As a music fan, every then and now you come across a band you fall in love with; a band that writes perfect hooks and lyrics; a band with a particular spirit you can take comfort in and identify with. But more often so, when the music-cupid’s arrow strikes your heart, you discover that this new band you’ve fallen for has long come and gone –– time has exhausted their creativity, band-feuds have caused irreparable damage to their musical bond, or something much worse came along which selfishly robbed you of their whole experience before you ever had a chance to discover them.
This is not the case with The Strange Boys. They are of today. Their young ages coupled with their musical repertoire is impressive, and they proved it all the more Wednesday night at The Troubadour where they headlined the night to celebrate the release of their third record inspirationally called Live Music (‘live’ as in “live the life”), out now on Rough Trade Records.
It’s difficult and maybe even unfair to describe this band and attempt to sum up their style into words: they are garage, they are country, they are blues, they are crooners, or perhaps even better said, they are just plain good.
Last night was a mix of heavy guitars, bluesy pianos, harmonicas, and head-bopping melodies all lead by front man Ryan Sambol. Well-spoken and well-mannered, this kid writes some really excellent tunes. His voice and musical style reminds me much of Ray Davies and The Kinks.
Ryan really piques my curiosity for the band; he seems like he is in a different universe than my own, one much gentler and happier. From the way he dresses to the way he speaks, “oh thanks, this has been a lot of fun” he told the crowd last night in between taking sips from his water bottle, this kid is one of a kind. Ryan sits on a dictionary-sized book while playing the piano, then reads the audience a few passages from it, and later warns us about suicide before tearing into a new song of the same topic, “think twice man, don’t do it”. He is timeless. This band is timeless. Check them out, buy their records, I think they are onto something real good here.
Ryan’s actually 25, even though its quite insignificant you do your research instead of assuming.
You should take your own advice and not assume I didn’t do my research. If The Strange Boys formed in 2001 when Ryan was in 8th grade, that would put him at 23. All I said in the original article was “he’s barely old enough to drink” (I’ve since taken that bit out). Who’s to say I’m not some 60-year-old writing this? 23 or 25 would still be ‘barely old enough to drink’ to someone much older. Thanks for taking time out to read my article Toni, hope you enjoyed it.