The Boys – Back with a Bang
On June 20 2014 THE BOYS release their long-requested first new studio album since 1981
on Wolverine Records. Featuring the original founder members and creative core of Matt
Dangerfield, Casino Steel and Honest John Plain, the new album “Punk Rock Menopause” is
packed with 13 iconic new songs bearing the band’s classic trademark blistering guitars,
hard-edged melodies, killer hooks and layered harmonies.
Photograph by Lothar Felkel
The Boys Story
Along with the Sex Pistols, Clash and The Damned, The Boys were part of the first wave of the
mid-1970’s UK punk explosion. Armed with an arsenal of killer Steel/Dangerfield songs The
Boys became the first UK punk band to sign an album deal in January 1977. Highly regarded
by the music press and their contemporaries, their well-crafted songs, together with Steel and
Dangerfield’s love of harmonies, led to them being described as ‘The Beatles of Punk’ but they
could (and should) just as deservedly have been compared to the Ramones – fast, alternately
brattish and tongue-in-cheek, and gloriously anthemic.
As Last FM puts it: “The Boys made arguably one of the best LPs of the 70s with their selftitled first album and provided the template for superior Pop Punk before even the
Buzzcocks had got out of first gear”.
The Boys were born in September 1975 when singer/guitarist Matt Dangerfield left Mick Jones
and Tony James’s fledgling punk band London SS to form a new band with ex-Hollywood
Brats songwriter/keyboard player Casino Steel. Dangerfield’s art college pal, guitarist Honest
John Plain, was quickly recruited. The following year they held auditions for the bass and drum
roles with Kid Reid and Jack Black completing the line-up.
Matt Dangerfield had converted the tiny disused coal cellar of his rented basement flat in Maida
Vale into a home recording studio/rehearsal room and as a consequence, 47A Warrington
Crescent became extremely important in the development of the UK punk scene in the mid
seventies. Mick Jones, Glen Matlock, Tony James, Rat Scabies, Brian James, Gene
October, Sid Vicious and Billy Idol were regular visitors. Amongst others, The Sex Pistols,
The Damned, London SS, Clash, Chelsea, Generation X and of course, The Boys, made their
first recordings there. In this hotbed of creativity Steel and Dangerfield quickly forged a prolific
songwriting partnership.
The Boys made their live debut at London’s Hope and Anchor in September 1976. Mick Jones,
Billy Idol, Joe Strummer, Tony James and Gene October were in attendance for The Boys first
performance. A mere handful of gigs later, they became the first UK punk band to sign an
album deal when NEMS Records snapped them up in January 1977.
Having released two albums and three singles with NEMS, they moved to Safari Records in
1979 where two further albums and five more singles followed.
Over the years countless bands have covered The Boys’ back catalogue – from Argentina to
Germany and Japan to the USA – and even more artists have cited The Boys as a major
influence. According to the privileged few to have heard it in advance, the new album is right up
there with its predecessors and destined to add a handful of new ‘Boys Classics’ to the
band’s legacy.
For more information contact:
STEVE METCALFE
Telephone: +44 (0)7786 964444
www.theboys.co.uk
info@theboys.co.uk