Starting a band as fifteen-year-old music fans is commonplace. Seeing that band succeed, be respected by older peers, sign to a well known label and have over 40 million streams in the six years since its formation? Less common. But for California natives Destroy Boys, that’s exactly what has happened.
Garnering acclaim on both sides of the pond, this three-piece are creating a style of garage punk that’s both explosive and thought provoking. With the release of their latest single, ‘Drink’, we caught up with Alexia Roditis, Violet Mayugba and Narsai Malik to talk about the inspiration for the track.
Metric – ‘Combat Baby’
Mayugba: Emily Haines’ vocal style is simultaneously soft and driving, which is something I love. The “fight” chorus at the end is super hooky, too!
Interpol – ‘Rest My Chemistry’
Roditis: This song is one of the only songs that resonates with me that has to do with addiction. I feel like it displays the resignation that comes with struggling with difficult personal issues. ‘Drink’ echoes ‘Rest My Chemistry’ through the sort of indifferent but melancholy sounding tone and lyrics. I like the repetition of the song and the slight changes in the lyrics as well.
Foo Fighters – ‘Hey, Johnny Park!’
Malik: When Vi was showing me the riffs she wrote for this song, whether it was on purpose or not I feel like I modeled the chorus drums after how they are in this song in terms of heavily accenting all the notes from the chorus riff. It’s really important to me as a drummer to bring out the most in the melodic parts that my bandmates show me by emphasizing the guitars and/or vocals and to never over play.
Husker Du – ‘Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely’
Mayugba: The sneaky minor chords in this song make it really special, which is something I tried to emulate in the guitar in ‘Drink’.
Turnstile – ‘Stress’
Malik: We were listening to this band a ton when we were recording and seemed to seep into everyone’s collective headspace. The change of pace that seems to be in most of their songs and the aggression that always comes with prettier melodies, either from the vocals or guitar, was all really inspiring to us while we were in the studio. This particular track reminds me of the bridge of ‘Drink’ whenever I hear it now because of the half time heavy kick part that happens throughout the song.
Oingo Boingo – ‘Controller’
Mayugba: Oingo Boingo are one of my favorite bands. I like the theatrics and the urgency of the guitar riffs. It’s something I’ve been able to recreate in my own style. Oingo Boingo’s music tends to have a horror movie element to it, which I love.
Nirvana – ‘On A Plain’
Roditis: I discovered Nirvana in 2020. I listened to ‘Nevermind’ in my car nearly every day before I went to work, and eventually got my hands on ‘In Utero’ too. I love Nirvana. Something I love about them are the lyrics. Honest and fun to yell. I have really strayed from repetitive lyrics in the past, but I have come to appreciate them since listening to Nirvana, and even though the lyrics change in the chorus, the repetitiveness I think really works and was fun to try out.
Arctic Monkeys – ‘If You Were There, Beware’
Malik: Arctic Monkeys have had their fair share of influence on our band, but this song in particular influenced the drums for ‘Drink’. I really liked the drums and the crazed energy they bring to the song, and I wanted to emulate them in this song.
The Smiths – ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’
Roditis: Listen listen I disagree with Morrissey as much as the next person, but I listen to the ‘Hatful of Hollow’ CD in my car at least once a week. I love Morrissey’s crooning vocals, and his moaning style influenced the verses for sure. Lyrically, I feel like the Smith’s lyrics sort of fall out and don’t have much editing to them, like just saying whatever comes to mind can fit a song perfectly. I tried not to overthink this song and just sing what felt right.
Bugsy – ‘Talk To You’
Roditis: I actually heard this song months after we’d written the bulk of ‘Drink’, but I feel like it really captures everything I like about a song, and what I was trying to accomplish with the rhythm guitar. All parts of the song have room to breathe and have their moments. When I wrote the sparkly guitar part I wanted it to fill the space to support the song til the next part, which came to me really easily and worked. I love the melancholy of the song but it’s still driving and active.