Viagra Boys

Reminds us of: The Stooges / Iggy Pop, New York Dolls, Dead Kennedys, The Damned, The Fall, Jesus and Mary Chain, Pere Ubu, Devo

Links to music in Green

I’m not sure where the best place to start is when describing Viagra Boys. The name? The music? The live experience? The attitude? Perhaps the easiest one to get out of the way is the name, so I’ll start there. Like the subject of another blog (the Nude Party), it’s not a good name but don’t let that put you off, they just don’t take themselves too seriously.

The music? Dirty. A bit punky, a bit rocky, pretty noisy and with lyrics that are firmly tongue in cheek. They released their first EP in 2016, and followed this with another EP in 2017. Debut album ‘Street Worms’ kicks off with Down in the Basement about a man with a fetish who hides his habits from his wife:

And now you're down in the basement, All dressed up in latex, One red light bulb hanging from the ceiling, And a live goat standing on a small chair in the middle of the room, Now how you gonna explain that, man?

Lead single from the album Sports (have a look at the video) parodies the alpha male, another single Just Like You  celebrates not being a psychopath, Shrimp Shack chronicles their ‘I couldn’t give a..’ attitude and in between each of these there are other salubrious tales. The album originally came out last year but has recently been re-released with some extra tracks.

Live they are something special. Pure entertainment, all six of them. Lead singer Sebastian Murphy roams around the stage with his top off revealing pretty much all over tattoos (he is a tattooist by day), supported by what looks like a bunch of mean assed bikers. I wouldn’t mess with them. There’s so much energy on show that it’s infectious. It quickly gets the crowd growing and you can’t help but enjoy yourself. Have a look at my Instagram for a clip of them doing ‘Sports’ at All Points East, and have a look at their Instagram which shows a bit of footage of a gig in Hackney a couple of nights before which looks absolutely mental.

Having just toured the UK they’re not back over here from the looks of things until August for the End of the Road Festival, and then they’re supporting Sleaford Mods in November. Hopefully they’ll get some headline gigs either side of these dates – if they do, go and see them, you won’t regret it.