Don’t call it a resurrection, but Dead Boys is back in town this Thursday. The Ohio rock band were Sire and Bomp! Records darlings who influenced countless young punks including the late Anthony Bourdain, who once described the Boys’ “Sonic Reducer” as something close to immaculate. “It’s got the perfect sound, perfect lyrics, it’s about longing and rage and envy and a desire for revenge. It’s absolutely what rock and roll should be about — in a perfect world,” Bourdain said on the Turned Out A Punk podcast. That song, according to surviving Dead Boys member Cheetah Chrome, took just 10 minutes to write, but his band’s Bay area appearance comes in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Dead Boys' landmark debut album Young, Loud and Snotty. Sure, we’ll all miss lead vocalist Stiv Bators — who died in 1990 — but Chrome has been playing these songs for the last decade now. Listen to Bourdain talk about the band below.
Dead Boys, Thurs. July 12, 6 p.m. $15. Brass Mug, 1450 Skipper Rd. Tampa. ticketbud.com.
See even more of the Tampa Bay live music lineup by visting cltampa.com/musicweek every Thursday morning.
This article appears in Jul 5-12, 2018.