September 25th, 2013 
Brian Leak 
Now residing in New York, The Boston Boys do in fact originate from where their name would imply. The self-proclaimed “soul country” quartet are poised to release a new 5-track EP on October 8 and have some touring plans in the works as well.
The band recently took some time to speak with UTG about their newest effort, their upcoming cultural democracy tour, and their thoughts on Bandcamp. Read through after the jump and get familiar with The Boston Boys.
When did The Boston Boys originate and how did you come together to create music?
Though the concept of The Boston Boys has been around for three or four years, this quartet was born in early 2012. The band’s history up to that point was a blurry cast of rotating members fronted by current lead singer and mandolinist, Eric Robertson. The Boston Boys have roots in Boston, MA where we met and played most of our early gigs. The name also pays homage to a traditional fiddle tune titled, “Boston Boy.” Bill Monroe mentions this tune in his hit song “Uncle Pen.”
So despite now being located in New York, you decided to stick with the name.
Well, we like to consider ourselves a Future Roots band. New York is where we are for the foreseeable future, but we have strong roots in the city of our origin. The name also is kind of a shout out to the great music scene up there and some of our great friends/bands that we love who have also originated in Boston like The Deadly Gentlemen, Jesse & Forever, Della Mae, Lake Street Dive and tons of others.
Who/what are some of your most important influences that you feel have helped shape your sound and ideas that go into your music?
In addition to Bill Monroe, John Hartford would be another American Roots/Folk artist that had a great influence on this band. The obvious connections we have with these artists are the instrumentation and overall concept of an early American string band. While these elements are pillars of our sound, we also enjoy the influence of more modern artists such as Paul Simon, D’Angelo, The Beatles, and Parliament Funkadelic. The band’s vision is to create an original sound that draws upon these elements of deep groove, song form, and lyrical substance.
You have a brand new EP coming out in October. What can you tell us about it in terms of its style and themes?
Our new EP Keep You Satisfied reflects us becoming more comfortable in the same studio that when we recorded What You Say!?!. We had more time to dig in and freely explore the potential of our sound in the studio. The songs are more of a group effort because more of the material was co-written and arranged between all the members of the band. Keep You Satisfied elaborates on similar subjects touched by the previous EP; love, lust, and spiritual triumph/frustration, but with tighter arrangements and a good dose of pop-energy. For the final track, “Take Me Under,” we played in a more traditional, gospel-style (though non-denominational) written by Eric about accepting death. When we write music, we spend time discovering how the music fits our reality. In “Take Me Under,” we went full-acoustic and traditional because that is the presentation that crystallized how we feel about this song.
How would you say Keep You Satisfied differs from What You Say?!? Any distinct differences with how you went about writing or recording them, or what you wanted to portray throughout each effort?
The most distinct difference is definitely that we are all singing. Integrating vocal harmonies was a huge step in the band’s development. The sound is more unified and the tunes are a little more hook-oriented. Having more time in the studio was a luxury that allowed us to explore more sonic universes, like running fiddle through a Leslie cabinet and vocals through digital effects. What we discovered was a much more original sound that we look forward to developing further in the future.
The cover art for the new EP is very appealing; vibrant and busy. Can you tell us a bit about it? Who is the artist and why did you choose that design?
Both the What You Say!?! and Keep You Satisfied EP covers were designed by Lindsay Tomlinson, a young contemporary painter and fashion designer in NYC. We were all struck by Lindsay’s art and thought it fit the Boston Boys’ music well. Her painting is rooted in specific styles, but also has that quality of fearless originality we admire. We appreciate how the look of our album covers relate more to fine art than snappy graphic design, which was something we wanted to avoid. As for the design of five sexy beekeepers in bumblebee unitards, this is exactly the vibe we were looking for to put people on their heels and make them interested. We are so pleased to work with Lindsay because her talents give us continuity between our music, merchandise, and even the clothes we wear on stage.
You have a cultural democracy tour starting as I’ve read. That sounds rather unique. Can you elaborate on that a bit?
Each band member was fortunate enough to take many opportunities to play music around the world before joining The Boston Boys. Engaging with other musicians, especially those with radically different musical backgrounds, is a natural interest for all of us. Consequently, when we had our first chance to tour in the Middle East– Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, and Israel– in October of 2012, we fully embraced our partnership with the U.S. State Department and sought to extend that mission of cultural diplomacy whenever possible.
While traveling with the U.S. embassies, we work very closely with local musicians and students by exchanging musical and cultural ideas. A typical day on these tours involves a workshop and concert in a local school, a jam session with musicians from the area in the afternoon, and then in the evening, a public concert for the community. Venues can vary widely between an ambassador’s residence, school, library, town square, and large or small concert hall. Regardless of where we travel, there is a special energy when we are with the State Department. In some of these places, our concerts are likely the first live music performance by an American band ever.
Do you have any other touring plans in the works in support of the new record?
After the two weeks we have scheduled with the State Department in Morocco in October, we will take most of November to tour throughout Europe. We?ll announce the official dates imminently, so stay tuned. In the Spring, we will be back on schedule supporting larger domestic acts and expanding upon our experience with the summer festival scene. No doubt that there will be yet another record produced by then!
Are there any bands in particular that you would love to share a stage with on tour?
We would love to share the stage with The Wood Brothers, Dr. John, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon. The list goes on and on. It would be an honor to work with any of these artists because if we are diplomats, then they are all Elder Statesmen of great musicianship and songwriting.
For bands closer to our cohort, The Dirty Projectors and Feist come to mind. We love how both of these bands blend acoustic roots with more experimental electronic soundscapes. This is something we are interested in exploring with our own sound.
Bandcamp has become widely used in independent music over the past couple of years and you’re currently using it yourselves to help share the new album. What are your thoughts on the effect Bandcamp has had for smaller bands and the music industry?
Unlike other products one could purchase, music is almost never something that can be sold without the customer taking a sample first. Only in the increasing rare circumstance of avid fans wildly purchasing the records of the largest entertainers would anyone go on your (established) reputation alone.
Bandcamp is an invaluable platform for artists to host, relate, explain, and hopefully distribute their music. The fundamental realization brought forth by Bandcamp and other similar services is that this business is no longer about selling music. Buying a record is much more about sending a signal of support to the artist and communicating that you may attend their concert if they came to town.
Our optimistic perspective is that the music industry is moving closer and closer to what the music is all about in the first place– creating a soundtrack for your life and bringing people together. For example, this great proliferation of subscription services, which allow users to play music everywhere on cue only grows the number of people who could demand your art enough to attend a live performance. It’s an exciting time to live through so much creative destruction in our industry.
Now that the EP is complete and ready to be released, what have you been working on in the meantime? Any new material already being worked out?
We recently put a lot of focus back on writing new songs. Every project is a new chapter in our band’s story. The next batch of material will feature even more collaborative songwriting and build upon our progressive approach to recording techniques and production. We may play with the way we release music in the future as well. Everything is on the table.
So what can the world expect from The Boston Boys into next year? What’s your next big goal?
We aim to release our next project at the beginning of 2014 and hit the road again! In the Spring and Summer, you will see The Boston Boys supporting larger artists on tour, releasing videos and multimedia collaborations, and performing at major US music festivals. Big goal? Quality tunes and good times for all.
Written and conducted by: Brian Lion – Follow him on Twitter
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