You heard it here first: grungy garage band Boagrius’ new EP Chocolate Milk Man is not of this Earth.
“We have this running joke that some of our songs just came from space,” said drummer Kyle Stanley. “We would be struggling on completing a song for a while and then all of a sudden in one practice it would just all come together and we have no explanation for it except that inspiration just came from outer space.”
These Burlington, MA locals certainly aren’t predictable when it comes to their raw, straight from the basement sound. From blistering punk beats to fuzzy, psychedelic funk-rock, this young trio is crafting some seriously catchy songs with refreshing belligerence and intensity. It’s music that demands to be blasted at deafening volumes, and head banging is strongly suggested.
There’s something undeniably nostalgic about Boagrius’ sound, with shades of Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers in the mix. These guys will instantly satisfy your inner plaid-wearing grunge fan. But it’s not as if they’re taking themselves too seriously– they do have a song about delivering chocolate milk after all.
Boagrius released an EP, Dagnabbit!, last February and a single, Screaming Eyeballs, this past fall. But their third release is a new high water mark for the evolving Burlington band. They’ve constructed some seriously memorable, well-thought-out garage rock songs that won’t stop sticking around in your head.
Lead singer/guitarist Ryan Vilbert spits venom into the mic with a sneering, in-your-face aggression. But he can just as easily reign himself in for moments of sweet, leaping falsetto, most notably on the opening track of the EP, “Officer Dick.” Meanwhile the bass and drums mesh together in a tight rhythmic pocket that makes for some truly groovy tunes. It’s this cohesion that really makes the three-piece so promising.
Drummer Kyle Stanley filled us in on the Boagrius songwriting process, explaining that “the guitarist of our band, Ryan, will typically come to myself and Julien – our bassist – with the skeleton of a song. He has an idea of where he wants the song to go but he doesn’t force it upon us. We jam on the progressions and let ideas flow. Whenever someone has an idea for a part we’ll always at least give it a try. We really want input from all of us and that means not alienating one person’s ideas.”
The Chocolate Milk Man EP has quite the dynamic range. “Li’l Albert” is a slow burn of grinding grunge that leads well into the pop-punk gallop of “Legend of the Man Boagrius” which sprints through sections of old school metal guitar licks and spacey alt rock. Chocolate Milk Man concludes with “Hand In The Jar,” which begins as a minimalistic ballad with distant vocals and guitar, but with a distorted guitar scratch and the thwack of the snare, the whole band joins together for one last huge, catchy chorus.
As for the future and the rest of 2016 Stanley stated that, “One big thing we hope to do by the end of 2016 is book our first tour! We’re fine with just a tour New England, but if we have the means to go farther then we definitely will. We just want to get out on the road. However, before we do that our aim is to build up our fan base around Boston and continue to make new and better music. We are currently writing new material. Whether or not it will be a full-length is yet to be determined.”
Check out the band’s newest music video for “Chocolate Milk Man” below! Side effects may include running out to buy a bottle of chocolate Nesquik.