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artist Birthday Boys

Peterborough, ON, CANADA
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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
Tin Head
Label Independent
Released October, 2010
Tin Head
Bad Blood
Label Independent
Released October, 2008
Bad Blood
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