| Downtown Boys | |
| Origin: | Providence, Rhode Island, United States |
| Genre: | Punk rock |
| Years Active: | 2012–present |
| Associated Acts: | Malportado Kids, What Cheer? Brigade, La Neve, Harry and the Potters, Gauche |
| Current Members: |
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| Past Members: |
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Downtown Boys are an American punk rock band formed in 2011 in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. They have received press coverage in Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and Spin.
Downtown Boys formed after What Cheer? Brigade tubaist Joey La Neve DeFrancesco met vocalist Victoria Ruiz while working at the Renaissance Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island.[1] DeFrancesco famously quit the hotel by handing in his letter of resignation accompanied by his What Cheer? bandmates. The footage of the resignation went viral.[2] [3] [4]
In 2014, the band released a 7" single on Washington D.C.-based Sister Polygon Records[5] to wide acclaim.[6] [7] Downtown Boys released second LP, Full Communism, on Don Giovanni Records on May 5, 2015.[8] [9] The album's lead single, "Monstro", drew critical attention from Pitchfork,[10] Stereogum,[11] and the broader music press. Rachel Brodsky of Spin wrote of the single: "Bravely combating, as their press release reads, 'the prison-industrial complex, racism, queerphobia, capitalism, fascism, boredom, and all things people use to try to close our minds, eyes and hearts,' Downtown Boys do what their finest punk-rock forefathers did before them: challenge long-held ideas."[12]
The group performed on news show Democracy Now! and was interviewed by host Amy Goodman.[13]
Rolling Stone featured the group and dubbed them "America's Most Exciting Punk Band".[14]
The New Yorker described the group's live performances, noting that "[t]he tracks speed by with hardcore kineticism, but Ruiz's lyrics squeeze your hand through the pit: she’s lucid and blunt, shouting down cops, traders, and any other impediment to justice that she can spot. There's something distinctly post-punk about the Boys, ... [i]t could be the saxophone, but it's probably the spirit."[15]
In 2015, Ruiz and DeFrancesco launched the online magazine Spark Mag in collaboration with grassroots advocacy group Demand Progress.[16] The site aims to feature underground and radical artists and connect fans to organizing work.[17]
In 2017, the band played the Coachella Music and Arts festival. They later released an open letter denouncing the festival's business practices and donated "a portion of the money" paid to them by Coachella to the LGBTQ organizations Prysm and FIERCE.[18] That same year, the band helped lead efforts to pressure the SXSW music festival to remove a contract clause threatening to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport foreign artists who violated contract terms. The campaign was successful, and SXSW removed the contract clause.[19] Later that year, the band released their third LP Cost of Living on Sub Pop Records.[20]
The band composed the original music for the biographical film Miss Marx (2020) by Italian director Susanna Nicchiarelli. Their soundtrack won the David di Donatello award for Best Music, and the Venice Film Festival Soundtrack Stars Award.[21]
Members of the band were central to the founding of the musician advocacy organization United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), which has run campaigns around issues such as streaming royalties, increased compensation at the SXSW music festival, and more.[22]