Featured Artist for October: BOY THINGS

 featuring

When I asked them to describe their music, this band says they "fall into the indie-pop-punk-math-rock-influenced genre, whatever that means!" Though they may not be quite spot on the type of music they produce, frankly, I bet none of us care whether what genre they fall into, so long as we like love their music. And luckily, we do! Here's our featured artist for October, Boy Things! *fireworks, applause, cheers*

Boy Things is a five-piece indie-pop-punk-math-rock band from New Jersey which started three years ago, back when they were only in High School. They are composed of Vince Rickey on bass, Adam Cumiskey on guitar, Eric Dryburgh on drums, Beth Hansen on vocals, and Matt Nguyen, their newest addition, on second guitar, synthesizer and backup vocals. The band has quite the history (some of them go way back); they began as just a group of friends who all liked the same music and from there decided to form a band. The story of how they started is quite a feat, so read on as they share some things about what goes on in their band. It's all very interesting!

When and how was the band formed?
The band was formed way back in 2009 when most of us were still in high school. We always tell everyone that we should have never succeeded given the circumstances; Eric was using Adam and Vince as spies to check-in on his ex girlfriend, and Beth and Adam broke up right before Beth joined the band. Ha, we're still here though! But even before we came together as Boy Things, the members knew each other and were involved in music projects- Adam and Vince have been best friends for 18 years and have been jamming since they were 14, Eric and Matt used to play in a band together in high school, and Beth has been floating between projects for a similar amount of time.

How did you come up with the name Boy Things? Is there a story behind it? Is it related to the type of songs you want to create?
Coming up with a band name was a long and tedious process. The only reason why we came to a decision was because we were forced to have a band name for our first show! We actually had a facebook message thread of about 250 band names - they were all terrible. Some other contenders were "Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads" and "Adam Cumiskey and the Carts" (inspired by his Sam's Club cart-pushing summer). Before practice Eric always used to say, "Let's do boy things!" as a joke. Eventually, the name stuck. We all think that the name represents our weird sense of humor.

Tell us something about your song-writing process. Who writes the songs?
The song writing process is always evolving for us. For our first two EP's, which were recorded in the same session, we generally started with Adam's guitar riff, then we moved on to the instrumentals, followed by the vocals, and then we spiced it up if we felt like it needed a synth part or an acoustic guitar. However, for our third EP, Equations, and the new stuff that we're currently working on, the writing process has been a much more holistic and collective process. We always start out with a riff, but now we work all work together at the same time, rather than adding parts individually, one at a time. We think our new material represents that shift. There is no one song writer in Boy Things- everyone writes their own parts and lyrics. We like to think that gives our music a little bit of a creative edge.

What do you aspire as a band?
Boy Things is an interesting musical endeavor, not only because each member comes from a different music background, but also because the band represents something unique for each member. For some, BT is the vehicle that will allow them to fulfill their dreams of being a rock star, for others it is simply their creative outlet. But for all of us, Boy Things is a project among five best friends, and that's what makes it worth it.

What is the band currently up to?
The band is currently in the process of integrating a new member and working towards writing out first full length. We haven't set any particular time for a release date yet, but we hope to get something done within the next year. We're really trying to take our time integrating two guitars and taking our songs to the next level. As far as shows go, we are toning it down a bit to focus on writing, but you can expect to see us in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania about once a month.

Equations, Boy Things' third EP, was released last June. It is headed by the single of the same title, Equations, which is nothing short of delightful. Beth Hansen rocks the song with vocal chops that remind me of Florence Welsch of Florence and the Machine which, I think is safe to say, is never a bad thing. You can stream Equations here or at Boy Things' Bandcamp page where you can also listen to their past EP's.

I'm not one to give any review or critique on any songs. For me, the standard is and should always be simple--whether you enjoy the music or not. So what can I say about this one? Let's just say Boy Things is a band whose music I can see myself dancing to on days I just want to lose myself in some genuinely good, danceable music.



BOY THINGS
http://boythings.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/BoyThings
http://www.last.fm/music/Boy+Things
http://soundcloud.com/boythings
https://twitter.com/boythingsband