Het Zuid Afrikaanse BOO! heeft hun eerste optreden in Nederland sinds 6 jaar. Met hun gitaarloze Monki-punk zette BOO! het Ell Niño festival in 2002 al eens helemaal op zijn kop! Na een pauze van 6 jaar, waarin frontman Chris Chameleon zijn solocarrière voorrang gaf is BOO! nu helemaal terug met een nieuw album: 'The Three of us'. Met zijn opvallende verschijning en een bereik van 4 octaven zal de bas spelende zanger Chameleon een van de eyecatchers van de dag zijn.
Boo! began in 1997 in the backstreets of dirty Brixton, Johannesburg when it’s first members, Ampie Omo, Chris Chameleon, and Leon Retief conspired to make music that would go against most of the conventional wisdom of the time. Having considered names like “Yello Lilo” and “Die Wit Ding Wat in Die Pad Le,” it was Chris’ dream of playing to the sound of a stadium boo-ing the band that eventually won out. Although the name was in part, designed to thwart any chances of feedback on a bad performance, this contingency was never required, as
Boo! became not only one of South Africa’s favourite bands of all time, but also one of the country’s proudest musical exports to both Europe and North America.
In 7 years
Boo! acquired an enormous cult following worldwide by performing 800 gigs in 17 countries, including 14 states in the USA as well as countries such as Hungary and Croatia. Brandishing their self-styled genre of “monkipunk”
Boo! performed at many European and American festivals with the likes of the White Stripes, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Franz Ferdinand, Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill, Placebo, Coldplay and many more. The band also received a South African Music Award (SAMA) in 2002 for ‘Best Pop Album.’
The band’s sound consisted of bass, drums, brass, keyboards and percussion; notably lacking guitar. In spite of this unusual orchestration, Boo! hit the number one position on the 5FM top 40 with “Stagefright” and a number two position with “OOAA,” testimony to frontman, bassist, resident drag queen, Chris Chameleon’s exceptional songwriting abilities.
In September 2004, Ampie Omo and Leon Retief announced their resignation from
Boo! and performed their final show with the band on 14 December 2004. Leon Retief continued his career in a drive to create order from the chaos that is the general state of affairs behind the scenes in South African music. Ampie Omo continued his career as a member of popular ska-outfit Fuzigish and Chris Chameleon surprised his punk pundits and cohorts by becoming one of the best-selling and critically most acclaimed artists in the Afrikaans music landscape, notching up a total of 17 national awards in four years including a South African Music Award (SAMA) and a Medal of Honor from the South African Academy of Science and Arts.
2010 sees
Boo! back with a change in wardrobe and drummers with Riaan van Rensburg taking over from Princess Leonie. The new album, "The Three of Us," recorded in Amsterdam, typifies the very musically irreverent and emotional antics which created this South African legend.
After an impressive second debut at the Ramfest festivals in both Johannesburg and Worchester, Boo! had announced their return in no uncertain terms and have made it clear that that little something that has been missing from the international music scene for years is a loud and clear:
Boo!
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