“If everything old is new again, the Strange Boys are way ahead of the curve. Beneath the clamor of Ryan Sambol’s fierce nasality and herky-jerky riffs, urged on by brother Philip’s bass and drummer Matt Hammer’s powerhouse thump, plus the newly added grease of Greg Enlow’s organ, the Dallas fourpiece plows a wormhole through time immemorial.

“Philip and I attribute all of our listening habits to one tape my mother used to play in the car,” explains Ryan, 20, “a Dick Clark American Bandstand tape. That tape has everything that we listen to now, from ? & the Mysterians and Kinks and Stones to other Sixties garage rock.”

The Strange Boys don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water, but they’re hardly derivative. Each bouncy riff explores age-old music precepts while assuming a modern, rough-hewn bent. French authors, World War II photographers, and certain Nineties deities rub elbows with the aforementioned Sixties heroes. With only 2005’s 15-minute EP, States Newest Noise Makers, to their name, the Boys returned to their abandon-ed liquor store practice space to record their upcoming LP with Gris Gris mastermind, Greg Ashley.

“There’s a lot more involved than just listening to Nuggets and writing a record,” affirms Ryan.

From their duo days three years ago to their current garage glory, the soon-to-be Austinites do their homework via ecstatic live shows and the vigorous sound of youth.

“You gotta repeat the good stuff and drop the bad stuff,” nods Ryan. “Someday, hopefully, someone will listen to us and take only the good stuff and drop the bad so that we’re [even] better.”

ryan sambol [guitar and vocals]
matt hammer [drums]
philip sambol [bass]
greg enlow [guitar and piano]