Who feels like rebelling a bit over the weekend? What better soundtrack than some punk to get you going?
I met our drummer Matt Chaney through him playing in another band in town called City Slang a few years ago. Our bassist Nico Bones found his way into the band through helping us out when I was booking a few gigs for us out in LA in 2018. He reached out to see if he could help us out and ended up getting us on some cool gigs out there. Then when we needed a bassist, he said he’d love to and the rest is history! Our guitarist Stevie Poison actually answered a Craigslist ad I made for a guitarist in 2018 and ended up as our bassist for a year before switching full time to guitar duties.
How long have you been playing as a band?
Poison Boys has been around since 2014, but this line-up has been since 2018.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Our band name was taken from a track title for one of our favourite punk rock n’ roll bands The Riffs, on their album Death or Glory.
What are your influences?
Early 1970’s protopunk/sleazy glam punk like the New York Dolls, The Stooges, Berlin Brats, Nervous Eaters, Alice Cooper, Mott the Hoople and late 1970’s New York and UK punk bands like The Heartbreakers, Dead Boys, The Vibrators, Slaughter and The Dogs, Generation X, etc.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We’re one of the only punk bands out right now that I know of that mixes late 1970’s punk with early 70’s protopunk and stays as true to those genres as possible without adding in any noticeable influence from basically anything after those eras of music. Most bands add in like 80’s hardcore or 90’s grunge or shoegaze or some kinda 2000’s pop punk influences. We want people to be able to imagine us playing on gigs with the bands we worship in their heyday, so that this style of music isn’t dead or just a thing to go see the older guys still doing on tour.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Most of our songs are about love and romantic themes even if they’re about going down the drain together. Sometimes they’re about feeling hopeless and trapped in a lifestyle that you know is killing you but is tough to get out of or away from. Just depends on the song, really.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Our live show is like… We blast through every song one after another with minimal time in between. I hate talking in between songs. I will if I have to, like someone broke a string or it’s taking a minute to tune – but it’s generally one after another to keep it a super high energy vibe. We’ve played about 628,834,637 1/2 shows so far. Tough question…I’ve never counted them!
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Well when we sometimes do tours where I just sing like when we did the last tour, an East Coast / Canada tour supporting our debut LP that came out last summer, I tend to go a bit crazy on stage. Climb on things, jump off of them, dance all over the place, fall on the ground etc. It just depends. There’s not really one specific, wildest thing I guess.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
For a while I was just using a 90’s Peavey guitar, because I didn’t have enough money to buy a new one. But I just got a Gibson Les Paul Tribute that’s pretty sweet. Steve plays a 90’s Gibson Les Paul Studio and Nico has a Fender P Bass. Chaney plays a mystery kit with mystery cymbals.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We just released a digital single off our debut album Out of My Head called Been Here All Night. There’s a music video for it on Youtube and you can hear it, as well as the rest of the album, on all streaming platforms now. Add it to your playlists, show it to your friends and blast it at your DJ nights! It’s an awesome glam stomper, a bit slower than most of our songs. There’s cowbell and an acoustic guitar and piano in it behind loud ass guitars and sweet vocals. Check it out now!
What are your plans for 2020?
This year we have plans for a couple more vinyl releases including our second full length, as well as quite a bit more touring. Be sure to check our Facebook and Instagram for details as they come – facebook.com/poisonboys and instagram.com/poisonboysofficial.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
We would love to open for Iggy Pop! Maybe with our boys from around our town Big Blood opening? All these tough questions…!
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