It may have been a cold, wet January Monday night in Glasgow’s West End but the minute we stepped in the door of the SWG3 Galvanizers all that was forgotten about as Californian rockers Destroy Boys were in Glasgow for the only Scottish date and the fourth night of their UK tour. after reviewing their fourth album release Funeral Soundtrack #4, back in August we were looking forward to hearing the new songs at last.
At 8pm the hall was already getting busy as Gaffa Tape Sandy took to the stage, hailing from Brighton/Bury St Edmunds, the trio have been making music since 2015 and have already played a few of the major festivals including Glastonbury. Their genre can be described between alternative rock, rock, garage rock and punk rock, the crowd got right behind them immediately showing that they were a great choice of support. Vocalist/guitarist Kim Jarvis and bass player Catherine Lindley-Neilson took turns on lead vocals and that proved to us that they are the real deal. We got to hear tracks from their two album releases Family Mammal (2019) and 2024 release Hold My Hand, God Damn It, the best of the set being Beehive and Headlights for us alongside the latest release Body In The Water. Jarvis and Neilson worked so well together on that stage, they are definitely on our ‘must see again’ list. 8/10
After a short presentation from a local demonstration group there was a great buzz around the hall and it was almost at full capacity. We didn’t have to wait long as Destroy Boys were on the stage at 9pm, the band have built a decent fanbase around the UK and it won’t be long until they are playing bigger venues. What better song to begin the set as Shadow (I’m Breaking Down)? This one gets the crowd moving from the off and is one of the lead tracks from the Funeral Soundtrack #4 album, lead singer/guitarist Alexia Roditis shows off the charisma from the moment they take to the stage sporting blonde hair and sunglasses and what a show the quartet put on for us! Guitarist Violet Mayugba is a long time musical partner of Roditis, who released their debut album at the tender age of fifteen, the cohesion between both on the stage was special with the crowd reaction to each song even better. Narsai Malik joined them on drums in 2018 while bass player David Orozco joined the band in 2021. Another two well know tracks followed the opener in Crybaby and Drink, this is when the crowd let go and the crowd surfing and moshing began. Even though Roditis and Mayugba politely asked the crowd to stop crowd surfing it continued sporadically from there on in, the energy from the crowd was a highlight, not bad for a Monday night!
Some of the Destroy Boys tracks really are too short and beg to be extended live, we would have loved to hear extended versions of K Street Walker and Muzzle but it wasn’t to be. Amor Divino (Divine Love) is sang by Alexia in Spanish in a nod to their Argentinian roots as the crowd go quiet for a few minutes taking in every word. We were lucky to get to hear eight tracks from the Funeral Soundtrack #4 album and also a chance to hear Violet sing Should’ve Been Me. Fences and You Hear Yes were the last songs of the main set, the latter was a collaboration with Mannequin Pussy and Scowl on the album and it is one of the best of the set tonight. Alexia Roditis returned to the stage alone and gave a ten minute speech on different issues around the state of the planet before playing a solo version of Piedmont, taken from the 2018 album Make Room. But as most bands do the best song is left right to the end as the other three band members return to the stage to end the show with the delightfully titled I Threw Glass At My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m On Probation. This gives the crowd one last chance to go wild … and they do. After an intense hour and fifteen minutes and sixteen song set, the night ended on a massive high with the previously mentioned track that is by far their most popular with over eighty million streams on Spotify alone. Destroy Boys will be playing a bigger venue next time they come to Scotland, could we please suggest the iconic Barrowland Ballroom? Now that would be some night! 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown