Sonny & The Sunsets
Hometown: San Francisco
Tags: indie pop
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The new Sonny & the Sunsets record is a country record. It’s a break up record. Love and Heartache. Every song was written during and is about his break up with his girlfriend of ten years. The songs came fast and naturally so Smith let the next record be something different, he embellished his Sunsets with members of his country band The Fuckaroos. Recorded to tape in a musty beer stained basement, what transpired was a classic country record. Smith grew up listening to old time music, his dad is a banjo player and his parents and friends played old time music. “It was around the house, but I didn’t like it!” recalls Sonny. “My dad played banjo and his friends would come over and play fiddle and mandolin. But I would go watch tv or listen to AC/DC.” However, some kind of country strain sank in. Gene Clark, The Flying Burrito Brothers, a little Johnny Cash, even the countrier side of the Kinks – there are hints of all of these in the new record and yet ultimately it still remains a Sonny & the Sunsets sound through and through. |
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Buzz Bands LA on Sonny & The Sunsets
7 days agoSonny & the Sunsets ' forthcoming record "Antenna to the Afterworld" bounces back and forth between twee boy-girl verses reminiscent of Saturday Looks Good to Me and chugging rock chords echoing the Feelies, making it the most charming record yet from Sonny Smith and his San Francisco-based posse. Much of this charisma comes from the innocent off-kilter translation of Smiths's stories. Whether he's singing about falling in love with a cyborg ("Green Blood") or working out one's feelings over a friend's death ("Palmreader"), after each song you always kind of want to hug him as if he were the weird more here
TheOwlMag on Sonny & The Sunsets
4 months agoSonny & the Sunsets Hit After Hit [Fat Possum Records 2011]
It’s easy to visualize Sonny & the Sunsets playing some broken down, teenage pizza joint in 1964. Their flowery, sun-soaked harmonies, bubbly bass slaps and concise 2.5 minute 60s pop carries enough attitude and Brill Building hooks to drive those mop top youngsters stark raving mad. That said, San Francisco based Sonny Smith and his merry Sunsets draw their influences from a deep well of early 60s icons and other revivalists like Buddy Holly, a little Latin-tinge from Same Cooke and even Jonathan Richman.
Though the real lesson from Hit After Hit is S&S’s devotion to a simple rock & roll formula mended to modern standards. “Don’t Act Dumb” leads with a rollicking drum intro and guitars then adds harmonies and keyboards which bleed into the chorus, “Girl, Don’t Act Dumb,” straightforward and effective. To the same effect is “Acres of Lust” and its spitfire, mostly instrumental balance.
At a mere 31 minutes, the party is over too quickly. But, with each track as brilliant and honest as the next, Hit After Hit is exactly as advertised.
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