Sonic Rebellion

Heads We Win, Tails You Lose


The wild energy that characterizes Sonic Rebellion's live performances and busy gig itinerary makes complete sense. The NYC club scene is crazy and competitive, but since 2006, the blistering rock powerhouse—whose fully contemporary sound complements an edgy vibe that’s a dynamic throwback to the hard-edged arena rock of the 70s and 80s—has held its own, gigging for thousands every year at a Brooklyn stop of the New York Marathon and at all the Big Apple hot spots: Arlene’s Grocery, Rebel, Don Hills and The Bitter End, where Sonic Rebellion is holding its CD release party Friday, March 5, 2010 for their long awaited, explosive debut album Heads We Win, Tails You Lose.

While rocking audiences in and around New York and thousands via their popular myspace page,

the principals of the band—founders Andy Smith (lead vocals) and Lefty Ali (guitar), bassist Dustin Smith and versatile drummer Sean Pokress, who joined in March 2009—make no bones of their ambition and intention. Rising to the challenge of capturing the intense energy of their live shows on the recording, they fully live up to their bold musical mission statement: Sonic Rebellion is the musical culmination of great necessity reviving real rock and roll while harnessing the organic roots of music from the exalted kings of the stadium age. Vulcanizing their live energy to resurrect the cadaver of the American sound, their blistering guitar, swankily anchored bass lines cataclysmic drums and lyrically taut shotgun vocals swirl the listener into that desired state of ecstatic bliss.

Tracks from Heads We Win, Tails You Lose, which were engineered by John Machado, head of recording technology at Five Towns College (Long Island) and mastered at the legendary Sterling Sound in Manhattan, have been catching on quickly at the internet listening portal jango.com. Ten days after Sonic Rebellion posted their tracks for listeners who like their heaviest influences (Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC), they had a hundred new fans and growing. This wildfire effect online reflects the buzz Sonic Rebellion has been generating since Andy met Lefty Ali on Craigs List not long after Andy moved to NYC (after brief stays in Seattle and Virginia).

Andy grew up listening to Judas Priest, AC/DC and Motorhead in Kansas City and began playing in bands there as a teen. Lefty was raised partly in Pakistan, so he grew up hearing nothing of 90s rock but instead began jamming along with smuggled tapes of legendary 70s hard rock bands he hid from his parents. From their first gig with Wet Coma’s original drummer, these old school rock sensibilities were pure dynamite together. Seans’ versatility on drums has taken the band’s sound in exciting new stylistic directions even since Heads We Win, Tails You Lose was recorded.

“We like to have a lot of fun in our live performances, even though the music is pretty intense,” says Andy. “Lefty will strap on the wireless guitar and go out in the crowd and give them a lot to scream about. I’ve definitely got some things I want to say in my lyrics, but on the whole, for us it’s about the fans coming out and leaving thinking that we were a blast to watch and with some of our songs stuck in their heads. Our goal is to make live music the way it used to be, a full on, authentic experience. I’m a big guy who used to play college football. One of the guys from another NYC band, Fixer, told me I was the modern day Meat Loaf, and I liked that comparison. He sang memorable songs and his shows were full of energy. I love that comparison!”

The track that’s getting the most buzz as the probable first Sonic Rebellion single is the emotionally compelling “Awake Now,” which mixes all the rumble and rage of classic 70s rock with Andy’s own personal tale of redemption from addiction. It’s a high octane inspirational song about a self awakening, where you let the “old you” die and let the new man take over. Another fan favorite is “Mad As Hell,” a raw and throbbing, in the moment rant featuring Andy at his most vocally intense that any frustrated person could adapt to their own circumstances, especially in today’s troubled times. The first song Andy and Lefty wrote for Heads We Win, Tails You Lose was the hard chugging, lyrically outrageous “Song About Revenge,” which will be featured in the upcoming film Duck Walls, written and directed by Andy’s friend Rob Mountjoy; expanding his creative horizons, Andy also appears in this movie as well as Mountjoy’s first film Shower Frown. He is now on line to be a star in a TV pilot being promoted to cable networks.

“For me, the success of Sonic Rebellion and the growing opportunities that are coming our way is a new lease on life,” says Andy. “When my band in Seattle broke up, I thought that was the end of my musical life. But then through various circumstances and Rob’s encouragement, I found myself in New York, hooked up with Lefty and it was like the shades lifted, the light poured in and everything took off. A few years later, things are really coming together and I am truly working with guys who have become my best friends. Everything’s looking up and we’re ecstatic for Sonic Rebellion's future.”