Anger. Frustration. Joy. Truth. The plight of the politically oppressed. What do these things have in common?
No guesses? I’ll tell you. When combined, these five ingredients power the passionate sounds of Downtown Boys, a delightfully relevant punk band out of Providence, Rhode Island.
Why should you care? Well for starters, Rolling Stone Magazine crowned them the most exciting punk band in the country back in December 2015. David Grossman, a writer for Rolling Stone, spoke quite admirably of the group.
“For those tired of living in a country where it’s OK to give equal weight to #AllLivesMatter and to consider abortion a crime, where hourly workers are expected to be grateful for the scraps they get (…), and where xenophobia and gun culture have blurred together with patriotism, you’ve got two choices for public events: a Bernie Sanders rally or a Downtown Boys show, and Victoria Ruiz is a better public speaker,” Grossman writes.
Downtown Boys made an abrupt, noisy stop in New Orleans on Thursday, March 9. Five members took the stage, led by one of the fiercest frontwomen I’ve seen in a long time, Victoria Ruiz.
To her right stood fellow founding member and lead guitarist Joey DeFrancesco. There was also a bouncy, fervent saxophonist on Ruiz’s left. I must say the saxophone was a welcomed addition to this less than typical punk quartet. Aside from Ruiz, that musician brought the most energy. His favorite dance move consisted of a simple, vertical bunny hop, as if he played the sax from an invisible pogo stick. 
There’s a lot to be said about this punk band that electrified the crowd at Siberia last week. By any conventional standard, this band is not normal. But even from the opening act Alternative Facts, I knew abnormal was one of this show’s running themes.
I’ve heard the Downtown Boys act described as a “bisexual, bilingual political dance sax punk party,” and after seeing it live, I have to agree.
Are they the X-Ray Spex of the new millennium? Maybe, maybe not. The two bands sound similar despite being separated by nearly 40 years of music history, but Downtown Boys are definitely more radical when it comes to lyrical content.
Either way, something came over the crowd as Downtown Boys began their first song just after 1 a.m. It’s worth noting the audience was nice and warmed up after the preceding act, SNEAKS. You can read Bad Ramona’s review of that performance here. 
Ruiz introduced several songs with her trademark, politically charged monologues. Each challenge to the status quo was followed by a barrage of guitar, drums, and sax. The group played several tunes from their most recent full-length album “Full Communism.”
The connection between Downtown Boys and the eclectic audience was obvious from the start. Often Ruiz passed the microphone to front row fans who shouted lyrics with equal intensity.
By the show’s end, I realized this music is about more than releasing pent-up aggression. To many in attendance, the music of Downtown Boys is an anthem for the unaccepted and a cry for major societal upheaval.
Downtown Boys are a force to be reckoned with. They are a challenge to societal norms and a call to action for those fed up with this country’s traditional hierarchy.
I really can’t put this band’s live energy into words, so here’s video evidence from The Chris Gethard Show.
Taxi