The Poubelle Booms - Interview

Amnesty International’s music night at Fibbers this week will see the Poubelle Booms taking centre stage. Running this term for the second time, Jamnesty has expanded massively since last year and promises some incredibly good music. Kimmy Duck talks to Sam Rooney (vocals and keyboard) about inspiration, getting the crowd dancing, and their slightly unusual band name.

How did the band start off?

I was at open mic night at B Henrys, and I recognized this guy from my course playing and doing some vocal, and it was Olly [Corpe, guitar and vocals], and I thought this guy’s pretty decent. So we decided we should jam together and it all went from there.

Were you both playing music before then?

I’ve been playing since I was seven, I took up other instruments as I went along. And Olly – I know he was on Australian Pop idol when he was 15 or 16 so he must’ve been playing for a while. And then he found out he could sing, and became a very good singer! So he takes more of the lead and I normally do some harmonies then take an occasional lead when we think its appropriate. I’ve got a higher range than him though, so I win there!

How do you try and make the sound come across as your own when you’re playing covers?

Because we only play covers we always try and put our own twist on it. We always go about the same way making a song. First we’ll play through the song, then edit it in our own way, maybe change some lyrics to adapt it to us. Because I play on a stage piano I use different sounds, put in harmonies and we might change up the song structure a little bit. All our songs end up sounding like us, though.

Who would you look to for inspiration?

For myself, a bit of Elton John, a lot of John Mayer, and Stevie Wonder. Olly would be looking more at Jeff Buckley, Cee lo Green. So funk, a little bit of jazz, and quite a lot of pop.

The Poubelle Booms is an original band name – where did that come from?

It was a few weeks into forming our band and we were starting to think we need a name. We were with our friend James, who didn’t know what Poubelle meant. So he asked Olly who said ‘Oh, it means rubbish’. Then he said so what’s a Poubelle Boom? I don’t know where he got that phrase from. It doesn’t really mean anything, but I guess it means a sort of rubbish children’s party. But we liked it, and it stuck. So actually, we’re the rubbish children’s party band.

Do you prefer performing live?

We both love performance. We’ve performed at several places with hundreds of people, and that makes it much, much easier for you as a band. It’s always great when the crowd, even if its just two or three people, really start getting into the music. I think what comes across from us is really important – if you’re enjoying it, they enjoy it!

You’ve played at Jamnesty before – was it a good atmosphere?

It was a really good atmosphere, the crowd was actually quite intimate even though there was a decent number of people. And we got the crowd dancing – we were the first band to do that!

Are you involved in Amnesty?

I’m not myself, no, but I know a couple of people involved, and I couldn’t think of a much better cause to play for. It gave us a really good feeling. Have you evolved at all as a band since you started?

I think we’ve improved our understanding of each other, and how we work. The sound has stayed pretty much the same, but I hope we’ll expand in the future. we’re looking for a new bassist and drummer. I think it would add to our sound and bring something different to it. By next year I think we will have expanded as a band, and as an identity. So hopefully people will start to remember our name. Maybe it’s a terrible name, but it’s memorable!

You can see The Poubelle Booms playing at Jamnesty in Fibbers on Thursday 8th December, tickets are £3.50 in advance and £4 on the door.

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