Boy from the Crowd - Where the Bees Come to Die

With such a huge punk/blues/raw rock sound, one might be surprised to learn that Boy from the Crowd (BFTC) are merely a duo. The East London pair, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Vinny Piana and drummer Vegas Ivy create a mashed up cacophony of raucous sound effortlessly on their debut album. Where the Bees Come to Die is a diverse, poignant picture of what can happen when high-level blues guitars and diverse drums meet punk rock passion.

Piana and Vegas met in late 2013 while bumming around the same music studio in West London. Piana was a producer and engineer with a passion for blues guitar, and Vegas, also originally a guitarist, worked as part of the studio management team. A few impromptu jam sessions in the off hours led to the two wanting to record. How they arrived on their particular brand of blues, surf punk and London punk seems a bit of a mystery, but it certainly works for them.

By far the most definitive element in BFTC’s sound is Piana’s masterful blues guitar work. Using Fender Strats or Telecasters to create Stevie Ray Vaughn-esque riffs, Piana switches back and forth between a rock-edged style and one more soulful and bluesy. With his deft playing, he is able to create solo, rhythm and even bass elements to each track. His vocals anchor the punk end of the sound; so classic 70s UK punk that listeners may think Piana is actually channeling Joe Strummer. He has a blues range here as well, however, as the higher registers create a passion and soul quite different from punk.

For a drummer who doesn’t consider himself a drummer, former guitarist-turned-drummer Vegas Ivy has a wide style range range on the drums. He seems adept at maneuvering between blues and rock drumlines, adding rhythm elements to Piana’s vocals and guitar which contribute heavily to the emotive quality of BFTC’s sound. Less a support element and more of a cornerstone, Vegas’ drums drive both time and pitch on this debut album.

The EP-length Where the Bees Come to Die has four tracks from the new duo, some of which were released quite a while ago. “Revelator” and its corresponding YouTube video were released over a year ago, but this track is also the album’s opener. Decidedly more punk and UK hard rock than other tracks on the album, audiences here are reminded that rock came from and can seamlessly fold into blues. Second track “All I Need” is decidedly more blues-driven both in guitar and vocals, but the feedback in Piana’s guitar as well as the beat buildups in Vegas’ drums all but scream rock. The video for this song was just released in early January and is poised to be the band’s definitive track from this album. Soulful, passionate and somehow gothic all at once, there is truly nothing else like “All I Need” in rock right now.

The short album concludes with the decidedly more blues-tinged “The Road” and the title track. “The Road,” if punk at all, is more aimed at surf punk and psychobilly (Piana names one of his influences as The Cramps), but still rocks in the right places. “Where the Bees Come to Die” is an instrumental, all-blues outro which mixes more haunting surf blues and lashings of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Little Wing.” A surprising interlude of Moog synths comes in the middle and toggles with the blues bit in a clear statement of what waits on the horizon for BFTC’s bourgeoning sound.

With their unique sound and fun rocker attitude, Boy from the Crowd are off to a good start. The duo are already releasing more previews to new songs and live videos on Youtube. Their website advertises tour dates coming soon, so it’s likely a full-length album is in the works. It is always fun to see a group like Boy from the Crowd from their beginnings to see how they develop. With the combined skills of Piana and Vegas, this London duo have a great foundation on which to build more interesting blues-fueled rock. 




Jan 14 2016