Viagra Boys: tour dates

Swedish finest jazz punk band Viagra Boys have announced tyour in North America and Europe to promote their Welfare Jazz album: "Imagine the Stooges in their Raw Power phase having a ball with The Birthday Party and De Staat, with Tom Waits smiling in the background. Monolithic dance grooves clash with a prog rock flute solo or a screaming saxophone. But when all is said done they just want to settle down in the country with a nice lady. No wonder that they end the album with a cover of the John Prine classic In Spite of Ourselves, with Amy Taylor handling the part of Iris DeMent".

Viagra Boys: "16 Wheeler Horse" & "Blue Bone" live videos

Watch the new Viagra Boys live videos for the fast and furious 16 Wheeler Horse and the slow roots country rocker Blue Bone, two tracks from the deluxe version of their Welfare Jazz album. It is intense, it is over the top, and it's damn catchy. Punk is alive and well in the capital of Sweden.

» vboysstockholm.com

HCTF review of Welfare Jazz.

HCTF's best of 2021 (15-11)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. Here Comes The Flood covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: countdown from number 15 to 11.

Please shop at your local record store. Most of them have a website where you can order your stuff. Buy directly from the artist, attend live shows when it's safe to do so again. Tell your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Viagra Boys: "Ain't Nice" video

Watch the new Viagra Boys video for Ain't Nice, a track from their latest album Welfare Jazz: "Imagine the Stooges in their Raw Power phase having a ball with The Birthday Party and De Staat, with Tom Waits smiling in the background. Monolithic dance grooves clash with a prog rock flute solo or a screaming saxophone".

» vboysstockholm.com

HCTF review of Welfare Jazz.

Viagra Boys: Welfare Jazz

photo: Fredrik Bengtsson

Taking the piss about Alpha male posturing by means of punk, noise and free jazz is the main theme on Welfare Jazz, the new album by Stockholm based band Viagra Boys. It is not that easy to mix satire and music, but they pull it off with flying colours. Singer Sebastian Murphy has a way with words, loading his lyrics with double meanings and puns with full-throttle bangers like Ain't Nice and I Feel Alive.

Imagine the Stooges in their Raw Power phase having a ball with The Birthday Party and De Staat, with Tom Waits smiling in the background. Monolithic dance grooves clash with a prog rock flute solo or a screaming saxophone. But when all is said done they just want to settle down in the country with a nice lady. No wonder that they end the album with a cover of the John Prine classic In Spite of Ourselves, with Amy Taylor handling the part of Iris DeMent.