The Strange Boys - Interview - July 2009
By: Steve Rose
I'm bored of the chemically imbalanced wailings of Nathan Williams, and as someone once said, "the times they are a changing". Dalston (the new Shoreditch) and the rest of our A.D.D. ridden, Twitter generation are bored of faux-fi and its apparent 'shimmering hiss and fuzz'. So it seems this trendy, noisy fad in popular culture has run its course. What about hi-fi? What about good old fashioned rock'n'roll? What about The Strange Boys?
More than the sum of their parts vocalist/guitarist Ryan Sambol, aptly named traditional grip drum monkey Matt Hammer, Ryan's older brother Philip Sambol and childhood friend Greg Enlow, are the psyche-pop apple of Larry Hardy's (In The Red Records founder) metaphysical, garage rock eye. Inaugurated in 2003 as a duet, and expanding to their current like up in 2005, The Strange Boys create pristine pop music by culminating a love and awareness for punk, garage, country with blues, with melodic R&B leanings and 60's inspired spiralling guitar lines. It's fair to say these Austin youths have come of age since their humble southern beginnings, apparently sounding like 90's bubblegum, power pop heroes Redd Kross. Since then they've been kicking out the jams with Fucked Up and Crystal Antlers, amongst others and home town shows with everyone from Black Lips and Jay Reatard, to Daniel Johnston and BRMC. The Nothing EP released last year courtesy of Dusty Medical Records seems to have started a snowball effect with the popularity of this gang...
Earlier this year The Strange Boys released their almost flawless, official debut LP The Strange Boys and Girls Club on the in vogue, stalwart independent garage/punk label In The Red Records (home of Vivian Girls, Jay Reatard, King Kahn and other hipster garage bands). This record, which draws upon the golden jukebox of yesteryear, is the catalyst for 'the boys' bringing their lazy, familiar sounding, yet difficult to define punk rock'n'soul, along with their juvenile delinquency to the shores of Albion before summer ends. We caught up with the particularly, articulate Ryan Sambol as peoples interest in Wavves wavers, and the other badly recorded, bedroom lo-fi stars, begin to smell a rat lurking within garageband:
Rockfeedback: Are you looking forward to coming to the UK? What are you looking forward to experiencing?
Ryan: "Just playing good shows, meeting people and having fun."
RFB: Have you been out of the United States Before?
R: "Nope. Well Mexicali, Mexico once."
RFB: You guys appear to be influenced by a plethora of old school British rock and soul music, amongst other things. Would you say this is a fair assumption?
R: "Yes."
RFB: What would you say your main influences are on this record?
R: "I don't know."
RFB: Ok, What have you been listening to of late?
R: "Thee Oh Sees, Nick Cave, Cat Stevens..."
RFB: Pablo Picasso apparently once said "good artists borrow, great artists steal", have you stolen or borrowed anything for your latest record?
R: "Yeah, Greg borrowed an amp and a guitar and Philip borrowed an amp. I think Orville borrowed a mic from Daniel who lives down the street."
RFB: The NME the biggest British mainstream music press reviewed your album like this "As spring awakens and its rays of sunshine fleetingly emerge, a nation of pasty-faced hopefuls reach for the Ray-Bans and make like it's August in Ibiza. It's the British way". Was that what you were going for when you were writing the album? Do you know what that even means?
R: "No. I don't know what that means either."
RFB: I read somewhere that you're tired of lazy journalists suggesting that you sound just like the 13th Floor Elevators and the Rolling Stones. You don't sound "just like" any of these bands but they are good reference points. How would you describe your record and your bands style?
R: "It's really just the Nuggets thing. If you want to compare us to the stones or the elevators that's fine, we love those bands, but the Nuggets comparison is ridiculous, it's a four disc compilation filled mostly with boring stuff and horrible lyrics. It doesn't matter though, that kind of stuff isn't important."
RFB: There must be other bands you see as your contemporaries, or bands that you admire in the US. Who are they?
R: "Yes. Thee Oh Sees, Mika Miko, Jay Reatard, Black Lips, King Kahn and BBQ, Nodzzz, F**ked Up..."
RFB: Are there any current UK acts that you are into?
R: "Jarvis Cocker - I want him to do Relaxed Muscle again."
RFB: Did you know that Blur reformed and played their first show here with their original line up a few days ago? This bother you at all? Are you Blur fans? How do you feel about the slew of old bands reforming lately?
R: "We never really listened to Blur. We don't feel any way about it, and we don't care very much about what other people do."
RFB: What's it like having two brothers in a band? I can imagine there being pros and cons?
R: "It's cool. It's like anything else, both good and bad."
RFB: You have released your official debut record on an extremely reputable label worldwide, and are touring your way around Europe. So what is next for The Strange Boys?
R: "More records."
RFB: More records? Do you currently have any plans for recording or releasing, that we should be aware of?
R: "Yes, when we come back from Europe we're gonna record. We'll see how it goes."
RFB: Do you think you will play in bands for the rest of your lives, or do you think there will reach a point where you have done everything you ever wanted to do with music and cal it a day?
R: "We'll see."
RFB: Do you class yourselves as musicians? What would you all be if you weren't musicians?
R: "We're nothing but musicians."
The Strange Boys will be kicking back in venues across the UK from the 12th August till the 18th August (starting at Bardens Boudaire w/ Lovvers and The Hipshakes) and their record (The Strange Boys and Girls Club) is available internationally as of a month or two ago.
Artists in this article: The Strange Boys