Boys Night Out spent a lot of time and hard work finding their place in the music industry, and, given the success of their sophomore album and sellout Nintendo Fusion Tour, they aren't stopping now.
The Ontario-based heavy punk band formed in 1998 but broke up after its first show. In the spring of 2001, vocalist Jeff Davis recruited long-time friend Connor Lovat-Frasier and released "You Are My Canvas," a four song EP. It was followed by "Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses" in the summer of 2000, a more refined six track EP that would come to represent Boys Night Out.
A year of touring and low-budget basement recording prepared the band (Connor Lovat-Frasier on vocals, Jeff Davis on guitar/vocals, Shawn Butchart on guitar, Dave Costa on bass/vocals and Brian Southall on drums) to release their debut album with Ferret Records.
"Make Yourself Sick," a unique blend of screaming, singing and heavy pop punk, came out to an eager fan base in the fall of 2003. The record landed them a spot on the annual punk festival, Vans Warped Tour, for the next two summers. In that time, Davis and Lovat-Frasier were busy looking for Boys Night Out's next challenge.
They found it in the new "Trainwreck," their concept rock album, released last July. "Trainwreck" is Davis's story of a fictional crackhead dealing with institutionalization, twelve tracks which grabbed the attention of audiences, magazines, radio, and television alike.
The band also acquired the skilled vocals and synthesizing of Kara Dupuy, adding her new dynamic not only to the new album but to each previous track.
Then, Boys Night Out turned to the place they have always found support - on the road.
This fall, Boys Night Out is on the bill of the Nintendo Fusion Tour, traveling with Panic! At The Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, The Starting Line, and Fall Out Boy.
I managed to secure a few moments with Jeff Davis, who has been there since the band's beginning, to ask about the tour, their success, and the transition from "Make Yourself Sick" to "Trainwreck":
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Peter Knox: The Nintendo Fusion Tour has simply been the band's biggest tour yet, playing to mostly sellout crowds. How has it been different for the band? How is it different than the Warped Tour?
Jeff Davis: It's cool coming after Warped and doing a big club tour like this. It's a whole different vibe than a summer festival tour. It feels a lot better and a lot more like you're actually playing shows with the band...Warped Tour is a very strange thing. This is more in our element now...We're used to being in our van and playing small shows. It's just a very cool thing.
PK: How is it different playing in the United States as opposed to Canada [being residents of Ontario, Canada]?
JD: Really, it's the same. If you're playing in Canada [or] you're playing in the States - it's going to be the same kind of kids coming out, the same kind of vibe, where everyone is really into it.
PK: Your first single "I Got Punched In The Nose For Sticking My Face In Other People's Business" has the lyrics, "Drag my corpse through the cities I never got to visit." Where haven't you been that you want to, and where are you glad you've seen?
JD: Band-wise, I've been pretty much everywhere except Hawaii and Alaska. Both those places would be amazing to play if somehow that could work out. There are some really cool places in California we've played at, like a place called the Fillmore in San Francisco, which is kind of a really old venue. Kind of like a classic rock seventies place. And it was really cool to play there.
PK: Boys Night Out has a unique sound, a sound that, while evolving over the past few years, has remained distinctive, always changing, and practically genre defying - how would you describe it?
JD: [Thinking] Theatrical Stoner Punk.
PK: Depending on the success of "Trainwreck," Boys Night Out might have a headlining tour in the works for next year. Who would you love to have on the bill, and what other options could happen instead?
JD: Well, we've actually just found out and confirmed that in January we're doing a full U.S. tour with Amour For Sleep. That's the first thing we're doing in the new year, but after that, we could potentially be headlining. Who knows, I'd love to do a tour where we'd get to play all of "Trainwreck." I don't know if we'll get a chance to do a full tour, but we'll do little stints...There's also just the fact that there's kids that don't want to hear us play all of "Trainwreck." If we're going to do a full tour, we're going to make sure it's a successful venture. If we advertise a tour to play this record, there would still be lots of fans that want to hear older stuff too. We'd bum some kids out, I think.
PK: How do you deal with fans that don't appreciate how your music has evolved and only like the old stuff?
JD: It bums me out just because I wish kids would really give it a chance. I think that maybe once they get into more kinds of music, maybe get older, they might like it. But for kids that just want a band to be that one band, they have a CD and they want them to sound like that CD forever. You know what? Just listen to that CD and forget it. Leave us alone. If you're not interested in seeing how a band can grow and evolve musically and what they can do with music, then just listen to those old CDs and forget it.
PK: Was there one moment in recording "Trainwreck" that you knew it would work as a complete story and musical album?
JD: We were pretty confident about it from the very beginning. I had the story and once Connor [BNO lead vocalist] and I actually sat down and started breaking it up, [and] we started getting excited about it and working it out. We never stopped for a second; we were just like "This is going to be easy. Once we get this down, it's going to be fun as hell." Once we actually started writing music, it all came so quick and we were like, "this is great." We never for a second thought, "we can't do this."
PK: How do you like Ferret Records? I'm sure it's nice to have studio space, but did you miss recording in a basement and burning CDs on your own?
JD: That was definitely a lot more fun. It was entirely for fun then, because we all had our school and our jobs. We just did this band and it was a good outlet for creativity and a way to get away from normal life. But now this is our normal life, and it's become our lives entirely. But it's still great; I'm not complaining because I wouldn't want to be living life any other way. But it's definitely a lot different than it used to be.
PK: Are you excited for tonight?
JD: We've actually never played in D.C. before, aside from the Warped Tour shows. This is the first time we actually played a club in D.C., so it's cool and we're definitely excited.
PK: Anything special for tonight? Any performance art perhaps?
JD: [Laughing] No. It's funny, since we actually had some things made - these things that are supposed to go in front of our guitar cabinets...It's supposed to be artwork from the record. So, we got them today and they're like fifteen feet high by ten feet across, these massive things that we're supposed to put in front of our guitar cabinets. All of this tubing to hold them up and stuff, and we're like, what are we - Van Halen? Forget these things. We're nothing special. We're just going to up there, and have fun and put on a good show.
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