Greg Hoy & the Boys

Led by a smoldering blues riff, Greg Hoy & the Boys offer up a prime cut of raw, tenacious rock n’ roll thunder in their latest single/video combo “Leaving While You Stay” that is almost certain to quake the hearts and speakers of those who give it a spin this summer. “Leaving While You Stay” features a guttural groove that bashes us into a corner just enough to make the adjacent melodies feel as cutting as they are electrified in tone. There aren’t any soft blows being delivered here; on the contrary, this is an aggressive look that suggests Greg Hoy is getting ready to go harder than he ever has before. 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheGregHoy 

 The video for “Leaving While You Stay” would probably be downright disturbing if not for the allure of its soundtrack, and though it’s a more than a little rough around the edges visually, it doesn’t feel abstractly experimental for what this material calls for. Unlike a lot of their peers, Greg Hoy & the Boys aren’t overthinking the conceptualism behind the music video for this single at all - they’re letting simplicity serve as the surrealism. It’s a bit anti-modernist compared to what I would have expected out of this most recent studio work, but hey, it adds up to producing one heck of a unique single and companion video at any rate. 

Fans of visceral garage rock that doesn’t apologize for its brash attitude aren’t likely to find anything quite as organic and unabashedly charming as Greg Hoy & the Boys’ “Leaving While You Stay” is this August, and I’m confident the band’s longtime supporters will agree when I say this is their most advanced look thus far. We need more good time rock bands like Greg Hoy and the Boys in the world right now. They’ve got a one of a kind grind that’s taking center stage in this track, and while it’s a bit more abrasive than the standard pop/rock sound, that’s precisely what made me fall in love with it. 

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Trace Whittaker

Newcastle-upon-Tyne

8/2020