{"id":178638,"date":"2026-03-05T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/178638\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:28:10","slug":"orlandos-the-sh-booms-are-back-wilder-and-weirder-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/178638\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando’s The Sh-Booms are back, wilder and weirder than ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Sh-Booms Credit: James Han<\/p>\n

In their 15 years of hot business, soul syndicate The Sh-Booms have stormed out of Orlando to become a regional force with a mighty live rep that both rocks and boogies equally hard. But for a whopping nine-member wrecking crew famous for bringing down the house, they\u2019ve been uncharacteristically quiet this decade. That, at long last, is about to change.<\/p>\n

On March 10, The Sh-Booms will drop This Is a Test \u2026, a four-song EP that\u2019ll be their first studio collection since 2019. The good news is that the Boom squad still pack the juice and fire to light up a room. Reassuring indeed, since nothing kills a reunion more than seeing a dear old friend who\u2019s unrecognizable. But the swerve is that The Sh-Booms now sport some unexpected new stripes.<\/p>\n

Ain\u2019t no half-stepping here. The band still swing big and kick it thick, and lead singer Brenda Radney still belts it out like a boss. However, there\u2019s a weird new psych strand that runs through this EP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time out, bandleader Al Ruiz says, \u201cMyself, Brenda [Radney] and [producer] Alan [Armitage] decided to hone in and experiment. Working closely with our new guitar player PJ Durand, lots of wild organ patches, rhythm section chaos and of course arrangements with the horn section, we achieved a sonic alignment \u2026 late nights listening to all kinds of \u201980s New Wave and No Wave stuff, to shit like Thee Oh Sees and beyond, searching for ideas and inspiration, helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consequently, The Sh-Booms\u2019 hard-rocking soul sound now brandishes some new twists. The experimental touches reach beyond their usual orbit and into 1960s psychedelia (\u201cLove of a Ghost\u201d) and 1980s retrofuturism (\u201cThis Is a Test\u201d). Even with these flourishes, this is still a resolutely soul record and not a prog one. Amen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This Is a Test \u2026 is more than just a new look, though. In an age drowning in TikToks and Instagram reels, these extended and exploratory songs \u2014 like the seven-minute-plus \u201cSin and the City\u201d \u2014 are an open defiance of the short-form folly of these attention-deficit times. \u201cThat generic shit is set to appease the algorithm of style-neutered bots that seem to control the airwaves,\u201d says Ruiz.<\/p>\n

The EP doesn\u2019t see release until March 10, but Orlando will get a live advance taste at this Friday\u2019s release show featuring Skeletizer, 24 Hour Karate People, comedian Alex Luchun and DJs Yuca Frita and Cr\u00e8me Fra\u00eeche (8 p.m. March 6, Will\u2019s Pub, $15-$20). Limited-edition vinyl copies will be available there. The next night will be the chance for all the Tampa homies (7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 7, Crowbar, $15-$20).<\/p>\n

Orlando\u2019s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Orlando\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\u201cThat generic shit is set to appease the algorithm of style-neutered bots\u201d\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Hardcore\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tCollateral, Cold Steel and Watts open\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Cathedral\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThey open for A Beacon School\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sh-Booms Credit: James Han In their 15 years of hot business, soul syndicate The Sh-Booms have stormed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[43297,139,141,7362,140,84498],"class_list":{"0":"post-178638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-new-music","9":"tag-orlando","10":"tag-orlando-headlines","11":"tag-orlando-music","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-the-sh-booms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}