Boys Don’t Fight

Boys Don’t Fight announce the release of their eponymous debut album, out on October 17. Boys Don’t Fight is the latest project from Chris Giarmo (he/him) – a New Orleans-based, multidisciplinary artist, and the “mustachio’d standout” of David Byrne’s American Utopia (Slate). Having performed internationally with Byrne, Taylor Mac, and Annie-B Parson/Big Dance Theater—at venues including The Sydney Opera House, Red Rocks Amphitheater, The O2 Arena in London, Coachella Music Festival, Palais Chaillot, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and on Broadway – Giarmo’s magnetic stage presence, inviting energy, and specificity make it “impossible to take your eyes off him” (Vulture). He is also an essential creative contributor to the New York experimental dance-theater scene – having composed and sound designed for the likes of Tina Satter/Half Straddle, Faye Driscoll, Sibyl Kempson, Young Jean Lee, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Jess Barbagallo – and has left his mark on YouTube as Kimberly Clark, an anti-consumerist drag queen and beauty guru who popularized the “anti-haul” video, and recently published her self-help video series, “How to Stop Shopping in Five Easy Steps.”

Listening to Boys Don’t Fight feels like being in the ocean and getting caught in a series of waves. It’s the exhilarating feeling of thinking you might drown, but knowing you won’t – feeling weightless, but also being pummelled – which is to say, it feels like falling in love. These exhilarating, lyrically dense electropop songs explore themes of revolution, acceptance, queerness, and video games. Still, each is a waypoint on a singular journey: to find oneself —and each other — in the tumult of late-stage capitalism.

Watch “The Megaman Song” here.

The first single from Boys Don’t Fight’s debut album is also the record’s simplest and sweetest track. “The Megaman Song” uses the framing device of a 1990s video game character—a robot boy who learns new skills by defeating various enemies—to express the conflict of the desire to be everything for another person and the reality of being a human being with human limitations.

Boys Don’t Fight also announced a NYC record release show on October 19 at Parkside Lounge [317 E. Houston Street]. Doors at 6:30 pm, show at 7 pm, with support from the amazing singer-songwriter Maya Sharpe. Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door. This event will also be livestreamed. Purchase tickets here

Order Boys Don’t Fight via Bandcamp.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *