Boom Pam Makes My Head Explode

It's been two days since i witnessed something truly exciting.

Boom Pam, an Israeli trio with an adolescent sounding, onomatopoeia of a name, ripped the roof off the late night tent at Ottawa Jazzfest with a raucous and incredibly high-energy performance that had the crowd going absolutely bonkers. Id say this was probably as close to a mosh pit as the Ottawa Jazz Festival has ever seen. They had this staunchly pro-lawn-chair crowd on their feet and dancing within seconds of taking the stage, which was good because they were half an hour late coming out. Didnt matter - everyone there would have stuck around and danced all night.

As i said, im still kinda recovering, but not really from anything physical - though my ears were quite ringing afterwards (and i did make kind of a jerk of myself with that cute girl who's eyes kept meeting mine - Rachel, if you're reading this, call me!). No, this was the kind of experience i live for - the thrill of going to a music festival and seeing a band ive never heard of, and literally being blown off my feet by the music, the vibes, and the atmosphere created. It's nothing less than the thrill of live discovery, when i feel like im the Indiana Jones of music, digging through the strata of shows ive seen and bands ive heard and finding that buried, hidden cache somewhere id never expect it - in this case, an Israeli "surf-rock" trio on the jazz fest late stage.  Go figure.

So what's the big deal, what do these guys sound like, you're wondering? Well, here are some of the notes i wrote myself during the show (i would have tweeted them but, unlike every other journalist these days, i can actually write faster than i can tweet):

- "People are going nuts - especially the hot cougars."
- "Snake charmer rhythms entranced the audience before whipping them into a frenzy."
- "It's like the theme for Arabian Nights on acid."
- "Fear and loathing in Tel Aviv."
- "Super-powered, demonic kletzmer music on a coke binge."
- "Was Link Wray Jewish? He is now."
- "Like Link combined with the 5,6,7,8's from Kill Bill."
- "Tubie on the tuba! Tuuuubiiiiieeeee!"
- "Amazing tempo changes - very technical drumming & musicianship."
- "If this is 'surf-rock' it's possessed by a Hebrew Megadeath."

So thats a sample of the frantic scribbling i managed to do during this show - it's really hard to get swept away by an infectious need to dance, while also remembering to write things down. I dont recommend it for all you amateur concert reviewers out there. I'd encourage you to take a look at some of the videos to the right of this page to really do the show justice. Over all, though, i remember thinking that these guys need to be huge, and if this was 20 years ago i would have made a tape and sent it in the mail to every musician with a record label, the same way Matt Costa got his big break from Jack Johnson. I mean, Trey Anastasio would love these guys, or maybe opening for Umphrey's McGee...they should play every festival in the U.S. in the 2 or 3 pm timeslot, blasting away in the sunshine and groovin like crazy.. thats what they should do.

Either way, Boom Pam blends familiar licks and riffs into something monstrously rock-able, taking inspiration from those mediterranean sounds like snake charmer tunes and traditional Jewish songs and kletzmer (everyone knows hava nagila, they even play it at hockey games now), as well as old fashioned surf rock like Link Wray and the Trashmen, and combining it into a wall of sound that forces your various body parts to move independent of each other and your mind. When guitarist Uri ended what i described as a "hava nagila rant" in my notes with a Pete Townshend style leaping guitar kick-smash, i was sold.

The best part about it may have been people coming up to me at the end and telling me how great these guys were, but always saying the same thing - "i didnt know anything about them and had never heard of them before." Well, guys, keep up the performances like this, and that's gonna change.