Of course this was before MTV became grossly corporate and alternative became a new kind of mainstream and the music industry zeroed in on target markets. The sad result was a spreading barf and bankruptcy that leaked into the bland corporatization of record stores and radio stations alike, turning the singularly joyous act of purchasing a passionately anticipated album into a political statement.
That's not the vision Jason Hughes and Nabil Ayers had in mind in 1997 when they opened the 800-square-foot Sonic Boom Records in Fremont. Now Sonic Boom is three locations strong, with stores in Ballard and on Capitol Hill; its inventory is geared toward indie rock or underground music fans, but it's still the kind of place where if you want to buy something by India.Arie or even Justin Timberlake, no one's going to make you feel like an asshole for asking for it. "People in Seattle are too smart and educated about bands for us to try to act like we're the experts," explains Ayers, who realizes some record stores, while providing access to specialized or hard-to-find releases, can make the timid-but-curious customer feel uncomfortable. "No one's going to laugh at you if you want to buy the new Now That's What I Call Music Christmas CD," he says.
Both musicians, Ayers and Hughes met while working at another local store that has expanded to more locations, Easy Street Records. On the side Hughes hosted KNDD's The Young & the Restless, a weekly program that spotlights local bands, and Ayers put out records on his Collective Fruit label. After becoming frustrated selling Collective Fruit CDs to customers and watching Easy Street make the profit, the two decided to open their own store, where they could sell records and see the money generated from the label sales go back toward Collective Fruit. "We decided we wanted to open the store in Fremont," says Hughes, "and we took a walk to talk more about it and saw a 'For Sale' sign in the window of the place next to the Glamorama, and we said, 'This is it!'"
Collective Fruit is no longer producing, but the store now boasts Sonic Boom Recordings, the label featuring Death Cab for Cutie vinyl as well as CDs from local artists including Heather Duby, Dolour, and Polecat. Ayers' label, The Control Group, has released records from Schoolyard Heroes, the Fitness, the Special Goodness, and Post Stardom Depression, in addition to the pre-major-label material from Vendetta Red and Ayers' band Alien Crime Syndicate. A web store is up and running, and just days ago the two in- vested in and became partners with Thingmaker, a husband- and-wife graphic-artist team (specializing in cool packaging and album art) who afford both Sonic Boom and the labels associated with it "our own in-house designer," says Ayers.
By opening a store in Capitol Hill, Sonic Boom has also become a popular host for all-ages shows--many touring bands play free early shows at the store before their club performances (the shops in Fremont and Ballard also host in-store events). Hughes says the Capitol Hill in-stores are so well-attended that they sometimes hurt business because the long lines to the register turn off customers.
With a strong passion for music pulsing through everything Sonic Boom is associated with, it's pretty obvious that a lot of its employees would be musicians themselves. "That's a good question," says Ayers when I ask how many of his staff members are in bands. A quick count prompts an estimate of 50 percent, and before I can even respond Ayers laughs and blurts, "It's part of the test. Besides having a great knowledge of music, an employee can't be in a band that sucks."
Author's note: The release date of the Lashes' 7-inch "It's Your Party" on Sonic Boom Recordings and the timing of this article are purely coincidental and no reason to get a skivvies-bunch.
