Welcome to Pass the Aux, where every week we feature new music by Bay Area artists. Check out past entries and submit a song for future coverage here.
In July, Destroy Boys released “Drink“—a single that seamlessly combined sparkling guitar pop with an undercurrent of impending doom. The track was about the struggle of breaking alcoholic cycles, but its incumbent anxiety was the perfect soundtrack for anyone suffering from reopening jitters.
The trio—vocalist/guitarist Alexia Roditis, guitarist Violet Mayugba and drummer Narsai Malik—has been excellent at reading the zeitgeist and reflecting it right back, ever since they came together in Sacramento back in 2015. And these three college-aged kids—now based in Oakland and San Francisco—have never been shy about venting. That much has been apparent since their 2017 debut album, Sorry Mom. (Check out “I Threw Glass at My Friend’s Eyes and Now I’m on Probation” for evidence. The song, about dealing with romantic attention from an older man, was written when Roditis was still in high school.)
Now, Destroy Boys is back with their second single in less than two months. “Locker Room Bully” is a defiant, riot grrrl-inspired, proverbial middle finger that offers a swift takedown to petty-minded interlopers. The accompanying video takes the song’s themes about social media toxicity and transforms them into a literal witch hunt, unfolding against a gloomy San Francisco backdrop.
