RIP: Bob Bennett of the Sonics

Bob Bennett, the original drummer of the Sonics, passed away recently.

The Sonics were true pioneers in the rock ‘n’ roll universe, playing the kinda music we call “punk rock” years before MC5, Iggy & the Stooges, New York Dolls, the Ramones, and the Sex Pistols ever existed.

As fate would have it, his passing came within a few weeks after the streaming release of “BOOM: A film about The Sonics” – a great documentary by Jordan Albertsen.

As the film points out, the Sonics didn’t realize how great they were. Thanks to some passionate record collectors, their music was re-discovered and embraced 30+ years after their existence, which ultimately led to a reunion and international tours that allowed them to perform in places they never dreamed they would play.

While Bob did not tour with the reunited Sonics, he was still good friends with his old bandmates, and did make some special guest appearances, including a cameo performance at a 2008 Halloween show in Seattle where he performed a few songs with the band at their first hometown show since 1972 – an event which yours truly was fortunate to attend.

There’s a lot of great moments in this new documentary, and I especially enjoyed the spotlight on Buck Ormsby, who not only discovered the Sonics and produced their first two albums, but also continued to be a major advocate for the band for many years after they were an active band, reissuing and actively promoting the music for a new audience.

For the director of this film, his personal gateway to discovering the Sonics music was his dad turning him onto the “Boom” album, which blew his mind. For others, it was the “Rockabilly Psychosis And The Garage Disease” compilation LP that was released by Big Beat Records (aka Ace Records) in 1984. For many of my associates and I, it was the KFJC Maximum LOUIE LOUIE event and the accompanying “Best of LOUIE LOUIE” compilation LP from Rhino, which included the Sonics 1965 recording of that song.

A lot of people, including Don Gallucci (Caverhill) of the Kingsmen, chose the Sonics version of LOUIE LOUIE as their favorite version of the song.

The Sonics also covered another great Richard Berry song – “Have Love, Will Travel, which was used for a 2004 Land Rover ad commercial campaign, bringing more attention to the band, and likely planting more seeds for their eventual big reunion at the 2007 Cavestomp garage rock festival in Brooklyn, N.Y.

One of the prominent fans of Bob Bennett’s drumming with the Sonics was Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, who praised his work in April 1994 on Nardwuar’s show on CITR-FM.

“I have to admit… The Sonics recorded very, very cheaply on a two-track, you know, and they just used one microphone over the drums, and they got the most amazing drum sound I’ve ever heard. Still to this day, it’s still my favourite drum sound. It sounds like he’s hitting harder than anyone I’ve ever known.”
– Kurt Cobain

In closing, I’m sharing the public announcement of Rob Bennett’s passing on the official Sonics Facebook page, as reported by bandmate Rob Lind:

I apologize for seeming to be unresponsive for the last couple days. It’s just that I’ve been trying to somehow figure out how to deal with the avalanche of sadness as well as shock that I experienced when I learned that my friend of over 60 years, Bob Bennett, had suddenly passed away. Bob had flown to Seattle to be with us when we played there in October and I talked to him a lot and hung out like old friends do. Jerry Roslie and I met Bob when he was 16 and his family had relocated to Tacoma from Oklahoma. The three of us played in several small bands together and played high school dances and fraternity parties and basically had a blast with life. He was then known as “Bobby Joe” and that’s what I called him for the rest of his life. As I’m sure you all know, he was the original drummer for our band, The Sonics. He, from the beginning, said he didn’t want to be a giant metronome, sitting behind the band keeping time. He wanted to be different and make an impact on our music. God, did he ever! You can hear Bobby’s impact on all those early Sonic songs. I can still remember futilely trying to get to sleep after a show and still hearing those jack hammer rolls and his cannon like kick in my head. The subject of music aside, he was a wonderful guy to hang out with and an awesome friend. In all those years I never once ever heard anyone ever say a bad word about Bobby Joe and in a rock and roll band that’s often impossible! If you met him you loved him and had a great friend. After the Sonics he moved to Hawaii and had a long career as a new car salesman and sales manager. He was a really good low handicap golfer and liked to travel. He would fly to the US in later years to hang out with the current Sonics and once got onstage and played with us in a particularly big show at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, proudly wearing his Sonics T shirt. That’s what he was doing the very last time I saw him. It’s a gross understatement but true to say that he is greatly missed. Fly well Bobby Joe. I’ll see you again and we’ll tell stories and laugh some more….
– Rob Lind

Reference links:
The official Sonics website
Wikipedia – The Sonics
BOOM: A film about The Sonics (official website)
The Sonics Facebook page
Kurt Cobain explaining the lo-fi power of his “favourite drum sound” – Farout Magazine