biographical info
There’s no way to prepare yourself for
the moment when Peterborough, Ontario’s Birthday Boys stumble out on
stage. If you’ve come for the howling, piss-and-vinegar punk-rock -
you’ll be stunned by the slow, dark rhythms weaving through the set like
a call to raise the dead. Come for the haunting blues-stomp - and be
flattened by the wall of sound and fury.
Unleashed, the four men
look possessed by rock and roll. They stomp, spit, and sweat - their
veins pop out, their eyes roll back, their pompadours hang in defeat.
They drag The Blues across explosive guitar riffs and eerie desert
soundscapes as they smash-and-grab their way from Muddy Waters to The
Clash. All the while the duelling lead-vocalists spin blue collar tales
of biblical proportions. Their bodies often sway and seem to fall back
into the sounds they create - giving them a sense of confidence to match
the urgency. They look at each other as if they share a secret, a gang
with a secret sound. They look at you as if to say, “You want in? Just
listen.”
This on-stage energy spills on to their recorded
material. Their albums possess a strange and visceral energy, the inner
workings of true and honest men who tell the world the way they see it.
Birthday
Boys began their career by recording a full-length album Bad Blood with
Greg Norman (Guided By Voices, Built To Spill) at Steve Albini’s studio
in Chicago. Even this was done the honest, hard-working way. The
instruments (except vocals) were recorded live - 13 songs in 14 hours.
Bad Blood was released in the fall of 2008. They have since recorded and
released the Daughter’s Man 7” single, and the Tin Head EP, produced by
Shawn Bradley (Mellowdrone, Rikers).
Birthday Boys have toured
and played with The Novaks, Band of Skulls, The Stills, Airbourne,
Pierced Arrows, and many more. March 2011 will see them cross western
Canada supporting Detroit’s Electric Six. They have become known for
their ambitious online antics. Last year they wrote 30 songs in 30 days
while on the road, posting a new song daily. The results can be seen
here: www.youtube.com/birthdayboys. For the upcoming western Canadian
tour the band will produce 10 rockumentary Webisodes in 10 days while on
the road! Expect to hear much more from this small town band with big
ideas.
"Birthday Boys' whisky tongues and tearing guitars
undoubtedly make this one of the best debuts I've heard in a long time.
Loaded with swank, swagger and soul, this is a band that won't stay
unsigned for long. Do yourself a favour and see Birthday Boys now before
you have to spend $300 on scalped tickets from Craigslist. "
*****
5stars - CHARTATTACK
"Birthday Boys have become masters of
hustled guitar breaks and songs lyrically strewn with prestigious high
standards."
"Undoubtedly the finest unsigned collection of songs we
have heard this year"
-Mojophenia, UK
"Everyone get hyped for
yet another unsigned band. Birthday Boys are getting reared up to drop
their debut record...The work was recorded live in Chicago at Steve
Albini's studio...which should instantly give the boys a break into the
whole rock culture because, like most of the catalogue that erupts from
Electrical Audio Studio, it sounds gigantic."
-The Culture Of Me, NYC
influences
Nick Cave
Tom Petty
PJ Harvey
Waylon & Willie