Boo!

Boo! began in 1997 in the backstreets of dirty Brixton, Johannesburg, when its 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. Boo! became not only one of South Africa's favorite 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. Bradishing their self-styled genre of "monkipunk", Boo! performed at various European and American festivals with the likes of the White Stripes, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Franz Ferdinand, Smashing Pumpkins, and Coldplay amongst others. 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 and occasional 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 September 2004. Leon Retief continued his career behind the scenes in the South African Music Industry while Ampie Omo continued his career as a member of ska-outfit Fuzigish and was the invited guest trombonist of the Violent Femmes when they played in South Africa in 2005 and 2007. Chris Chameleon surprised his punk pundits and cohorts by becoming one of the best-selling and critically acclaimed artists in the Afrikaans music landscape, notching up at total of 20 national awards in 5 years including two South African Music Awards (SAMA) and a Medal of Honor from the South African Academy of Arts and Sciences.

2010 saw Boo! emerge again with a change in wardrobe and drummers with Riaan van Rensburg picking up the sticks on drums. The band set up camp in Amsterdam, The Netherlands early in the year to record the new album "THE THREE OF US". On their return, a limited edition run of albums was released for sale at gigs only. The album has since been completely remixed by Neal Snyman with audio approval of award-winning producer Theo Crous (Parlotones, Prime Circle, etc) and remastered by Jonathan Crossley.

Boo! won Suckfree Radio's "Greatest Unsigned Band in the World" competition in September 2010 just before signing to Seed, a division of Sheer Sound. The remixed and remastered "THE THREE OF US" album was released by Seed in South Africa in early October 2010 followed by a spectacular launch at Montecasino on October 15 2010. The album has already spawned a hit single "The Three of Us", which climbed the charts across South African radio and the current single "To Do Today" is doing the same.

2011 is set to be the Year of the Boo!