We wanted to play
anything that rocked.

- [Larry] Next thing I
remember is Bob and Gerry

and Rob being there,
and everything changed.

- But when the five
of us got together,

something magical happened.

- I mean, nothing
was the same anymore.

We weren't playing a
lot of these stuff,

and we weren't playing
just instrumentals.

Everything all of a sudden
got hard, real hard.

But we all felt like we
wanted to play that way.

- [Andy] So anyhow,
here's Bob and Gerry

and Rob Lind and myself.

There's the lineup that
people know of today.

(rain pattering)

(audience applauding)

(upbeat music)

♪ Rosalie, Rosalie ♪

- [Bob] We did "The Witch"
down in my parents' basement,

and we would play
it at these gig.

And people loved it.

- We came to the awareness

that we needed to do
a record, a single.

And that way we could ask
for a little bit more money.

I think we're making three
or 400 bucks a night.

You know, we thought, "Hey,
we can maybe ask for five."

♪ C'mon and let
me take you home ♪

♪ Please, please, Rosalie ♪

♪ C'mon and let
me take you home ♪

- Buck and Kent Morrill
from The Wailers

had this little record
company, Etiquette Records.

We were gonna hit on him
to see if we could record

with his record company.

(upbeat music)

- [Jordan] That brings
us to Buck Ormsby.

Buck, a Tacoma native
formed his first band

with his best friend,
Bill Englehart,

Little Bill and The Bluenotes.

They were formed in 1955.

Buck was only 14 at the time.

Generally considered
to be the first

true garage band
in the northwest,

Little Bill and The Bluenotes
were also trailblazers

when it came to
throwing their own gigs.

Buck was tired of the turnouts

and weak pay from school dances

so he took his band
outside city limits,

and they started throwing
their own teen dances

and sock hops.

These dances would attract
thousands of teens.

And while this would
eventually become

the industry standard,

Little Bill and
The Bluenotes were the first.

♪ Please, please, Rosalie ♪

♪ Thank you for me, go now ♪

- [Jordan] Later
in the early '60s,

Buck became the bass player
for The Fabulous Wailers.

That's his kickass base

playing on the now legendary
Wailers "At The Castle."

Him and Kent Morrill,
also from The Wailers,

decided to form their own
record label, Etiquette Records.

Full two years
before The Kingsmen

would release their version,

which would obviously
go on to be one

of the biggest hits of the '60s,

Etiquette released The Wailers

featuring Rockin' Robin Roberts

doing their cover of Richard
Berry's "Louie Louie."

(up-tempo music)

It was a big hit
in the northwest

and put Etiquette on the map.

At this point, Buck was in
search of the next big thing.

- I felt that The Wailers
were getting a little stagnant

and I said, I went,
I'm gonna go find a group

that's gonna blow you away.

- So I went to Buck and I said,

"Hey, we got this band,
blah, blah, blah."

And he said, "Well, I'll
come out and listen."

- So anyway, I said, okay, let
me hear what you sound like.

You know, let me hear
some songs, you know?

And he started playing
Wailer's songs.

You guys are
playing cover songs.

I mean, do you have
any original songs?

- And we were going over a song

that we were writing
called "The Witch."

- So it started out
and went (vocalizing).

That thing and I said, "Hey.

Okay, now this is
interesting, you know?"

- Gerry had written this
song called "The Witch,"

which the way he had
originally intended it to be

was a dance song, do the witch.

- [Buck] You know, do the
Boston or do the twist

or do the whatever it was.

- Buck goes, "No, no,
no, that's stupid."

And he says, "Write
some lyrics for it."

(upbeat rock music)

Gerry wrote some lyrics
and his long-haired wench

and she'll make you itch.

I go, what the hell.

Can you get away with
that, you know, but.

- Yeah, I don't know why.

I just thought, I've always
liked that kind of spooky stuff.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ She's gotta long black hair ♪

♪ And a big black car ♪

♪ I know what you're thinking ♪

♪ But you won't get far ♪

♪ She's gonna make you itch ♪

♪ 'Cause she's the witch ♪

- We gotta record this.

This is good.

I want you guys to
sign with the label.

You know, they were all young

and we had to get the
parents and all that but.

- Yeah, we went to some studio.

They had two tracks.

You couldn't do much, but
we couldn't do much anyway.

- [Buck] This is where they
made ads for local people

like Chevrolet or something,
or Joe's Barber Shop.

- Small, funky little place

and basically playing live

because there wasn't
enough tracks.

- [Buck] Give these
guys, you know, some room

because it's gonna be a
little bit more raucous.

- But Buck was our defender

'cause we were blowing out
the speakers and vacuum tubes

and walls and everything
were being destroyed

because we were in
there at full volume.

- [Buck] He started playing

and the guy just got
real nervous, you know?

And I said, just kinda
calm down, you know?

It'll be okay, you know?

And I mean, these things were
going a little bit in the red.

- Just used to
looking at VU meters

that stay within
the white usually.

And this was all peg.

- The guy put a little
bit of compression.

I said, I don't want
any compression.

I don't want anything
to slow this thing down.

I just wanted to rock, you know,

get a little blood
coming off the walls.

And the guy was real
nervous about it

because Gerry's screaming,

that's what kinda blew
him away, I think.

The guy is screaming.

Whoa! Hey, what's this about?

- I just did it because
it felt good, you know?

It felt good and I thought,

well, this would be a good place

to jump on a good
scream here, you know?

♪ Whoa ♪

They called me,
"the northwest screamer"

and I thought, gee,
what a pat in the back.

I've been called
nothing but an asshole

all my life. (chuckles)

♪ And do you remember ♪

♪ That I told you so ♪

♪ Gonna do you in ♪

♪ 'Cause she's the witch ♪

(upbeat rock music)

- [Jordan] After they
recorded "The Witch,"

Buck ran into a
bit of a problem.

- Nobody would play the song.

Hey man, it was pretty
harsh. (chuckles)

(upbeat music)

- First of all, what I
wanted to do with that

was get Pat O'Day interested.

- [Gerry] He was the
program director for KJR,

who was the big station here.

But back then, he was
the big, big shot.

- Listened to it and he
says, "I can't play this."

And I go, "Why?"

- I know that Buck had dropped
off a copy weeks before

but I think O'Day used
it for a coffee holder.

- And I said, "Pat, if you play
this record, it'll be a hit.

I know it will."

And he said, "I can't do it."

He says, "I'll tell
you what, Buck,

see what you can do
with other stations,

some of the B
stations, you know?"

So we'd go into whatever station

that we were in the
town at that time,

and we would take, I'd
take the record in.

- [Rob] It got played on
some subsidiary radio station

so that the high school kids
were starting to hear it.

- [Buck] So, I got charts,
took the charts back down,

and I gave, I showed Pat.

So he went over
and he heard them

and he said, "I can only
play it after 3:00."

And I said, "Great."

- Next thing we know, KJR
started to play "The Witch."

And they wouldn't play
it any time of the day,

except after 3:00 p.m., after
the kids got out of school.

- Because they didn't wanna
upset the housewives at home

because they thought
it was devil music.

(woman screams)

- I get a phone
call from my aunt

and she says, "Have you
seen KJR's Fab 50 lists?"

It was in the Seattle PI.

And I said, "No."

She said, "Well, you
go buy a copy of it."

So I went and bought
a copy and well, hell,

"The Witch" debuted
at number 26.

- We played it a couple times

and it sold 10,000
copies in like two weeks.

- [Buck] And you'd hear
people driving around

their hot cars, radio blasting,

and you'd be hearing
rock and roll.

And then you'd hear
"The Witch" and you'd go, holy.

What, what happened here,
you know?

- We got to number two
on the top 50, the KJR,

which was the big station,

and number one was Petula
Clark's record "Downtown."

When Pat O'Day was
writing his book,

he said, "Oh, no, you guys
were number one by a long way.

We just couldn't put
devil music number one.

So we put you guys number two."

So we found out 35
or 40 years later,

actually we were number one.

(sirens blaring)

- Gee, soon as the
record came out,

it started selling so much,

but came to us and said,

"Hey, you gotta write
another original

for the flip side
of 'The Witch.'"

- [Rob] And Buck said, "Okay,

you guys got our recording
session tomorrow."

We went, oh okay,
recording session.

- And we were playing
at the red carpet,

and we had to record
the next morning.

- They didn't
rehearse a whole lot.

You know, their writing time
was kinda like in the studio,

or maybe a night before
or something like that.

- After the gig, everybody,
they emptied the place.

And we sat there, in 30
minutes we had the cycle.

- We went to Kearney Barton's

and his studio was on Denny Way.

- I said, "Kearney,
this is what happened.

When we recorded this other
song called 'The Witch.'"

I said, "The guy
got real nervous."

I said, "When you
hear these guys,

they're gonna blast
you out but it's okay."

Kearney got it.

He didn't get nervous
about anything.

I mean, when you have a song
called "Psycho," you know.

- [Andy] We set up
and did everything

basically live, you know?

- Etiquette Records was a
real low budget operation.

And so, when you
say how many takes?

Basically it was one take.

(upbeat rock music)

- Buck was there prodding
everybody, you know?

Do it this way,
let them do this.

- We put Rob Lind back in a,

down the hallway
into the bathroom

so we get this little echo sign.

He said, that's right.
That sounds good.

You know, we needed
to get this drum sound

because Bob was just
a kicker, you know?

I mean, the guy was a
real strong drummer.

- So we do it, we lay
down the band track

and bang, Buck
says, "Okay, great.

Gerry, get in
there and sing it."

So Gerry goes in, sings it,

comes out and goes,

"Um, guys, I could probably
do a better take on it.

Let me go back in
there and do it again."

Buck say, "No, no,
no, no, that's great.

Move on. Let's move on."

♪ Because she's a witch ♪

- And then you come on.

♪ Psycho, you're driving me ♪

I mean, that just got out
there, you know what I mean?

People go, whoa, I've never
heard anything like this before.

♪ Whoa, baby ♪

♪ You're driving me crazy ♪

♪ I said baby ♪

♪ You're driving me crazy ♪

- [Jordan] Etiquette
Records reissued "The Witch"

with "Psycho" as its B side.

- It was just as big a
hit as "The Witch" was.

- [Jordan] With the
successful release

of "The Witch" and "Psycho,"

the band's popularity started
to explode in the northwest.

- Whatever they were
working for before

as far as money goes,

they started making
a lot of money.

- [Jordan] It was at this
point that Buck and the band

decided to head back into
Kearney Barton's studio.

- [Buck] And I knew from
recording that song there

that we were gonna be
able to do an album there.

- [Jordan] Only this time
to record their first

full length album.

- It took us about
three or four days

just to get it all done.

- [Jordan] So you
record the whole album?

- Yeah. It wasn't done.

Yeah.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Oh ♪

♪ Whoa ♪

(upbeat rock music)

- It had that energy and
that power and you're right.

And today it stands out.

(upbeat rock music)

There would be people lined
up outside to see these guys,

new fans, you know?

And most of them were like
girls who loved them, you know?

- [Rob] Gerry was the champion
with the pretty girls.

- Couldn't get enough
of looking at them.

- Loading the beer
into the bathtub,

and then getting ready for

what we hoped to be a climatic
night for each one of us.

I'll need to be 17 and
be able to do that.

♪ Baby ♪

♪ Oh, you're driving me crazy ♪

♪ I'm going out of my head ♪

♪ Now I wish I was dead ♪

♪ Whoa ♪

♪ Psycho ♪

- [Jordan] Pat O'Day took notice

of the band's recent success,

and he started to book
The Sonics at his shows.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Rob] Playing in
front of 25,000 people

hanging out backstage with The
Beach Boys and Jan and Dean.

- The Righteous Brothers,

I mean, there's Jay
and the Americans.

Oh, I mean, just tons of bands.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ She's the sharpest one ♪

♪ In the whole ♪

- [Jordan] And with
The Shangri-Las?

- (chuckles) Man.

(vehicle sputtering)

- Summertime comes along

and now we're playing
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

Friday, Saturday, Sunday night.

Part of that tour was gonna be
playing with The Shangri-Las,

and we were asked to learn
their songs and would we do so

and then back them up.

Whoever it was gave
me a stack of records,

albums of The Shangri-Las.

And he says, "Would
you guys mind

backing up The Shangri-Las?"

Well, it didn't compute up here.

I said, "Oh yeah, okay."

And I took the albums
thinking, okay,

we're gonna have to
learn a few other tunes.

Well, we never did.

- We didn't even
open the albums,

we didn't listen to them.

I didn't know how they went.

- [Andy] You know, we
carried these albums around

at one motel to the next motel.

- And when we got there and
they brought The Shangri-Las,

I mean, I didn't know how
to start the song even.

- Don't know them,
but, okay. (chuckles)

And we went out.

- So they start playing

and we're taking breaks
when there wasn't any break.

And they playing through

where there's
supposed to be brakes,

probably playing
in the wrong key.

It was horrible.

- You know, they started
doing the "Leader of the Pack"

and it was all about
this motorcycle dude.

And no, Jimmy don't do it.
No, no.

Well, Roslie was riding his
keyboard like a motorcycle,

and he had a big plastic
bottle with three Xs on it.

And when she was
going, no, no, no, no,

I was down on my knees
by Gerry going, no, no.

And the audience was
howling with laughter,

and they didn't know
what it was about.

And they turned around
and saw making fun of him.

- "Leader of the Pack."

I mean, that thing, it's full
of sound effects, you know?

Harley Davidson's
(imitating motor revving)

in the middle of all this.

I remember we're playing along,

not knowing any of the chords,

and they're struggling
to try to get,

I turned around and
I said to Bob, I say,

"Bob, whatever you do, no
breaks, just keep playing."

- Plus our lack of talent

to play that kinda music
in the first place.

We shouldn't have been
playing that kind of music.

- When we got through
butchering their set,

they said, "Well, we'd
like to thank our backup,

the curtains," you know?

Because we just totally
screwed up their set.

- These girls just
ripped the shit out of us

when it was done.

(slow music)

- [Jordan] The band
would go in and record

their second album.

While "Boom" was another
local hit in the northwest,

it failed to pick up nationally.

The Sonics felt it
was time to part ways

with Buck and Etiquette Records.

(slow music)

- I don't know, I think
we kinda lost our mojo

at that point, right after.

After Sonics' "Boom"

it felt to me like
we'd lost our way.

By then we'd said
adios to Etiquette,

went to Jerden Records.

We wound up going down to LA.

I think Gerry kinda
composed a few things

on the way down that were
rough ideas of songs,

hoping that maybe we'd come
together in the studio.

Gerry was not a producer.

He paid the bills,

forked over the money
for the studio time,

that sort of thing.

But he didn't really have
any guidance capability,

whereas Buck, Buck
could hear things

and so yeah, that was a
big, that was a problem.

It was a mistake.

- [Jordan] The band
went down to Los Angeles

to record their
follow up to "Boom."

The studio sessions
resulted in the album,

Introducing The Sonics.

Upon its release,

the record was
considered a massive,

critical, and
commercial failure.

(somber music)

- I think we're just
getting tired of it maybe.

And we all wanted a change

or just not to play anymore.

- It wasn't fun anymore.

There was too much
fighting going on,

not really big
fighting, but you know?

It just...

- Typical teenagers,
I guess, you know?

I know everything, you
guys don't know nothing.

We all thought we knew more
than the other guys, you know?

- I'm not sure for
what reasons Bob left

for a group called Merrilee
and the Turnabouts.

And we got, we changed drummers,

the drummer that was with
Merrilee and the Turnabouts

was now a Sonics drummer

but he didn't,
he was a good drummer,

but didn't play like Bob.

I mean, it didn't
feel right to me.

- And the band just didn't smoke

like we wanted it to, you know?

- Ultimately Rob and I left

because I went
into the Air Force

and he went into the Navy.

- I immediately got drafted
and I had been flying the band,

I had a private pilot's license.

So I thought, well, okay,

if I gotta go to Vietnam,
I'm gonna be flying something.

So I wound up in naval aviation

and went off to officer
candidate's school.

- The last night that we
played on together as a band

Gerry was so bummed out,
he didn't want to sing

and we did a lot
of instrumentals.

We did a bunch of
Freddie King songs

and just a bunch of
stuff that fill in

because Gerry didn't feel
like singing, you know?

And when the gig was
over, I said, "Hey Gerry,

I hope you're not gonna do
this again tomorrow night."

And he says, "That's it."

And he threw everything
and stomped off the stage

and that was the
end of Gerry Roslie.

- Yeah, it was over.

(somber music)

- Larry took a job at a
large insurance corporation

working in their
fraud prevention area.

- I put my guitar away

and virtually, I don't know
that I ever touched it again

until the mid '80s.
- [Jordan] Wow.

- I had a piece of paper,
said I was qualified

to teach history and wood shop.

And I thought, okay, well I'm
gonna go do that for a while.

So I did and that turned
out to be a 31-year run.

- I started an asphalt
paving business.

- Bob ultimately
moved to Honolulu

and got into the
new car business.

(sentimental music)

- I had a daughter that I
raised as a single parent

and I had an acoustic guitar

that was leaning
against the wall.

And I hit a cord once in
a while and put it down.

But she didn't know
anything about what her dad

had done earlier in his life.

(sentimental music)

- And once in a
while I'd see Larry

when I'd come through town

but it was just that.

We reached a point where
everybody just went that way

but we're still
all good friends.

There was no animosity
or anything like that.

- I don't know if we'd all like
to forget about The Sonics,

but, you know,
and move forward,

but I think we all
still have a lot

of The Sonics in us, you know?

Because it was a great band

even though we didn't
know it at the time.

(sentimental music)

- [Jordan] And that was it.

The end of The Sonics.

Everyone moved on and the
music was lost in time.

Or so they thought.

I'd always heard that The Sonics

had an even bigger
following overseas,

especially in England.

(rain pattering faintly)

But how is this possible?

Their music wasn't
even distributed

outside of the northwest.

(airplane rumbling)

I flew to London to find out.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Whoa, have love ♪

♪ Whoa, baby I will travel ♪

♪ Uh-huh, uh-huh, have love ♪

♪ Whoa, baby I will travel ♪

♪ I said if you
need loving then ♪

♪ Mm, hmm, I'll travel ♪

♪ Yeah, I'll travel
from main to Mexico ♪

♪ Just to find a little girl ♪

- [Jordan] Along the way
I met up with my buddy

Yvan Serrano, AKA
DJ Healer Selecta.

Yvan's a well-known
DJ in the area,

specializing in all
things punk and garage.

He took me through Camden to
introduce me to some friends.

♪ Or sail, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Have love ♪

♪ Whoa baby, I will travel ♪

- [Jordan] The crazy thing
was I kept seeing Sonic shit.

It was everywhere.

♪ I'll travel ♪

♪ Whoa ♪

- [Jordan] Yvan introduced
me to Bruce Brand.

He's played drums in about
a million different bands,

most notably with Billy
Childish in The Headcoats.

- Yeah, they made it all right

to go (imitating drum thumping)

which I've never considered
doing before I heard The Sonics.

- Yeah.
- I thought yeah,

The Sonics influence was heavy,

heavy on The Headcoats.

- Yvan kept telling me about
this garage rock compilation

from the mid '80s.

He said it was ground zero
for The Sonics in London.

So he took me to the
local record store

to show me this thing.

- Yeah, this compilation man.

Rockabilly Psychosis
was made by band

and Big Beat records in the UK.

- So this is really how
The Sonics were discovered

in Europe.

- In Europe on the garage

and rockabilly and
psychobilly scene.

- Yeah.
- That's that compilation.

But because of that compilation,
many people like myself

and a full generation
discovered The Sonics.

- [Jordan] It was at this time
that we ran into Danny Dawkins.

Between shifts at this shop,

Danny's also in a kickass
band called the Caezars.

When I told him what we were
up to, he jumped right in.

- Basically they're
the sort of band

that got me into music.

Although my dad sort of made
compilation tapes

for when he was driving
round in his car

and he had this one particular
tape with "Strychnine" on it.

And when I was about
eight or nine years old,

like, he played these
tapes over and over

while we were traveling places.

And every time we
got back in the car,

I used to always ask, "Is the
tape with 'Strychnine' on?"

So, even from that young age

it sort of got its claws in me.

And they've had an impact on

all of my musical tastes.

You know, they were the one band

that sort of turned
me on to music really.

So, if it wasn't for them,

you know, I probably wouldn't
put grease in my hair.

I wouldn't listen to
the music that I do,

and I definitely
wouldn't work here.

'Cause they sort of started
the whole thing off on me.

- [Jordan] Yvan called
up a couple guys

he wanted me to
meet, PJ and Paul.

They own Dirty Water Records.

These guys have basically
devoted their entire lives

to getting garage and punk
rock out to the masses.

- First had a record with Sonic

when I was maybe 14 years old.

- Which was how many years ago?
- That was a long time ago.

Yeah. Long, long time ago.

- [Jordan] So, when you
first heard The Sonics,

was it like on a compilation?
- It was, yeah.

- [Jordan] Okay, do you know

which compilation that was?

- It was called
"Rockabilly Psychosis

and the Garage Disease."

- [Jordan] So that was
really the one album

that kind brought
The Sonics over here, right?

That was kinda the first?

- I think it exposed
them to people

for the first time really, yeah.

- The first time I
had ever heard of them

I was at a gig in Boston, that's
where I'm from originally,

and there's a band called Lyres,

which is a well-known
garage revival band.

And their third to last
song was just incredible.

I mean, I couldn't
believe how great it was.

And I went to talk to the guitar
player, Danny, after the gig.

I said, "Danny, what was
that third to last song?

It was amazing."
He said, "How did it go?"

And it was actually
"The Witch" by The Sonics.

And I went, (vocalizing).

He goes, "Dude, they
all go da, da, da."

(group laughing)

And there was no
internet at the time,

and I couldn't find any
songs records at all.

It took me years.

- Whereas if you
listen to The Sonics,

some of those guitar sounds

just shredding
through the speakers

like no one else
ever did at the time.

I mean, you listen
to The Beatles

singing "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"

and then stick on any Sonics
records you like next to it.

I mean, come on.

- I think about the songs
as well like they define

and defy the '60s.

So if you listen to the song,
it sounds like a '60s band

but it also sounds like
a fresh new band today.

And kids are gonna listen
to it in a thousand years

there's no question about it.

It's not lost any of its power.
Never will.

- Where do you think that
they sit, like historically?

Or where do you think
they should sit, I guess.

- They should sit
(clears throat)

much higher than they do.

I mean, everyone I know
that knows The Sonics

thinks that they're
were most influential

and important bands
that it's ever been.

But it was a long
time ago. Yeah.

But anyone who
likes rock and roll

and doesn't know
who The Sonics are,

they don't know what
they're talking about.

- [Jordan] It was clear the band

had a big following over here.

But I still couldn't see how.

How did this little
northwest secret band

become so popular overseas?

(match crackling)

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Some folks like water ♪

♪ Some folks like wine ♪

♪ But I like the taste ♪

♪ Of straight
strychnine, hey, hey ♪

♪ You may think it's funny ♪

♪ That I like this stuff ♪

- Being a teenager
in the mid '70s

there was not really
any definitive library

you could go to to find
out what was cool music

and listen to and stuff.

- That there was
no internet then.

So in order for me to
learn about something,

it really was reading,
reading magazines,

or hearing it from classmates.

And most people didn't
really like punk rock.

You're kind of
ostracized, you know?

You weren't Utopia
or the Grateful Dead,

- [Kurt] You know,
I just remember having the,

it must have been like
a slightly later edition

of the Etiquette 45 of
"The Witch" and "Psycho"

on the same 45.

- Each of us had a
jukebox, me and Anne.

And we staged
dances in our homes.

So, The Sonics were
in heavy rotation

even for us in the '70s

'cause that's really
fine dance music.

You can't not dance.

♪ If you listen to what I say ♪

- They really had such a
rock and roll influence on us

because they weren't R&B,
they weren't jazz musicians.

They were definitely
rock and roll musicians.

It started a whole
kind of a rock movement

I think in Seattle

- It's got just
screaming soul vocals

and pummeling music.

And it's like, wow,
what more do you want

as a 15-year-old kid, you know?

♪ Hey, whoa, strychnine ♪

♪ Hey, hey, strychnine ♪

♪ Hey, hey, strychnine ♪

- It was the kind of thing
that would've been shared

by your buddy's cool
big brother, you know?

- It was all very,
very mysterious.

You know, there was not even
any photos of The Sonics

you could look at.

There was the two record covers,

there was not any
magazines you could look at

and the two record
covers, you couldn't even

see any detail in it.

The first album has
that kind of dark green

and you'd look at it, it's like,

whoa, those guys look like

they're the toughest
guys of all time.

They're in the alley

and you know they're
just carrying knives

and ready to jump you.

And they're so tough that
just listen to that sound.

- [Jordan] Slowly, The
Sonics became cult legends

throughout the northwest.

The guys in the
band had no idea.

♪ There's a guy in town
who gets all the chicks ♪

♪ From what I hear this
dude he ain't no hick ♪

♪ He's big and tuff ♪

- [Jordan] While their music
was starting to inspire

the next generation
of musicians,

they all became
pretty, well, normal.

♪ Dig him 'cause
he plays it so cool ♪

♪ He's the hustler, yeah ♪

♪ He's got a car that's
never been shot down ♪

- [Jordan] Do you
remember the first time

you heard The Sonics?

- I don't.
I mean, it probably,

it would have to
be in the late '70s

or something when I was
becoming aware of music

that was northwest-oriented.

All around here, including
Heart, Sonics, Hendricks,

all, there's band
called The Heats.

A lot of local bands
that have come out here

around the late
'70s, early '80s.

- I mean, when I first started

kind of trying to figure
out like that I might sing,

Gerry Roslie was definitely like

one of the people that I
was emulating or trying to.

You know, I think he's much more

soulful than I am. (chuckles)

but his voice is just amazing.

- The voice is
mean, it's a growl.

It's aggressive,
it's fun, it's wild.

It's wild and chaotic,
which is an element of rock

that is often left aside.

- [Kurt] The Seattle
music scene of my era,

it was just like something
that everybody knew.

Everybody had those records.

They were all scratched
up and trashed

and played 10 million times.

- I remember like rock parties,

but like punk and metal
parties would happen.

And I remember hearing
"The Witch" a lot back then,

and there was a couple of scenes
of music that were going on.

I was kind of in more of
the metal scene in Seattle,

and there was the punk
scene that was Green River.

And then there
wasn't a ton of us

so we'd all go to
each other's parties

and play some 45 Grave
and then some Motorhead,

everybody could
agree on, and then.

- Stooges or they'd play Sabbath
or you'd hear Black Flag,

or The Sonics,

- You know, it'd be all,

it'd be part of the
party scene, I guess.

I don't know how, of
Seattle in the early '80s.

- Like a band would play in
the basement of the house

then afterward, like, it
would be like a kegger style,

like someone would bring a keg

and someone would be
just playing records

and it would turn into
this huge dance party.

It was super fun and
like, it was always some,

at some point during the night,

The Sonics would come on.

♪ When you walk
through the door ♪

♪ Hold your head up high ♪

♪ And don't afraid
of the dark world ♪

♪ I say don't, don't ♪

♪ Don't, don't be afraid ♪

♪ Don't, don't ♪

♪ Don't, don't be afraid ♪

- And I didn't really start
hearing about them a lot

until I became a recording
engineer in the middle '80s.

And I started running into bands

who were talking
about them a lot,

like Gas Huffer and Mud Honey.

And the guys from the Mono Men.

And a lot of bands I
ended up working with

who would say, "Hey, you know,

get us that Sonics drum sound."

I go, "Sonics drum sound?

What are you talking about?"

And I have to go find
these records and go, okay.

- They were rocking,
they were aggressive.

They're mean,
it was a... huge drums.

- And it sounds dangerous.

That's what I think about it.

The Sonics, they sound
fucking dangerous.

And that's what's awesome
about rock and roll

is when you feel like
you're doing something wrong

or you might, something bad
might happen, but it's great.

- Later on when guys like
Pearl Jam and Soundgarden

and they broke through the '80s

kind of layer
cake, overproduced,

MTV, artifice type sound,

and got back to the
sound of The Sonics.

(up-tempo rock music)

♪ I feel bad ♪

- [Nancy] It was like,
it busted back into

something that The Sonics
had started, I thought.

- We as a band in the '90s

going around doing
interviews as the presidents

were constantly asked about
Seattle and the scene,

because, you know, that package,

that unit of grunge in
Seattle was being sold

as a thing to the masses.

And we constantly defended the,

what we thought was the real
kinda core attitude of Seattle,

which is Party Rock,
the Kingsmen, the Wailers,

The Sonics, the
Young Fresh Fellows,

Paul Revere and The Raiders.

We kept saying, like,
there's a rich history

of that kind of vibe,

that kinda like small
band, garage band,

and even angling towards
joyful party time.

And grunge be, although
amazing and great

and incredible creative spurt

is a bit of a
anomaly to me, to us.

And we used to kinda
say like, okay,

if you wanted to learn
about Seattle, go backwards.

(up-tempo rock music)

- I was lucky
enough to like tour

with the remaining
members of the MC5.

And so, I like asked those guys

if they were
familiar with Sonics.

They'd never heard
of them at the time.

Like it just didn't make it
outside of the northwest.

- We look back on them now
as this legendary band,

but really at the
time, they were kind of

a northwest secret
in a lot of ways.

You know, people up
here knew about them,

but in Florida or New York
or whatever, who knows?

- Over the years I heard
these comments from

some of the early English bands

that started to spread the word.

It's good that
musicians hear it,

but what we need to
do is get the fans

and the public to hear it.

(melancholic music)

At the end of The Wailers is,

that was my key band
and for performing.

And that kind of did the same
thing in the end of the '60s.

Same as Sonics, it got
a little bit dry here.

So I moved up to Seattle

and I formed another
band with my friend Ned.

It was called Junior Cadillac,

but it was a really good band.

It was made up of
players from the group

called The Frantic and Wailers.

(melancholic music)

- [Jordan] After a
successful 13-year round

of playing bass with
Junior Cadillac,

Buck decided it was
time to move on.

(melancholic music)

- It was just always
bugged me, you know,

because I kept thinking
about Sonics' music.

Particularly in my heart
or whatever in my gut,

I said, man, you know,

people gotta hear what we did.

And I said, I'd really like to

you know, start the label again

and reissue those albums

because I thought people
never got a chance

to hear these things.

And I reactivated
the label in 1985

and I reissued those albums,

including several other
albums that we had.

- [Jordan] The
locally reissued album

sold much better than expected.

Buck started to realize
that his hunch was right.

The Sonics had developed
a serious underground

cult following in the northwest.

He felt it was finally
time to get this music out

and into the world.

- I started going to Europe

and it was a
convention over there,

big music convention in France.

I would take big suitcases

of packed with vinyl records
of my reissues. (chuckles)

I didn't, and this
was the first time

I'd been to this
actual convention,

and I gave away vinyl records

to other major labels,
independent labels,

to anybody that I
could give them to

that I thought would be somebody

that would be able
to, promoters,

did the same thing
with promoters.

There were promoters there.

Then the next year
I did the same thing

and I just kept
hauling them out there.

And I'd always meet new people

and meet people from
different countries

and give them the records.

- [Jordan] Year after year,
Buck would take suitcases

filled with Sonics
records over to Europe,

handing them out to anyone,

literally anyone he
thought might understand

how great these guys were.

Anyone he felt might
help get the word out.

- So I went over there
for five, six years

and did the same thing.

Just give, just gave them away.

- [Jordan] It was around this
time that Buck would license

the song "Psycho" for a
garage rock compilation

that was to be released
only in Europe.

Rockabilly Psychosis
and the Garage Disease

ended up being a big
hit all over Europe

and outside of the northwest,

this would be most people's
introduction to the band.

- In France was right
across from the Louvre

in the old entrance
to the Louvre.

And I went into this
one record store,

and I look at it all the,

he had record covers
all over his walls.

And the first, when
I walked in the door,

the first one I saw
was Sonics' "Boom."

I mean, he had hundreds of
them all over his store.

And the first one
was Sonics' "Boom."

I saw it up there
and went, whoa, okay.

One of those guys
got my records.

Someone showed it to them,

somebody played it for them.

They got it from somewhere.

- [Jordan] Because
of this release

and all the records

that Buck had been
bringing over by hand,

people's interest in
this mysterious group

from the northwest
started to grow.

With zero information
about the band available,

The Sonics became this
unicorn of the punk scene.

Who were these guys?

How did this amazing music
stay hidden for so long?

Well, all around the world,

The Sonics' popularity
continued to grow.

The guys in the band
still had no idea.

- Buck actually, if it
had not been for Buck,

we would, nobody
would remember us.

I mean, there would
be some people,

but I mean, the band
would not be on the map.

Buck Ormsby from Etiquette
Records went to Europe

and came back with articles
and magazines and stuff

that were talking
about The Sonics.

And he says he had talked

to lots of promoters
who'd be interested

in having The Sonics
go to Europe and tour.

I just didn't believe him.

I just wrote it off
as, yeah, right.

- Buck had lined
up all these places

for his play in
Europe, you know?

But at the time, we couldn't
get anybody on the same page.

I think at that particular time,

I was for it but Gerry was not.

And from time to time though,

Gerry would call me on the phone

and I remember one time saying,

"Well, we ought just
leave sleeping dogs lie,"

(chuckles) or something
stupid like that.

♪ Hey, little girl ♪

♪ I play a guitar ♪

♪ I even drive ♪

- [Jordan] In 1998, Buck
licensed "Here Are the Sonics"

and "Boom" to Norton Records.

For the first time in 40 years,

The Sonics records were
finally distributed nationally.

- If today The Sonics are
getting the recognition

for something that
we did 40 years ago,

it was like lighting the fuse

and it just took a slow
burn to get to there.

- It was probably in the '90s

when it was like,
geez, you know?

It was a lot of people that
know who The Sonics were.

- It was so shocking because,

and people were telling me,

"Hey, did you know there's
a magazine in California,

it's got you guys, naming
the guys' band in it?"

I says, "No."

I hear little bits
and pieces of stuff.

- I didn't know too many
musicians in Honolulu,

but when I did
and they found out

that I was from The Sonics,

they'd go, "Oh yeah, Sonics."

And I'm going, "How do you know
about The Sonics," you know?

- I was getting
glossy magazines,

teen-oriented magazines,

and I couldn't read Italian
or German or anything

but here I recognized my picture

and I knew the word
Sonics when I saw it.

I could tell that this
is a big deal over there.

- [Jordan] While the
band's newfound fame

continued to grow,

the reunion offers
kept coming in.

- It actually started
in about 2005,

a New York promoter called Larry

and said, "Hey, I want you guys

to come headline this
Cavestomp Festival."

And Larry said,
"Well, we don't play.

There's no way we can do that."

- He kept asking us a lot.

He'd say, "You guys
wanna play for us?"

And we said, "No.

We haven't played in 40 years."

- I didn't even realize
when they were telling,

"Oh, we're gonna try to get
back together and everything."

I'm going, yeah, yeah, you know?

- That year came and went.

2006, he came back and
Larry said same thing.

We don't play.

You know, Rob's
an airline pilot.

I work in an office.

We don't do that.

- That he wouldn't give up.

Finally, he started saying,

"Okay, I'll give
you this amount.

I'll give you this
amount of money."

And he kept saying, "I'll
give you this amount of money.

I'll pay for your hotels.

I'll do all this stuff."

And we're thinking, geez,
this guy really likes us.

- And then Larry and Gerry
and I started talking

and we said, "Well, you know,
it might be kind of fun.

Maybe we ought to do it."

So we all converged in Seattle,

Andy, Bob, Gerry, Larry, and me,

and we rehearsed
for a couple of days

and we talked about it.

Andy was very negative

in terms that he just
didn't wanna travel.

He didn't wanna travel.

- I mean, I didn't have
any real objection.

I didn't have any bad
taste in my mouth for him.

I just didn't feel like doing it

and I didn't feel like I was
particularly invited to do it.

And I think that, so it just
didn't feel right for me

to interject myself into it.

- And Bobby Joe,
he lives in Honolulu,

and the commute back
and forth was too much.

- I just couldn't do it
even though I wanted to

and I kept saying,
yes, I want to,

but I knew that I
wouldn't be able to.

And I think after a
while they knew it too.

- So, the three of us,
Gerry, Larry, and I,

rehearsed for a year, probably.

I'd fly up to Seattle

and we'd get together
for a couple days

and we were just learning

how to relearn our
instruments again.

Larry hadn't played
a guitar in 35 years.

I hadn't touched the sax,
and Gerry hadn't sung.

And so, he was working
on building his pipes up.

Larry and I were working
on playing our instruments

and getting back into shape.

Finally, he said,
"You know, I think

we might be able
to pull that off."

- And so beginning of 2007,
this promoter call Larry again,

and Larry said,
"Well, tell you what,

we're rehearsing a little bit."

The guy got all excited,
"All right, great."

When do you wanna do it?

And Larry said, "No,
no, no, no, hold on.

I'll tell you when we're ready."

- But when we learned that
we could actually play,

I was pretty excited about it.

- We took it down,
I think about a month.

This promoter was going nuts.

"Are you guys coming?
Are you guys coming?"

And we kept saying, "Well,
hold on, we can't tell you."

- We finally said,
"Okay, we'll do it."

- [Jordan] For the
first time in 40 years,

The Sonics would
reunite and play a show.

- [Host] This is The Sonics!

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪

- So they got us behind
the curtain and everything

and we thought, oh
god, here it goes.

- Here's an insurance
dude and an airline pilot

up there playing rock
and roll to a full house.

- It was jam-packed.

I mean, it was an
amazing concert.

It was the first time
they wanted me to go back

because they thought maybe I
could work with a sound person

to get their sound or whatever.

- Zoop, they pull the
curtains and we all, oh god.

And here the people
we looked out there,

I'm not kidding you,
it looked like it did

when we quit 40 years ago.

They were all the same age.

They were all like 18, 19,
20-year-old, 17-year-old.

It was just this deja
vu all over again.

- People came from
all over the world.

I mean, there was
people that came from

Norway, London, France.

- We played the Friday night
show, which was sold out,

and we played the Saturday
night show, which was sold out.

- So we kept going into it

and pretty soon they were out
diving off the stage, oops.

And doing a mosh pit.

And everything was out.

We're in. (chuckles)

They liked us no
matter how old we are.

- Yeah, I was still suspicious

but when I saw the reaction

I went whoa, man, was I wrong.

- People asking for autographs,

we haven't gotten that
since the '60s of course.

♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, Cinderella ♪

(upbeat rock music)

- [Jordan] The two
reunion shows at Cavestomp

were a huge success.

Offers came flooding
in from Europe.

- For us in The Sonics
in the northwest,

we thought going on tour
meant going to Spokane.

We'd never been to
Europe, you know?

- [Jordan] In 2008,
The Sonics Tour Europe

for the very first time,
selling out every show.

Shortly after, they
decided it was time

to play a hometown gig.

Halloween night at the
Paramount Theater in Seattle.

It was around this time when
I caught wind of the reunion.

I immediately called my dad
and told him about the show.

We grabbed tickets and I
flew up from LA for the gig.

This would be the first concert

my dad and I would
go to together,

but not the last.

Over the next eight
years, the band played

to sold out crowds
all over the world.

This little regional
band from the '60s,

this little cult band
from Tacoma, Washington

after 40 years we're finally
out touring the world.

They were no longer
just a northwest secret.

- We got to tour and see
the world and play again.

- Every place that we played
was jam packed, you know?

- [Gerry] England, France,
Spain, Italy, Greece.

- [Rob] Stockholm
and Oslo, Berlin,

Madrid, Seville.

All kinds of those, all
the way down to Athens.

- [Larry] And I'd have
people come up and say,

"Yeah, my dad said
I've gotta come here

because he used to hear you
guys when he was a kid."

- Went down, played all the
major cities in Australia.

- Yeah, I don't think we lost
a whole lot of that power

or that being in
your face, you know?

- I still to this day,
I look back and I say,

how could that happen?

♪ Cinderella ♪

(upbeat rock music)

- You know, just seeing
all those young people

coming in and going,
"Wow, this is The Sonics."

Never thought I'd see it.

- [Jordan] The reunion lineup
would eventually solidify

with legendary SoCal
drummer, Dusty Watson

and stepping in on bass,
another northwest music icon,

Freddie Dennis.

♪ You knew it was wrong ♪

♪ 'Bout you had to play ♪

♪ Now you're gonna learn ♪

- [Jordan] After touring nonstop

for eight consecutive years,

the band finally decided
to record a new album.

It'd be their first,
in almost 50 years.

They enlisted garage rock
aficionado, Jim Diamond,

to produce the album.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Bad Betty on a
Bonneville, yeah ♪

♪ She looks fast when
she's sittin' still ♪

♪ High boots and looks to kill ♪

- [Jordan] To celebrate the
release of their new album,

The Sonics booked a
hometown show in Seattle

at the Moore Theater.

♪ Yeah, go Bad Betty ♪

♪ Woo, go Bad Betty ♪

♪ Cause we're gonna
rock and roll tonight ♪

♪ Oh, Bad Betty
on a Bonneville ♪

♪ I can tell you she crashed
her daddy's Coupe de'ville ♪

♪ Hopped like a tick on
a whole brick steel ♪

♪ She's Betty on a Bonne' ♪

♪ Yeah, Bad Betty ♪

♪ Woo, go Bad Betty ♪

♪ Yeah, go Bad Betty, gonna
rock and roll all night ♪

(crowd chattering)

(sentimental music)

- I never ever thought
I would see The Sonics

for a long, long time.

It just seemed out of
the realm of possibility.

I remember there was
like just this huge

sort of sense of anticipation
like The Sonics were playing.

The crowd was amped

We were amped, like
insanely stoked

to be playing with The Sonics.

(sentimental music)

All my life I've sort of
focused on like The Sonics,

The Stooges, The Scientists,

and eventually we played with
all of these amazing bands

that I've loved since I
was like in my early 20s,

and I feel like I'm one of
the luckiest people out there.

(sentimental music)

Describing music
or art or something

is like, it's just you have
to experience it, you know?

(sentimental music)

(audience clapping and cheering)

- [Crowd] Sonics,
Sonics, Sonics.

Sonics, Sonics, Sonics.

Sonics, Sonics, Sonics.

(sentimental music)

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Baby, you're
driving me crazy ♪

♪ I said baby, you're
driving me crazy ♪

♪ The way you turn me on ♪

- I had that feeling.

I mean, it was really rock
and roll and it was hard.

It really did feel good.

One of the few shows
that felt really good.

♪ Psycho ♪

(muffled upbeat rock music)

(sentimental music)

- It was out of body. Yeah.

I think that's what rock
and roll is good for.

Like, if you're doing it right,
you should leave your body,

you should kind of exalt
and kind of come alive.

There's this theory about
rock and roll, right?

There's the body and the mind.

Get to a point where
if you keep playing,

you'll lose consciousness.

If you lose consciousness,
you can't keep playing.

You know what I mean?

Like, you get to a point
where you lose yourself

and you become just
like atoms and energy.

That's the crossroads.

So when I played with The
Sonics, I got to the crossroads.

It's just like a
completely all enveloping

time disappeared, you know?

I was inside of something
that I had admired and loved

and it was a real honor.

(audience clapping and cheering)

- [Audience] Sonics,
Sonics, Sonics.

Sonics, Sonics, Sonics.

Sonics, Sonics, Sonics.

Sonics, Sonics, Sonics.

(sentimental music)

(sentimental music)

(crowd chattering)

(sentimental music)

- What the band means to me.

You're never too old
to rock and roll.

(crowd chattering)

- Thank you so much.

(crowd chattering)

(sentimental music)

- Long before
Ramones, long before,

you know, Ramones
are supposed to be

the first punk band.

I just, no.

No, we got you beat,
you know? (chuckles)

And the Sex Pistols,

nah, we got you beat.

Today the fuse just keeps going,

it just keeps getting
bigger, you know?

The Sonics have made it.

They're there, you know?

(sentimental music)

- [Jordan] The Sonics
are my favorite band

and if it weren't for them,

I'm not sure my father and I

would have the relationship
that we do today.

After going to that first
reunion show in 2008,

we made a pact to go to at
least one rock show a year.

Since then, we've knocked
some pretty big names

off our concert bucket list.

That's us last summer
at a Metallica show.

It was awesome.

We're two completely
different people,

but our love for this
band brought us together

and today he's one
of my best friends.

(sentimental music)

That's the thing about music.

It brings people together.

It has the ability to
change people's lives.

And sometimes it can
even change the world.

Are The Sonics one of the most
important bands of all time?

Do they belong in the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame?

Probably.

But to be honest,
who gives a shit?

The one thing I can
say for sure is this.

When these five
guys got together,

they fuckin' rocked.

(upbeat rock music)

♪ Say there's a girl ♪

♪ Who's new in town ♪

♪ Well you better
watch out now ♪

♪ Or she'll put you down ♪

♪ 'Cause she's an evil chick ♪

♪ Say she's the witch ♪

♪ She got long black hair ♪

♪ And a big black car ♪

♪ I know what you're thinking ♪

♪ But you won't get far ♪

♪ She gonna make you itch ♪

♪ 'Cause she's the witch ♪

♪ Well, she walks
around late at night ♪

♪ Most other people
sleeping tight ♪

♪ If you hear her
knocking on your door ♪

♪ You better sneak away ♪

♪ Oh baby, oh no ♪

♪ Now you know the score ♪

♪ 'Cause I set you straight ♪

♪ But you better be careful ♪

♪ Before it's too late ♪

♪ She gonna make you itch ♪

♪ 'Cause she's the witch ♪

(upbeat rock music)

♪ She walks around
late at night ♪

♪ When most other
people sleeping tight ♪

♪ If you hear her
knocking on your door ♪

♪ You better stay awake ♪

♪ Well you know you will ♪

♪ Say don't you know ♪

♪ And do you remember ♪

♪ That I told you so ♪

♪ Gonna do you in ♪

♪ 'Cause she's the witch ♪

♪ Ah hoo ♪

♪ Ah hoo ♪

(rain pattering)