Friday, June 23, 2023

Sonar the Funk Robot Band from Boulder/Aquatari

 
I recently acquired some original band tee shirts (Black Creek Band - Southern rock in the late 80s - 90s from Tallahassee, Florida; and Sonar from Boulder, Colorado via the planet Aquatari, in the early 00s) from friend and band member himself, Jason McDaniel, aka "bass player Commander Colt 44."
 
For those of us who have been personally deprived of the knowledge and pleasure of seeing the "four shimmering clouds" of Sonar perform live all we are left to do is piece together the psychonautics from old videos and actual articles that were actually published and distributed in actual local newspapers in the early 00s. 
 
For instance, here is an inter-dimensional gem of an interview from the Steamboat Pilot, October, 2001:

Sonar invades the Wolf Den Tavern

Kelly Silva
 
 
They wear alienesque masks on stage and claim their sound is something like an old-school funk like a New Orleans-style blend of blues and jazz.
 
They are Sonar five vibrations that slipped into five male human bodies and began playing music and Atari to communicate with their home planet Aquatari.
Members of Sonar have names such as Captain Star 69, Commodore 64, Commander Colt 44, Doctor NC 17 and Admiral RX-7. They also produce waves of audio energy from instruments such as impact-induced vibration cylinders, an organi-magnetallic resonating chamber, a low-frequency modulator and multi-chromatic variable wave inverters and don’t forget the Atari 2600 Game Machine.
Their story may seem odd to the humans on Earth, but it won’t be long before they head out of Colorado and into California to tour and keep communication with Aquatari.
“We do a lot of off-the-wall songs; we do spoofs on songs,” Captain Star 69 said. “We really are from another planet.”
The story begins when the vibrations lived on Aquatari under the rule of the super-fine sea goddess.
“We were just vibrations without bodies and we played a sort of music there,” Captain Star 69 said.
Sea goddess Shanaqua controlled Aquatari, but when Manta tried to overthrow the planet, the vibrations with musical talent were sent through a porthole. The members leapt out of the Boulder Reservoir and stumbled upon some men changing a tire on the side of the road.
After the vibrations snuck into the human bodies, they found musical instruments and 8-track tapes in the van.
In order for members of Sonar to communicate with Aquatari, they must play music and Atari. Sonar has decided to give Earthlings a glimpse into what they’re really all about.
“For the time being, we’re just linking up with our home planet,” Captain Star 69 said. “People either love us or hate us. That’s a great thing.”

++++++++++++++

This is something that was published. "We really are from another planet." 

Here's one more supernaturally glowing profile from the Deseret (Salt Lake City, Utah) News from December 2001 - this gives a little more depth and detail.

Band Sonar is out of this world