The History of Boomba Records
In 1990, Duffy Armstrong and Matt Merta, two Detroit musicians, decided to
form Boomba Records. The label would help promote the city's thriving alternative music talent
that performed at various venues, especially in the new-music bars of the inner-suburb of
Hamtramck. Boomba (Polish for "a glass of beer") has continued this endeavor, although it
has narrowed its scope of music genre.
The first release from Boomba was Live at The Hamtramck Pub, June 1990. This
cassette-only release contained performances from 11 local bands, all recorded live at the
bar over two weekends. The recording was innovative for its time, and received high acclaim
from local press and radio stations as well as interest from major record labels like MCA
and Capitol. Performers included pre-alt-country faves Goober and The Peas, Robb Roy, and
Strange Bedfellows (featuring a pre-Breech Missy Gibson).
The irregularity for the releases by Boomba, especially during 1991-95, were due to the fact
that the record company refused to make bands pay for appearances on compilations (which was
and is still common among labels). Instead, benefit live performances were and are held, and
the money raised from these helps defray the cost of the production and manufacturing. During
that period, only one holiday 7-inch single by The Freemasons, "Christmas in Anytown, USA"
b/w "Christmas Won't Be Merry (Without My Mary)" was released on a large scale, along with
some parody songs of the Civil War and reenacting from Private Partz for private distribution.
In 1995, Boomba released a four-song cassette from The Masons (of detroit) entitled Homemade.
The title came from the lo-fi recording technology. The release won the band "Most Promising
Band Performing Original Material 1995" with the Entertainer Indi-Association of Nashville,
and the pop-oriented songs got the interest from a number of record companies. The band
eventually signed with Statue Records in California, and recorded a full-length CD entitled
Two Tonic Nights in 1996, but the album was never released.
In 1997, Boomba again released a live-recording compilation, this time a CD and of "unplugged"
performances from nine Detroit-area musical acts and a poet. Boombacoustic! received
widespread acclaim from not only the local scene, but in other parts of the US and Europe as
well. The disc was nominated for two categories in the 1998 Detroit Music Awards ("Best
Compilation/Anthology" and "Best Acoustic/Folk Recording").
The year 2000 saw the release of Fine Upstanding Men, a six-song CD by the Detroit
roots-rock band Gravel Train. Selected
cuts from the CD have appeared on various Internet websites in mp3 format, and have received
a lot of attention. The CD was nominated for "Best Country Recording" at the 2001 Detroit Music Awards.
The year 2007 will see many opportunities for Boomba. Plans are for a CD release from the band
The Red Butlers. Boomba also hopes to try and launch a project of an all-female band performing folk and bluegrass acoustic music with Goth overtones.
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Boomba Records, PO Box 2353, Dearborn, MI 48123 USA
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