Many of you will listen to Austin, TX’s The Strange Boys for the first time and think, they’re just a Black Lips ripoff. True the similarities between the bands can’t be denied, both play rough and tumble blues-based garage rock with a punky twist, but really this would be an oversimplification. By definition every artistic movement – be it visual, musical or otherwise – requires the input of many to create something special. What would first-wave punk rock be without The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Richard Hell, The Dead Boys, Suicide and The Ramones? Around 1977 all six shared the same basic philosophy of stripping it down, speeding it up and banging it out, yet each was able to retain a singular musical identity.
The same applies to The Strange Boys and other bands like the Black Lips lumped into the neo-psychedelic garage rock revival scene that is so prevalent right now (ie the Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, King Khan & BBQ Show, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, etc). Only none of this justification or explanation matters unless the bands in the scene actually write quality tunes.
And that’s the key, The Strange Boys write damn fine songs. The tracks on their first full-length LP “…And Girls Club” fit into that garage rock paradigm – full of fuzzy licks, slightly off-key growls, and a simple, gritty rhythm section – but also include a late 1950′s Buddy Holly-style innocence that sets them apart from their other contemporaries. The stand out track “This Girl Taught Me to Dance” is a sock-hop jam for the anti-social crowd where singer/guitarist Ryan Sambol writes from the perspective of a caustic observer with a sensitive soul. An almost sweet sentiment The Strange Boys repeat on other quality tracks like “No Way For a Slave To Behave” and “Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up.”
“…And Girls Club” is still far from a perfect album. At 16 tracks The Strange Boys may have spread themselves a little too thin and although “Death And All The Rest” is fine folk song it seems out of place with the rest of the collection. If the album was shorter, say 12 tracks instead of 16, “…And Girls Club” might be considered an instant classic. But that’s The Strange Boys for you: raw, unpolished and unapologetically themselves. Further proof that a genre always has room for one more band capable of writing good songs their way.
Lawrencians can catch The Strange Boys with Mika Miko, Boo and Boo Too, and Weird Wounds at The Jackpot (943 Massachusetts) this Thursday, June 25th at 10pm. And for the rest of you, more shows can be found on The Strange Boys’ MySpace.
by: Harold Johns III
