National Tour Dates Incl. Pitchfork’s Northside Showcase, Riot Fest, House Of Vans, Made In America Festival.

Downtown Boys use their ferocious energy and powerhouse live shows to unite crowds in the struggle to smash racism, queerphobia, capitalism, fascism, boredom, and all things people use to try to close our minds, eyes and hearts. The Providence, RI band have announced their third album, Cost of Living, to be released (Preorder here now) August 11 on Sub Pop. The new album - the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed sophomore album, 2015’s Full Communism - is at once incendiary, cathartic, and fun, melding the band’s revolutionary ideals with boundless energy. Produced by Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto, one of indie-rock’s most mythological figures (he also produced Blonde Redhead, The Gossip, and others), Cost of Living shows a sense of maturity without compromising the band’s righteous assault and captivating presence.

“… wild, bilingual, no-filler, can-still-throw-down punk rock.” - NPR

“Accompanied by production from Greg Norman and Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto, Downtown Boys sound sharper than ever, their urgency tightened into a raging storm. The band understands that for a song to be political, it needs to be more than just than a temporary rebellion: It has to dig into the essence of an identity with relentless honesty.” - Pitchfork, Best New Track

“… Downtown Boys are a beam of radical energy” – Rookie

“ …the politically-minded Rhode Island punk crew Downtown Boys slam bullying hardcore guitars, X-Ray Spex-y horns and radical lyrical fury together into a moshpit utopia.” – Rolling Stone

Cost of Living is Downtown Boys’ first record for storied indie label Sub Pop, and the band is using this new platform as a megaphone for their protest music, amplifying and centering Chicana, queer, and Latino voices in the far-too-whitewashed world of rock. t Lyrically inspired by Assata Shakur’s poem “i believe in living,” album-opener “A Wall” rides the feel-good power that drove so many tunes by The Clash and Wire, calling out the idea that a wall could ever succeed in snuffing the humanity and spirit of those it’s designed to crush. “Promissory Note” is a bold self-introduction to the exclusive clubs that either ignore Downtown Boys’ existence, or worse, feign appreciation: “So what’s the matter, you don’t like what you see? / I can’t believe you’re even talking to me!” Ruiz shouts. “Tonta,” one of the three songs written and sung primarily in Spanish, is an introspective and emotional portrait of anguish which calls to mind the mighty scrum of Huasipungo at an ABC No Rio matinee.

The position of Downtown Boys has been clear since they started storming through basements and DIY spaces with their radically-minded, indefatigable rock music: they are here to topple the white-cis-het hegemony and draft a new history. This is how Downtown Boys began, and their resolve has only strengthened as both their sound and audience have grown. Like the socially conscious groups of years past, from Public Enemy to Rage Against the Machine, Downtown Boys harness powerful sloganeering, repetitive grooves, and earworm hooks to create one of the most necessary musical statements of today.

[Photo Credit: Miguel Rosario]

The time is now for you to follow Downtown Boys everywhere over the known internets via Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Bandcamp.

Cost of Living

Downtown Boys’ new album, Cost of Living, will be released on CD / LP / CASS / DL, and is available for pre-order here now. LP pre-orders in North America through the Sub Pop Mega Mart and select independent retailers will receive the Loser Edition on marbled gold vinyl while supplies last. Plus, a new T-shirt design will also be available.

Cost of Living :: Tracklist

1. A Wall
2. I’m Enough (I Want More)
3. Somos Chulas (No Somos Pendejas)
4. Promissory Note
5. Because You
6.  Violent Complicity
7. It Can’t Wait
8. Tonta
9. Heroes (Interlude)
10. Lips That Bite
11. Clara Rancia
12. Bulletproof (Outro)

Tour Dates + Ticket Links

6/9: Brooklyn, NY @ Pitchfork Northside Fest Showcase @ St. Vitus
6/16: Ashfield, MA @ The Ashfield Lake House
6/17: Providence, RI @ Aurora
7/12: Brooklyn, NY @ House of Vans
8/19: Omaha, NE @ Maha Festival
9/2 - 9/3: Philadelphia, PA @ Made In America Festival
9/15 - 9/17: Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
9/23: Los Angeles, CA @ Summer Happenings at The Broad
10/9: Leffinge, Belgium @ Cafe De Zwerver
10/10: Paris, France @ Le Point Ephemere
10/11: Brighton, UK @ The Haunt
10/12: Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
10/13: Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete’s
10/14: Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
10/16: Dublin, Ireland @ The Workman’s Club
10/17: Liverpool, UK @ The Shipping Forecast
10/18: London, UK @ Dome Tufnell Park
10/19: Sheffield, UK @ Picture House Social Club
10/20: Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
10/21: Bristol, UK @ Simple Things Festival
10/22: Birmingham, UK @ All Years Leaving Festival
10/24: Munster, Germany @ Gleis 22
10/25: Berlin, Germany @ Urban Spree
10/26: Hamburg, Germany @ Hafenklang