Downtown Boys – Whammy Bar December 5, 2017

Right now, the United States of America is being torn apart by ideas of hate, homophobia, racism and sexism. There is one politically motivated band out to destroy that creed, one song at a time. The hero band are the Downtown Boys and last night Auckland was very lucky to witness their destructive live show at Whammy bar.

Downtown Boys are a five piece political punk band who, since 2012, have been using music as a form of protest against any type of discrimination. Fronted by Victoria Ruiz with support of longtime guitarist Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, they continue to perform their electrifying songs to audiences around the world and it was time for Auckland to get a glimpse of modern protest punk.

Downtown Boys released their third album Cost of Living which was produced by legendary punk musician Guy Picciotto who is known for his role as guitarist in the nineties emo post-hardcore band Fugazi.

Being a major fan of Fugazi, I was curious to listen to the album in order to see if the band who have been described by Rolling Stone Magazine as “America’s most exciting punk band” were as good as they say. Truthfully I have never been a fan of pure punk music and wasn’t too thrilled by the album but nevertheless I was eager to catch them live.

Opening up for Downtown Boys was Auckland punk band, Hagseed who played an aggressively loud set which was entertaining and fun to watch. Definitely a perfect choice to open for Downtown Boys.

Downtown Boys eventually played an hour after they were meant to start but hey, no bar show is ever on time.

Kicking off the set with full noise and full power, they drove straight into song off the latest album Clara Rancia. The show felt empty to start with but as soon as the rumbling punk tune could be heard, the room packed out and they grabbed everyone’s attention.

Displaying amazing stage presence, the band would not stop moving and jumping around the stage.

Before continuing on the set with the second song, Joey shared  with the crowd how crazy he felt being in New Zealand, having hailed all the way from Rhode Island. “We never thought we would be playing here” he stated, I’m sure any band of their popularity status would be thinking the same.

The show was a full on punk party, the saxophone added a touch of dance to the sound, as well a kind of seventies protopunk vibe.

Between each song, Victoria would discuss the meaning behind the song to come and would discuss issues that needed to be solved and stopped which would be met with cheers and claps.

I have to hand it to Victoria, she’s an amazing punk frontwoman. Engaging strongly with the crowd, passing audience members the microphone to sing, as well as jumping into the crowd to have a little dance with audience members at the back. She had also done her research on New Zealand before playing and offered some insight to what she had learnt from her trip to the museum that day, also sharing what an ex-member told her, who happened to be part Maori.

Playing a strong but short fifty minute set, the band ended with an explosive finale. Running around the stage and messing  with their instruments, the saxophonist did not power down his manic dance routine  throughout the show, finishing off with him ploughing his saxophone into the stage fan whilst pulling apart his instrument, truly outstanding showmanship and a real attention grabber.

It was safe to say I loved every minute of the performance, but my one negative opinion was that the microphone levels were too low, I could barely hear what Victoria was saying and her insightful lyrics ended up wasted having been drowned out, but then again when have I ever been to a bar show where the vocals were one hundred percent?

Are Downtown Boys America’s most exciting punk band right now? I could almost say yes, yes they are, that is before Me First and the Gimme Gimmes who I witnessed earlier this year. Downtown Boys truly tore the stage apart before King Gizzard could get the chance to outshine them later this week (another treat I eagerly look forward for).

I am incredibly eager to see where this band will go from here, but I hope it’s even more successful, they deserve it.

Jonathan Strock

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