The PLATINUM BOYS are a Proto-Punk/Rock and Roll/Power Pop outfit from Milwaukee, Wisconsin featuring MATTY MAYHEM - Guitars and vocals; HOLLYWOOD HEWZ - Guitars and vocals; JOEY TURBO - Bass and vocals; SKUFCA - Drums.
After a first single (Candy B/W Wild child) on Windian records in 2014, the band released its brilliant debut full length "Future Hits" on Dusty Medical Records in 2015. At the end of that same year "Junior Varsity" was released as a digital download and limited edition cassette. The latest single from Milwaukee’s Best ("Lights out") just came out on June 30, 2016 on Gloss Records from Milwaukee.
Here is a little chat yours truly had with Matty :
1° What can you tell to the viewers of this blog about the history of the band, who's playing what in the band, etc....
We formed a couple of years ago because of our unified love for Rock'n'Roll /Power-pop/ double leads/ Thin Lizzy. We all played in different bands at one point or another and wanted to take a stab at writing formulaic songs in the vein of skuzzy drug and booze soaked rock n roll.
2° Are you guys doin' this full time or do you have day jobs to pay the rent?
Partying is a full time job man.
3° What about the not-so-glamorous-covers? Well actually the one of "Junior Varsity" is quite hilarious but the one of "Future Hits" looks like two drunks fighting in a bar. Do you mind to comment about that?
We were at this old bar in what used to be the auto manufacturing area in Milwaukee called Roth's to take our first round of promo pictures and we got to talking to the two dudes that are on the cover. The older gentleman with the beard is actually the owner of the joint and the guy giving him a choke hold lives upstairs in a tenement like situation. They were awesome people and part of "old Milwaukee" so to speak. A lot of american cities are getting infested with young professional types that kind of distort the narrative of the city because they have no idea of where the city came from and all thats important is their condo/yoga studio/fresh food store multiplex.
4° Beside the not-so-glamorous-cover, there is the music and this is quite another story. I really dig you rock'n'roll primitiveness and 70's vibes. Who is the main composer, if there is any or do you guys tend to jam until there's something coming out of it?
Generally we write the music all together. Joey our bassist will sometimes come up with a bass line that we write chords over, then I will write a lead line and sometimes a double lead for casey to play over it. Then when the song is basically written Joey writes lyrics for em.
5° What can you tell about your choice of covers songs (CCR, Eagles)? Are you playing more covers on stage?
Those are the only two covers we know. We played an Elvis tune once for Halloween. We were gonna do a Flamin Groovies song but never got around to learning it. CCR and Eagles are two quintessential american rock and roll bands and we wanted to pay homage to them. We had this crazy idea to play Born on the Bayou about 70 BPM faster than the actual song and, surprisingly, it worked. We learned the Eagles tune for a Halloween gig as well and it just kinda stuck. we've been playing that one out live mostly. Its pretty funny, depending on where we are in the country, people either love it or hate it. People are so nice so they'll passively tell us they didn't like it. its just funny how some people fucking despise the Eagles. i get that they were like the pretty boys of rock n roll in the 70's, but damn if they didn't make great music.
6° What can concert goers expect at a Platinum Boys gig? Are you guys the "future of rock'n'roll" as Jon Landau once stated?
Our shows are really fun and we are pretty humble. we love having the opportunity to play music in front of new people so we always try and show them a good time. It'll be loud, and probably much faster than the record and with a sense of urgency. I (Matty) am usually bouncing all over the place and screaming inaudible shit into the microphone. and yeah we are the future of rock n roll motherfuckers. just waiting for these other fools to get out of our way.
Bottom line : these guys don't cheat! They are for real and so are their records. So you know exactly what to do. Go to their gigs because they love to party and buy their records because they play great songs.
The PLATINUM BOYS Bandcamp :
https://platinumboys.bandcamp.com/
Purchase the full length here :
http://www.dustymedical.com/DMR-40.html
Special thanks to Kevin!
