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Comprised of R’n’R lifers Jonah Falco (Fucked up, Career Suicide) and Maxime Smadja (Rixe), Boss deliver a raw vision of real Rock and Roll in the early half of the 21st century. The track “Steel Box” rides a nasty distorted slide guitar riff that adds a sleazy '70s rock feel to an irresistibly catchy chorus. “I’m the Dog (You’re the Ball)” picks up the pace and nods in a Motörhead-meets-street-punk direction, starting off with a teasing quick lick and ripping through an intense 2 minutes. This wax has energy and an authority that warrants their name: BOSS. Believe it!
Our take: Debut single from this new project. Boss includes Jonah from Fucked Up / Career Suicide / a million other things and Maxime from Rixe, and if I’m guessing correctly based on the first names on the back of the sleeve, the rest of the lineup is rounded out with a big chunk of Crown Court. That’s a lot of oi! connections, but Boss base their sound more in bootboy glam and pub rock… very early Cock Sparrer or Slaughter and the Dogs are reference points, but Slade and the Sweet seem like more pertinent influences. It’s tough to get away with a 2-track single in this day and age (especially when it retails for twelve bucks!), but both tracks are stone cold bangers. “Steel Box” is more melodic and glammy and “I’m the Dog (You’re the Ball)” is faster, edging into No Remorse-era Motorhead territory. I’m happy to have this scorcher of a single, but I’m even happier to see that Boss are playing a gig at Static Shock weekend in February, so hopefully that means these two tracks won’t be the last we hear of them.