Shock after shock. It’s exactly what you get when you have Ronnie Bourne (guitar and lead vocals), A.J. Hickernell (bass and backing vocals), Corey Lucas (drums), or as they are collectively known, Shock Value. And the band is electrified to take their lightening-fast punk sound to any venue they play.
The band’s major influences include pivotal punk bands such as The Ramones, Bracket, The Queers and The Descendents, but Shock Value makes it a point not to simply be a carbon copy of the bands they listen to.
“We listen to music, but it doesn’t mean we have to sound like them,” said Bourne. “We all have separate interests in music, but we all agree on those punk rock and bands.”
The band’s old-school punk rock sound is hard to come by. So finding a fit on a bill for Shock Value is sometimes difficult. But in true punk-rock fashion, Shock Value is willing to play with anyone anywhere, and since the band’s inception, Shock Value has been tearing up all the local music venues, such as Cafe Metropolis, Fagan’s Billiards, Underwood Skate Park and Test Pattern — where the band is playing on Friday, May 16.
“It wasn’t hard to find shows, but it was hard to get shows with bands of our genre,” said Lucas. “Because no one appreciates good punk rock music.”
Sometimes a band’s favorite lyric that a band writes shows great insight into what the band is all about, maybe even moreso than a musical influence. As for Shock Value, its favorite lyric it wrote sums up the band almost perfectly.
“There’s a line in our song ‘My Whole World,’ ‘I can’t sing as well as I would like to, but that’s okay, it’s not about my voice,’” said Bourne. “The meaning is, you don’t need a great voice to play music; its more about the lyrics and what they mean and not how it sounds when its sung.”
As for the band’s members, Shock Value is not their first project. In fact, members have been in two other bands together, Human Picnic and The Benidicks. The band is also made up of ex-members of Mayella, The Irates, ALM and Boris.
“Our former band, Human Picnic, broke up. With the absence of the bass player, we were left stranded,” said Hickernell. “Ronnie and I had a side project that was kind of lame, so we switched drummers and added Corey and changed the name to Shock Value [which] we started rehearsing in May of 2007. We have been writing Shock Value songs ever since.”
As a band still in its opening stages, gaining fans and credibility is a long process. Although it’s sometimes frustrating, Shock Value continues to play, even if it is for a more intimate audience.
“The experience of playing is fun,” said Lucas. “But it would be better if we were playing for more than the friends we brought and our girlfriends.”
As for the band’s future plans, their collective answer was short and sweet, just like one of Shock Value’s songs.
“We only worry about today.”
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Who: Shock Value, The Chumps, The Woodcocks
Where: Test Pattern,
334 Adams Ave., Scranton
When: Friday, May 16, 8 p.m.
Cost : $5, all ages
Info:
myspace.com/shockvaluemusic
myspace.com/testpatternarnt