Retooled BoomBox gets Harry, plays Tahoe

BoomBox is coming to Blu.

The recently reformed electronica-rock duo will be spinning its signature blend of dance beats and live music at MontBleu Casino’s Blu Nightclub on Saturday, April 8.

“It’s a funky groove that you’re gonna feel when you show up, and you’ll probably want to dance,” Zion Godchaux said.

Godchaux formed BoomBox in 2004 with the group’s former DJ and producer, Russ Randolph, approaching electronic dance music as something to be blended with live instrumentation and vocals. Known for unscripted and dynamic live performances, BoomBox hooked people with live guitar and vocals laid over carefully produced tracks.

“Ultimately, we’re playing songs that have vocals and lyrics and guitar parts,” Godchaux said. “I like to think of it as, it’s like a late night dance party that you would find at a club in a big city, sound system music, big bass lines hitting the dance floor.

“On top of that we apply the vocal, keys and guitar live and really kind of turn it back into rock and roll, so it’s hitting like an electro-disco-house-funk-dance party with a good sound system where you’re feeling that bass and feeling that beat, but it’s really just a rock and roll song.”

Randolph and Godchaux parted ways in December, with each committed to separate musical goals.

“We didn’t really have a falling out or anything, he was just more interested in staying locally in the area that we live and working with this club in town,” Godchaux said. “I just wasn’t ready by a long shot to stop making tracks and touring and continuing BoomBox sound.”

In transition, BoomBox turned to a seasoned DJ and producer holed up in Boulder, Colorado, with a self-described penchant for “steadily and reliably creating enticing sounds.”

“About December, I finally located DJ Harry. He’d just been hiding out for a number of years,” Godchaux said. “Things have been going really smooth, we’ve been definitely surprised with how smooth the transition has been and the shows have just been getting better and better.”

The duo debuted live at the Waiting Room in Omaha in January, and has played 20 or so shows since then.

“Sonically speaking, every night the shows just get better and better, as Harry would get more and more confident and comfortable with the material. He had kind of a sharp learning curve but he handled it well,” Godchaux said.

DJ Harry shares Godchaux’s affinity for blending live and produced sounds in a club setting.

“He also plays keyboards,” Godchaux said. “He grew up around instruments and music and theory. That’s all coming into play now at the shows which is really cool. There’s definitely more musical interplay now between me and Harry.”

For starters, BoomBox has been digging into a number of tracks and projects that had been set aside in the past.

“It gave me the ability every night to kind of tweak these songs and just give them the upgrades and facelifts that they’d needed,” Godchaux said.

“Laid Back and Loaded” was released in January, and “Right Around 2” is due for release this month.

“That’s kind of the model that we’re choosing moving forward is just try to put out a single every month, keep it fresh,” Godchaux said.

BoomBox is keyed up for the summer festival season, including the High Sierra Music Festival, a June 9 show at Red Rocks with Nahko and Medicine For The People, and aiming to take its sound overseas before long.

“I’m working with somebody over in Europe right now on a remix,” Godchaux said. “Hopefully, we can get over to Europe, that’s kind of my main goal is to get this music to the rest of the world.”

For now, the duo has a nation full of clubs to conquer with a live and lyrical electronic attack.

“That’s kind of the goal is to take the club and keep it intact but use it just as a piece of this rock n roll that we play,” Godchaux said.

-Josh Sweigert

• BoomBox
  When: 8 p.m. Saturday, April 8
  Where: Blu Nightclub at MontBleu
  Tickets: $16 Advance, $20 D.O.S.