Interview with Carlo Cennamo by Kris Mestdag

If my information is correct you left Arizona to join the Boom. Is this true? If yes, how did they convince you?

Yes, I left Arizona to come to D.C. but there wasn't too much convincing going on. What I mean is that, I came here to see my friend Scott who lives with John Wall, (They've been friends since high school), I knew I'd be able to play music with people while I was here but I hadn't really intended on staying long, I wanted to move back to Tucson, but as time passed new plans came up of recording and touring and I stayed because there is a really great thing happening thanks to John Wall and Juan Carrera

Were you familiar with the DC music scene?

You know, I wasn't familiar with the D.C. music scene, I knew it existed and that it had fertile punk rock roots but that was about it. I grew up listening to rap music and then I got big into jazz and it occupied alot of my attention

Have you played in other bands before the boom?

I played in a band called Father Panik. A bass, alto sax, drums trio. It was very dark, we used alot of effects, and it swung hard.

I have to thank the Boom for playing in Belgium a few months ago. You really impressed me that night at 't Lintfabriek, even though you didn't play songs from your debut "Movin' Out" (Slowdime#12).
Why was that, and do you think you'll ever play those "Movin' Out" songs again?

I'm glad you enjoyed the show that night long ago at the Lintfabriek, No we didn't play any songs from the first album, except a rearrangement of Soap Box Master. Aside from that we probably won't play those songs again.
Mainly because that was the very beginning of our being together and we trying to get things together musically between ourselves, and after getting somewhere with that, then we could look forward and think more about what we want to do musically as a whole, and the direction taken on that album is not representative of what I think we all want to create.

John Wall (ex Kerosene454) and Freddie T. Erskine @ 't Lintfabriek,
Kontich (Belgium) April 17, 1999

About that European tour. Was it the first time for you to tour through Europe? How was that experience for you?

That Boom tour was my second time in Europe, I had been there earlier with The Sorts. Those two tours were so different from eachother. Mainly because of the chemistry between two groups of people. The experiences overall were fantastic. Touring is never easy but it is such an exciting experience, especially being in Europe and meeting so many people from all over the world. I've had a more welcoming time in Europe than here in the States. The most taxing thing about a tour is the crash course in psychology that takes place in the van between the five or six people in it at any time.

I noticed you supported fugazi a few times in the UK on that European tour (May 99). How did the crowd react on the Boom and what did you think of fugazi?

Supporting Fugazi was very inspiring. I had never seen them perform, and I was blown away by how much ground they cover musically, and with absolutely no hesitation. The first show we played with them was in Newport England and I think the crowd genuinely like our music and had a good time. In fact alot of people were dancing. The show in Nottingham was very different, it was much bigger (something we are not used to) and the crowd, being so far away, seemed more or less indifferent, they were just waiting for Fugazi, or maybe the second band, whose name I have now forgotten.

I noticed a five-sided star on the cover of Movin Out'. I noticed Freddie & Daniel Higgs (Lungfish) have the same tattoo.
Since they're both from the same region, I was wondering if it had any special significance?

Now this is an interesting question. That five-sided star, you mean the red object in the upper right hand courner of the LP. That, my friend, is a rose, and the tatoos on Fred and Daniel (whom I do not know) I'm assuming have no relation at all to the image on the record except for the fact that they are all tatoo images.
note : I actually meant the star, inside the cover of the CD (=the background of this page) and not the rose. Misunderstandings like that can happen with interviews done by email I guess. I'll have to ask Fred or Dan that same question someday...

How do you see the future of the boom now that Freddie T. will be away touring with June Of 44 the rest of the year. And what are the plans of the Boom anyway?

Well, Fred will be gone for a long time and in the meantime I think everyone has to pick themselves up financially for sometime (meaning we all have to spend alot of time at our jobs to make up lost rent while we were gone etc..) It is after all October now and, well, I can tell what has happened. I have written new music but it's mostly sketches at this point and I don't know what to do with them. I would like for the Boom to continue in whatever direction is indicated by the music on the last LP.
I think we touched on something that we all liked and, songs such as Secret Weapon, Sacrifices, and Automatic Co-pilot are indicative of what I am talking about.

Do you think you'll release a next record with the guys that toured in Europe? ( yourself / Freddie T / John / Joe ).

I'm not sure if the recording will have the same line up, people change and things move, the lure of evil and women you know.

Have you heard the new June Of 44 recording (Anahata, Quarterstick#64), if yes -what do you think?

The new June of 44 record is very interesting I like the new direction and after hearing it for some time, going to their show and heraing the old stuff mixed was very weird, I like alot of the songs on Anahata, I'm a sucker for some of the dreamier and softer sounding things, all fuzzy and clouded you know?

What are your favourite recordings at the moment?

Right now I'm listenting to a local band from Tucson Arizona called THE PORK TORTA! They can run the John Spencer Blues Explosion in a circle.
It is music that would terrify me if I were five years old, but you can't listen to it and not move your ass. It is really fuckin' weird.
I'm obsessed with an alto saxophonist named Jackie McLean. His sound and the way he plays is so unique. He made alot of recordings for Blue Note Records in the early sixties with a trumpet player named Lee Morgan. I listen to their music everyday.
I'm interested in an Ethiopian women named Bezumesh Bekele. The music she made in the fifties and the band she played with were amazing, big huge band with horn arrangements that sound like some of the stranger stuff that Sun Ra and the Arkestra did. It swings hard. I love music that swings hard. Not necessarily Swing music , just music that swings hard.

Sounds interesting Carlo. Anyway thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. All the best on all levels. Take care.

Carlo Cennamo and Joe McRemond @ 't Lintfabriek (17/04/1999) more similar photo's on the photo-site, click here