Legendary Sonics set to rock Arts Festival

Hailed by Nirvana, The White Stripes and LCD Soundsystem as a seminal influence, 1960s garage-rock legends The Sonics will play Róisín Dubh on Tuesday, July 15, as part of this year’s Galway International Arts Festival.

The Sonics formed in 1960, playing as an instrumental band, but they really took off in 1964 when singer Gerry Roslie, saxophonist Rob Lind and drummer Bob Bennett joined them.

“When we heard them, it seemed like everything would match,” says guitarist and founding member Larry Parypa, who currently lives in Seattle, Washington. “So, we got together and when we first started playing, everything came out differently than we’d ever done it before. Gerry’s over there screaming, and Bob Bennett is thumping on the drums so loud. When you have people like that, you sort of have to do the same thing on guitar.”

Larry was just 14 when he started playing with The Sonics in their hometown of Tacoma, Washington. Was it easier to start a band in the 1960s, when there wasn’t the pervading modern sense that everything had been done?

“Back in the early ‘60s, everything was so different,” Larry recalls. “In the whole city of Tacoma, there were only five or six bands, where there might be a 150 now for all I know. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s more competitive and difficult now.”