Graded on a Curve: Torn Boys, 1983

The launch of archival materials by the Stockton, CA-based outfit Torn Boys is one more superb discovery from the fertile underground of the Nineteen Eighties. 1983 affords picks from the 12 months wherein the band burned temporary however shiny. There’s vinyl in three colours (black, white, and inexperienced) and a compact disc obtainable now via Independent Project Records, with all codecs accompanied by a bonus DVD that accommodates newly shot movies for 4 of the album’s tracks.

The begin of the Torn Boys resides in performances by faculty friends Jeffrey Clark and Kelly Foley, the pair singing and enjoying acoustic guitars at events, golf equipment and cafés, the place they reportedly rotated covers of Television, the Velvets, and “Mack the Knife” with their very own materials. The temporary fragment “And Now” on 1983, credited as being stay from the Blackwater Café, may be proof of those beginnings.

To start with sturdy (if not lofty) ambitions however in such a scaled again method, simply two guys with acoustic guitars, is indicative of the period and their locale; within the Nineteen Eighties, exterior of the cities with main music scenes, upstart musicians did what they may to get heard. Clark and Foley corralling drum machine programmer-synth participant Duncan Atkinson and guitarist Grant-Lee Phillips so shortly into their scheme underscores that they have been on the correct artistic observe.

In the brief span of their existence Torn Boys landed a radio efficiency on the student-run school station of the University of California at Davis); two songs from that KDVS present, “Mystery” and “Mack the Knife” are included right here (sadly no recordings of Velvets or Television tunes appear to have survived). An further KDVS quantity, “Fountain of Blood,” is discovered on the compilation Source: The Independent Project Records Collection; a distinct model of this music is included on 1983.

That the music of Torn Boys is just surfacing now on no account indicative of a modest stage of high quality. To the opposite, the contents of 1983 slot in very properly with the sounds of subterranean California that surrounded them in the course of the period. There is guitar shimmer in opener “See Through My Eyes” and in “May Day” that conjure a psychedelic (i.e. Paisley Underground) aura, whereas concurrently, the usage of drum machine and synth provides a brand new wave ingredient to the equation.

To elaborate, this wavy element wasn’t an try to slither into the business zone however fairly establishes Torn Boys as a non-retro inclined affair open to new prospects. Perhaps the perfect description of the band’s music is art-punk, a method that thrived in California throughout this era. As “Mystery” performs, it’s fairly straightforward to think about Torn Boys as stylistic kin to such lauded Cali art-punk bands as Urinals, 100 Flowers, and particularly throughout 1983’s closing observe “Lady Luck,” the good and terribly underrated Human Hands (a similarity that’s actually situated within the angsty fringe of the vocals).

But there are positively distinctions to be made. Partly via the usage of novel tech, “Mystery” and “Fountain of Blood” supply a post-punky Anglo vibe (notably with out affectations) that hits its apex within the Joy Division-ist darkwave of “New Drums.” Also, that model of “Mack the Knife” is way extra within the custom of Kurt Weill (with a nod to the Gun Club) than Bobby Darin.

Yet one other distinctive wrinkle are vocal harmonies described by IPR as Everly Brothers-like, a comparability that hits excellent. Really, had Torn Boys caught it out some time longer and wrote just a few extra songs they may’ve discovered a stable residence on the Enigma label. But ‘twas to not be: Phillips and Clark relocated to Los Angels, successfully ending the group as they fashioned the decidedly greater profile Shiva Burlesque. Phillips is most famous for his work in Grant Lee Buffalo.

Remaining in Stockton, Foley went on to play in Broken Toys and in Hospital, the band of Gary Young, which locations him on the margins of the Pavement narrative. Atkinson continued to play regionally and work as a sound engineer, as properly. This is all to say that Torn Boys was a place to begin, not a fleeting highpoint. In 2024, the songs on 1983 cohere into a really interesting pay attention.

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