10. They’re brand new
Their first show ever was Allston Pudding’s own New Year’s Eve pizza party at Pizzeria Regina (I was there—it was BANANAS). I’d be surprised if they’ve played ten since then. If you’re the sort of person who likes to brag to your friends about how you liked a band before they got big, here’s your chance.
9. They’re cool
Just three scratchy demos on their Bandcamp and two iPhone videos on YouTube, like they don’t give a shit how few people have heard of them, like they know the fame and glory will come sooner or later no matter what. They act all bashful and modest, like they don’t know they’re the best brand-new band in the world, but I’m onto them.
8. Their music is just really really really good
Of the half-dozen or so Boytoy songs available online, every single one is a rock-solid earworm and over half have perfect moments.
7. Their songs all sound different
From the anthemic stadium-bombast of “Runner” to the anthemic-yet-ruminative post-grunge of “Shark In The Sun” to the bouncy pop-rock of “TV Dreams” to the surfy-yet-transcendent pop-rock of “Bad Brain” to the ruminative heart-tugging sensitivity of “Nightmares” to the ruminative-yet-bouncy pop-rock of “Visits,” etc., each and every one of their songs has a sound all of its own.
6. Saara Untracht Oakner’s voice
You could hear that shit through ten miles of solid rock. Squares might call it shrill and overbright, but fuck them—it’s pure and strong, and anchors the kinetic swirl of every song like a tent-pole. Anything mellower would get lost, but Saara always shines through.
5. Dylan Ramsey’s drumming
Dylan’s mostly an acolyte of the Phil Rudd school of keep-the-beat-and-stay-out-of-the-way, but then he pulls out something like the skittering hi-hat fireworks at the beginning of “Runner” or the epic bridge in “Bad Brain” and you realize that he can be a virtuoso whenever he feels like it—he just doesn’t feel like it all that often, because he’s cool like that.
4. That epic bridge in “Bad Brain.”
Seriously, that shit comes out of nowhere! One moment I’m bopping my head to a slightly off-kilter but still generally innocuous fun-rock ditty, the next my skull is blown six inches into the ceiling. Sonic Youth themselves could scarcely have pulled off the incredible-exploding-song move with such grace and verve.
3. “Runner.”
There are no publicly-available studio recordings of this song. All I have is an MP3 rip of an iPhone video that someone posted on YouTube, and that grainy MP3 rip is one of my top-played tracks on iTunes. This is stadium-ready shit—their best song, no question.
2. Glenn Van Dyke
It’s taken me over three months and two live shows, but I’ve finally realized that, if Boytoy has a “secret ingredient,” that ingredient is Glenn Van Dyke. Like the Pixies’ Joey Santiago, Glenn is a lead-guitar hero whose heroism is bound to go unsung, which illustrates exactly what makes her so good: instead of standing out from the music, her lead lines vanish into it and bring it quietly to the next level. She’s never flashy, but her seamless, sliding legato is virtuosic in its own way. In her best moments I hear echoes of no less than the iconic opening riff of Radiohead’s “Airbag”—those shaggy bangs of hers aren’t the only thing she has in common with Jonny Greenwood.
1. They’re playing at Great Scott tonight with Yale, MA and Diarrhea Planet! Come on by and say hello.
– Nick Cox