I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 15, 2024] Destroy Boys

My son is a fan of Destroy Boys and when he was playing them, I was getting into them and agreed that they’d be fun to see live.  We saw them open for Pierce the Veil in Reading and really enjoyed the show.  Although, as I said then,

For some godawful reason, the venue decided to bathe the band in purple, which rendered them almost entirely invisible from where we were seated.  It definitely made us all want to see see them (actually see them) in a small club when they come around next time.

So it was great to see them up close at Union Transfer.  It was really entertaining seeing singer Alexia Roditis wearing a long leather coat and chaps (and black underwear).  She is an intense frontperson–powerful and in total control of the room, and I love that she proved how in control she was by basically wearing her underwear on stage.

Guitarist Violet Mayugba was on our side of the stage and she was an intense force of sound and attitude.  Bassist David Orozco was on the far side and seemed somewhat out of place in fairly normal clothes while the women in the band were wearing leather.  Drummer Narsai Malik was great behind the kit.

For this tour they had a fifth member, Nastacha Beck (aka Miss Distortion) from Jigsaw Youth on rhythm guitar.  [Back in 2022, I could have seen Destroy Boys (as a trio), Jigsaw Youth and Pinkshift in ne show but I had other plans…bummer!].

The show was full of energy right from the start with a ripping (and catchy) Shadow (I’m Breaking Down).  They didn’t only play new songs, jumping immediately back to Crybaby from 2018.  And Drink (an incredibly catchy song) dates back to 2021.

But this show was touring the new album so of course there were lots of new songs (which everyone there knew).  Like Plucked, a far more complex song musically than say K Street Walker from their debut (which makes up in fierceness what it lacks in complexity).

A few songs later, before Should’ve Been Me, Violet and Alexia switched places and instruments, with Violet sing/screaming the new song and the older song “Muzzle.”  Alexia has a unique voice that I find really compelling.  Violet brings the intensity with a fantastic, intense scream that really conveys their more direct songs–like the one minute blast of Muzzle (fantastic).

The band had two coordinate mosh pits.  One was a wall of death which my son was happy to get into–he came out with a slightly bloody lip because a short person banged her head into is mouth.  For the final song, You Hear Yes, they had a women and nonbinary pit only, which was pretty cool to see.

They slowed things down (and Alexia sat at the edge of the stage) for their fully Spanish song Amor divino.  I knew that they had songs in Spanish but I didn’t know that she is Argentinian, which I find very cool. I don’t think Argentina is represented much in contemporary American music, so that’s cool.  They kept things slow for the opening of Boyfeel, a powerful song dedicated to the LGBT+ community (well represented there that evening).  They ended the set with two more rocking songs Fences and You Hear Yes and they left for the encore break.

Alexia came back onstage and played “Piedmont” solo.  She also gave a lengthy, empowering speech about, well, everything that is presently going wrong in the country and how it’s important to get involved and use your voice.

This was a really great and well-spoken exhortation, but it came at such a bad time.  We had all been so hyped from the last few songs and the mosh pit and this lengthy plea really sapped the energy out of at least some of us around me.  Not because it was boring (it wasn’t) or because we didn’t agree (we did), but because we were tired already and I think all of my adrenaline left.  Of course, if you’re a young person, you just get that right back and you’re totally ready to rip it up for the closing banger I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation.

I’m really happy to have seen them in a small club, it was a really great night of music.

# Funeral Soundreack #4
∀ single (2023)
© Open Mouth, Open Heart (2021)
∠ single (2020)
⇔ Make Room (2018)
⊗ Sorry, Mom (2016)