Oldboy

"There’s absolutely nothing wrong with pop music. For Byfleet outfit Oldboy, they’re happy to admit they’re pushers of pop, but with the caveat that it’s “nasty pop music“.

Starting out as a noisy get together between friends Max Coon and Chris Summers in an industrial estate rehearsal room back in 2019, an additional friend – Ryan Caine – was recruited for racket-making purposes in Oldboy and the band ultimately put out their debut album, ‘Bloody‘, in April of last year. Recorded with man of the people Jonah Falco at the North London Total Refreshment Centre studio in three days, it was mixed in a matter of hours down in the basement of Rough Trade West.

As somewhat of an early Christmas gift, the trio are gracing us with new material – an EP by the name of ‘Byfleet Dancehall Vol. 1‘, out digitally via Agitated Records on December 1st 2023 – and we’ve got an exclusive first stream of it below!

It’s definitely “nasty pop music” alright, a collection of fuzzy, hooky earworms, tailor made for shuffling feet and having a bop in the pit. With shades of Hot Snakes and Aussie lot CIVIC in the mix, vocals sound on occasion like Andrew Falkous or Joe Casey. As all EPs should, it ends in a burst of head-wrecking noise.”—BirthdayCakeForBreakfast