Viagra Boys / shame

Some say Viagra Boys is something akin to a mirror for the absurdum of existence and illusions of realness, a twisted and ferociously bass-driven judgement on western society, a distorted 24/7 party on the acid highway going nowhere fast. Or perhaps more like a crude joke on modern masculinity, serving up escapist narratives lacking any form of self-preservation; like an obscure back alley door into the backwaters of the human psyche.

Metaphors aside, Viagra Boys is an unapologetically raw sextet comprised of classically trained jazz musicians, karaoke loving tattoo artists and seasoned hardcore scene veterans, churning out spastic, pulsating sounds from the sub levels of contemporary rock music – a bellowing, unstoppable force majeure of latter-day punk, PTSD disco and synthetically enhanced kraut. And as equal parts Iggy Pop and Hank Williams, singer and frontman Sebastian Murphy embodies all that which Viagra Boys are ultimately about; a fractured, perhaps disillusioned act, wrapped up and held together by inextinguishable bravado, explosive appearances and resourceful songwriting.