The Boys, support: Hard Luck Street

The Boys came together when singer/guitarist Matt Dangerfield left the punk band London SS in September 1975 to form a new band with ex-Hollywood Brats keyboard player Casino Steel. Dangerfield’s art college friend, guitarist Honest John Plain, was recruited and in June 1976, two of Plain’s co-workers at a T-shirt printing company, bassist Duncan "Kid" Reid and drummer Jack Black, completed the line-up. Steel (ex-Hollywood Brats) and Dangerfield played in the London SS together. The band's early recordings were made in a home recording studio which Dangerfield had set up in his rented basement apartment in Maida Vale.

The band played their first concert at the Hope and Anchor pub in Islington, London in September 1976. Among the crowd were Mick Jones, Billy Idol, Tony James and Gene October. After a few concerts, The Boys signed to NEMS in January 1977, and were at that time the only British punk band to have a record deal.

Their first release was the single "I Don't Care", and in support of that release, they toured with John Cale of Velvet Underground. Their 16-track debut album, The Boys, was recorded in early May 1977, but commercial release was delayed until 9 September 1977. The album reached No. 50 in the UK Album Charts. A second single, "First Time" — with a theme of losing virginity — was released on 27 July 1977. As a result, John Peel invited The Boys to recorded a live session for his show, which became 'Single Of The Week' in Sounds magazine. The single was steadily climbing the chart, until August 1977.

The Boys released a second album on NEMS, titled Alternative Chartbusters, and toured in support of it with the Ramones. The Boys then signed with Safari in 1979, and two albums and five singles followed before the band broke up in the summer of 1981. Each Christmas, the group rearranged the "B" and the "Y" in their name and became The Yobs, releasing four singles and one album; 1980s Christmas Album. In this incarnation, the band members used the pseudonyms Noddy Oldfield, Ebenezer Polak, Kid Vicious and H. J. Bedwetter.

On 31 July and 1 August 1999, four out of five original members, along with Steve "Vom" Ritchie (replacing Jack Black on drums, who was busy with his own band) played concerts in Japan. In September 2000, this new lineup played at the 'Holidays in the Sun Festival' in Bilbao, Spain. Original drummer Jack Black made a guest appearance and filmed the concert. It was the first time in 18 years that the five original band members had been reunited on stage. In 2006, the band again performed concerts, including their first shows in London in 25 years. Following their reunion tour in London, one of the Boys' early songs, "Jimmy Brown", was released as a single in December 2008.

In June 2014 The Boys released their first new studio album since 1981, Punk Rock Menopause, on Wolverine Records.[3][4] The album featured the original founder members Matt Dangerfield, Casino Steel and Honest John Plain, and included 13 new songs bearing the band’s trademark style.[5][6]

The Boys arrived in Shanghai, China, on 13 January 2015 to embark on a nine-date national tour to promote their new album “Punk Rock Menopause”, but found that the tour had been cancelled by the Chinese Ministry of Culture due to “crowd control and security issues”.[7] The ban came in the aftermath of the Shanghai stampede at a New Year celebration in which 36 people were killed a few weeks earlier.

The band set off on a cultural tour of China hosted by Shanghai based punk band Round Eye. Along the way they played three underground gigs promoted by word of mouth, gave a number of interviews, were the subject of a one-hour documentary on top TV channel in Beijing, and recorded a live album – "Undercover – Live in China", which was released by Action Records on 1 July 2015…


Hard Luck Street (HLS) is a folk-rock/punk-rock band from Oslo. The
members have many years of experience from Oslo’s underground rock ‘n’
roll scene from bands such as Trashcan Darlings, Beat Tornados, Fake
Females, Valentourettes, Kongefamilien, The Blackbirds and others.

Their debut single ‘Valley of Fear’ was recorded at Urban Sound studio
and produced by Jock Loveband who previously has worked with artists
such as Stranglers, David Gilmour and Madrugada. It was released in
January 2011. In December the same year they released the E.P. ‘On the
Run to Maybeland’ on 10” vinyl. It was recorded at Laidback studios,
which is also used by artists such as The Carburetors, Petter Baarli and
Kill City Bandits.

In 2013 HLS played lots of gigs in Norway, including a tour where they
supported the British punk-legends The Boys. They also toured England
and Germany.

They spent most of 2014 and 2015 in Laidback studios recording their
debut-album ‘Mosaics – Exile on Hard Luck Street’, which was released
for downloads and streaming on August the 1st 2015. A vinyl version of
the album will be released on the German label ‘East Side Records’
around Christams. ‘Mosaics- Exile on Hard Luck Street includes 20 songs.
The vinyl version will come with a gatefold sleeve. The album includes
guest appearances by Bendik Brænne, Petter Pogo, Petter Baarli, Ingrid
Frivold and others. The mixing was done at Urban Studios. The band also
recorded two tracks for upcoming tribute albums to Norwegian rock groups
Backstreet Girls and Raga Rockers.

Hard Luck Street played the first show on their Mosaics – Exile on Tour
at Gamla on the 11th of August. It was part of Klubbdagen, which is a
pre-arrangement to Norway’s greatest outdoor festival, Øyafestivalen.
Since then they’ve played in Sweden and Norway. A European tour is
planned in March to promote the vinyl version of the new album.

Hard Luck Street is:

Tarjei Foshaug: Lead vocals, acoustic guitars
David Egeland: Guitars, backing vocals,
Jørgen Granholt-Henriksen: Guitars, backing vocals
Tore Kneppen: Bass
Morten Pisani: Drums, backing vocals