Loud Boyz

Interviews | Aug 13th, 2015

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(photo by Franz Mahr)

Loud Boyz just released their fantastic debut full length titled Tough Love, Hard Feelings. While bred in Washington, DC, don’t expect the familiar sounds of DC Hardcore. The band is raucous, in your face, and aurally has more in common with West Coast Hardcore than Minor Threat. Within seconds of listening to the Loud Boyz new record you understand exactly who they are and their mission statement. Frontman Kenny Brown was kind enough to answer a few questions about the DC Scene, the band’s fast ascent, and his own work on an R&B Mixtape.

How did the band get together? 
Through #friendship and a mutual love of Seacrets bar in Ocean City, Maryland!

Your sound is more evocative of a West Coast hardcore sound than that of DC, how did your sound evolve as you began playing as a band? 
We started this band with the Tony Hawk Pro Skater Soundtrack as our primary influence! All of us have a lot of different tastes in music that we try to meld together.  Alex and Mitchell love garage rock and I like hardcore, I think those two influences really show most heavily.

For a very young band, you have been making a name for yourselves very quickly. What do you attribute to that success? 
I think it’s the music. It’s really accessible, so we have a diverse crowd coming to the shows. Also I think it’s because we don’t take ourselves too seriously, so it’s more fun! Which leads to the next question…

Your music has a lot of urgency but also is very fun – do you think that is something missing from today’s music? 
Of course. We just want to party! Why spend Friday night with your hands in your pockets? Drink some beer, do some dancing!

What are some of your favorite things about being a DC band? 
Honestly, I used to hate being a DC band, which is why I moved to New York to start my first band Byrds of Paradise. But then I came back and everything was different; more bands, more people into music, and more places to play! I like DC because it reminds me of New Jersey in the 90s, when bands like Lifetime would play with bands like Floorpunch. Diversity at shows, in the music and the people, is what makes it so fun.

Are you all originally from the DC area? 
Mitchell, Rory, and Devin are from Alexandria, right outside of DC. I’m from New Jersey and moved here about 10 years ago on and off between here and NYC. Alex is from Houston.

Who are some of your favorite DC area bands right now? 
Black Clouds, GIVE, Baby Bry Bry, Genocide Pact… all real different and unique, give em a listen!

How did you get hooked up with Cricket Cemetery for both the single last year and the full length?
I was doing a new wave project that Ian wanted to release on vinyl but that fell through. Loud Boyz was the next endeavor for me and I was really excited to show Ian the demo that we’d recorded at Rock and Roll Hotel. From there, I guess Ian saw some potential and it’s been smooth sailing since! Ian and Jason really share our vision and understand us, so it’s been a dream!

The new record is amazing – what was it like to get into the studio and bang these tracks out? 
It was surprisingly easy, actually. We recorded the whole album in probably 12 hours with Ben Green (Fairweather). We’d finished writing the song “FYK” probably the day before and literally came in Saturday afternoon with a few 30 packs of beer and nailed it out. Ben really understood the sound we were going for, made us feel comfortable, and we were done by Sunday night. Devin finished the drums and partied at the strip mall across the street by himself most of the time!

Coming off this record release, what can we expect next from the band? Are you planning on any shows out of town soon?
Oh yeah! We’re working on setting up some shows on the West Coast now, we have Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC coming up, and some cool things ahead for us in Baltimore and New York. We’ve already started writing our next album, LOUD AT HEART, as well!

I like to find out some fun things through quickfire questions:

1. First music memory?
Being terrified of the Michael Jackson thriller music video.

2. First album you bought with your own money? 
Jamiroquai Traveling Without Moving

3. Favorite record when you were 16 years old? 
I’d say it was probably whatever Blacklisted record came out at the time. Maybe it was Our Youth Is Wasted?

4. First show you attended?
Jimmy Eat World at the Wayne Firehouse (on their Clarity tour, around 2000 or 2001?)

5. Last show you attended (not counting your own band’s shows)?
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones last week at 930 club. It was awesome.

6. Tell me one thing about you that no one would ever expect?
I’m working on an R&B solo mixtape…

7. Current thing you are obsessed with?
The tv show POWER  on STARZ. 50 cent produces it and stars in it, and it’s about two drug kingpins in NYC who run a nightclub.  It’s on season 2 and I’m so hyped to see where it heads!

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