OG Brian Out and About: Ryan Davis, Ducks, Ltd., and Girls Against Boys

It’s hot out there, kids. And what better way to deal with the heat than checking out some cool shows? OG Brian has seen his share in recent months across genres and, as a result, he’s covering the whole post this time and enjoying everything he’s hearing.

New Album: New Threats From The Soul by Ryan David & the Roadhouse Band. It’s hard out here for a Substack music writer. Don’t get me wrong – we here at 3A6OG HQ have it pretty good. Because we all have day jobs, we can write about what interests us and publish for free, knowing that things like food and shelter are covered. But every now and then we get a reminder of where we are on the music writing hierarchy. An album is released that hits the indie music press like a bull in a china shop. Every major outlet – such as they are in 2025 – is ready to go once the embargo is lifted. Armed with press kits, lyric sheets, artist bios, and, most importantly, advance copies, every possible meaning is derived and every possible narrative is explained by the time we press play. We’re out here on an island, armed only with our ears, our brains, and a Bandcamp login. All the while, a whole lotta bitches talkin’ shit.

Such was the case with New Threats From The Soul, the latest from Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band. It’s already been said elsewhere, in publications ranging from the usual suspects like Pitchfork and Stereogum to the newly-minted Resistance leader The Wall Street Journal and the venerable arbiter of taste The New Yorker. But allow me to shout it one more time for the people in the back – this album is amazing.

I’m somewhat ashamed to say I’m a relative newcomer to Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, even though his brand of American indie rock is squarely in my wheelhouse and he was quite literally (to borrow a cliché) a favorite musician of one of my favorite musicians (the late great David Berman of Silver Jews) even though Davis himself has understandably expressed mixed emotions about the comparison.

I jumped on board with their 2023 release Dancing on the Edge and really caught the wave when I saw them open for MJ Lenderman & the Wind on the Manning Fireworks tour (I wrote about all this back in November, including how the 9:30 Club show was punctuated by both bands – the day before Halloween – coming together during the encore for a chaotic-in-the-best-way-possible cover of “Werewolves of London” with Davis taking the lead vocals and absolutely owning the stage).

The Louisville-based Davis has been described as an “indie rock lifer,” although Davis has mentioned that one of his earliest obsessions was hip hop. In the 2010s he fronted the band State Champion which, sadly, I missed the boat on at the time. Going back to those records, descriptions like “country punk” or “punked-up country gunk” are apt, albeit basic. Davis also founded the indie label Sophomore Lounge, which released both Dancing on the Edge and New Threats From The Soul, his first two post-State Champion albums.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, much of the focus has been on Davis’ songwriting, and rightfully so. Through his lyrics, Davis creates vivid images that match the tone set by the music, occasionally peppered with pop culture references and hip hop quotes. Although the songs tend to be long (several range from nine to 11 minutes) his songwriting is still efficient, like a three-hour movie that doesn’t make you feel like you’re watching a three-hour movie. Yes his songwriting is very much Warren Zevon (I had to) or Bill Callahan or Craig Finn or David Berman (sorry) but it’s also Elmore Leonard or Ross Thomas or Don Winslow, crime novelists who are so effective with their words that they make you feel like you’ve actually been transported into the crime novel. Like other great lyricists, Davis brings you into the world he’s creating.

This is first evident on the title track, which serves as the album’s opener. “I left my wallet in El Segundo/I left my true love in a West Lafayette escape room.” Do I know what this means? No. Do I love how it sounds over rambling piano, fiddle, and the steady tap on the side of the drum? Yes. Am I, someone who is not always eager for songs approaching epic length, anticipating what I’ll hear in the next 8:18? Definitely. With lyrics like “I’m scrambling to find Christ in all the places I’m told he likes” and “If up’s still up and down’s still down, won’t you tell me where the hell am I?” I thoroughly get the message even if I don’t, in the moment, exactly understand the intended meaning.

On “Monte Carlo/No Limits,” the band starts with a gentle mid-tempo acoustic rhythm before a burst of noise rock intrudes, and Davis sets the scene right from the start (“I can park the Monte Carlo in the street just so you know that I am there/When you pass we can make a business out of love”). This theme carries on later with “lately love has made a business out of you and me/I’m skimming hundreds from the drawer/just to spend them in the company store.” “Mutilation Springs” opens with a 30- second drum machine beat before slowing down to sing “not just for the bloodshed but, by God, for what the Bloody Marys cost.” And just before I hear about “sarcophagus mornings” and a “hair metal afternoon,” I spot a chord change that sounds inspired by The Kinks’ “Lola” (possible hat tip to Ray Davies, one of rock’s earliest clever, skilled lyricists?).

“Better If You Make Me” is a country-tinged bar-rocker where “everything is secret ‘til somebody knows,” and the narrator plans to “start flipping through the clippings of Modern Martyr Quarterly Classifieds/Just to find me something to die for.” Davis opens “The Simple Joy” with “I can barely tell the cattle roads/From the chemtrails of our past lives” then later on asks “Or does this life think it is to deprive its contestants joy?/How you’d want to pit a Vietnam vet/Against a measly cigarette that still somehow ain’t killed him” and “Who am I to try to shut a country singer’s mouth/When they’re still singing about Hank Williams?” In album closer “Crass Shadows (at Walden Pawn),” the protagonist plans to “get a room above a vet hall in Clarksville for the night/Where I’ll revert to my original shape,” after which he’ll be “sitting shiva, sucking my thumb/Mesmerized by the damage I’ve done.”

I could take the easy way out and end by comparing Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band with their genre contemporaries from 2025, many of which we have written about previously – bands like Friendship, Fust, Florry, Dutch Interior, and Wednesday (whose next album, Bleeds, is due out in September). But that’s not the point, and this isn’t a competition. Sure we all write up our year-end lists, but the past few years I’ve been focusing on “favorites” rather than “bests” and breaking the entries into categories instead numerical rankings. When it comes to the style of music played by Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, I prefer to appreciate that we have an embarrassment of riches at this time and don’t need to debate which album or which artist is better. Or argue over whether to call it alt-country or Americana or roots rock or indie folk or indie rock or heartland rock. To quote Bill Murray in Meatballs, it just doesn’t matter.

What matters is that New Threats From The Soul is a pleasure. On this album, Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band created a vibe and an experience and a feeling. The combination of great music with great lyrics draws us in, transports us into their world, like all the great songwriters and novelists do. It’s hard out here for an indie rock lifer, but getting some richly deserved recognition might make it a little easier. Even if a whole lotta bitches continue to talk shit. (Brian)

Album(s) from an upcoming/recent show: Harm’s Way by Ducks Ltd./Into the Burning Blue by Trace Mountains. I’ve made no secret my love of jangle pop. As I’ve written many times, it’s one of my favorite genres of music, and it thrills me that so many indie bands today seem to be inspired by some of the greats of the past (you could even say it’s having an extended moment). One such band, Toronto-based Ducks Ltd., brought their jangly rave-up sound to Washington’s DC9 on July 23 with opener Trace Mountains.

For me and OG Brad in particular, this was a highly anticipated show. Ducks Ltd.’s 2024 album Harm’s Way was among my favorites from that year. And as Brad previously wrote, while delays prevented us from seeing most of their opening set for Ratboys at Baltimore’s Ottobar last year, the two songs that we heard convinced us that Ducks Ltd. would be a dynamic and consistently rewarding live act.

Ducks Ltd.’s recent DC9 show did nothing to change my opinion. Their lively, energetic set opened with two standout tracks from Harm’s Way, “Train Full of Gasoline” and “Cathedral City.” The twin guitars of singer/rhythm guitarist Tom McGreevey and lead guitarist Evan Lewis instantly filled the intimate 250-cap room and excited the crowd that, if not a sellout, was damn near close. Harm’s Way was well represented, with album opener “Hollowed Out,” “The Main Thing,” and album closer “Heavy Bag” filling out the setlist. Added to the mix were tracks from Ducks Ltd.’s equally fun debut LP Modern Fiction, including “How Lonely Are You?”, “18 Cigarettes,” and “Under the Rolling Moon.” The band also played two new songs, hopefully a preview of a new album to be released in the near future. Ducks Ltd. closed out their set with a Camera Obscura cover (“Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken”), which the band recently released as a single with Gep Rapasky, singer of the Atlanta-based indie rock band Lunar Vacation.

Again, Ducks Ltd. are an absolute blast to see live. If you get the chance, I highly recommend it. My only complaint about the DC9 show, if I’m being 100% honest, is that their 45-minute set left me wanting more. And look, that’s a compliment to the band. At no point did I think, “OK, I get it, it’s a Wednesday night, I can go home now and get some sleep (we are Old Guys, after all).” I wanted them to play longer. Now, I understand that their two LPs contain roughly an hour of music combined, and I’m sure the band wants to change up the setlists each night and not just regurgitate the albums in full (they also had to deal with a broken guitar string midway through the set for lead singer and guitar player Tom McGreevy, which seemed to throw a couple songs off the list). But when you’re having fun, you want the fun to keep going. And this band is fun, both on wax and on stage. I’m a big fan of Harm’s Way, and I can’t wait for the next Ducks Ltd. album.

A quick word about opener Trace Mountains. To borrow the Shaq meme – I owe you an apology, I wasn’t really familiar with your game. The current project of Dave Benton, guitarist and vocalist of the lo-fi band LVL UP, Trace Mountains is more country- and folk-tinged than his previous band (LVL UP broke up in 2018). Their opening set was thoroughly engrossing, so I went back to their most recent release, 2024’s Into the Burning Blue, and this is one I should have discovered last year. The album is a very personal, introspective yet enjoyable, slice of American indie rock. I plan to dig into the rest of the Trace Mountains discography to get a sense of what else I’ve missed out on from Benton’s post-LVL UP work. (Brian)

Album being rediscovered (at least 10 years old): Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby by Girls Against Boys. On June 19-22, Positive Force DC – a social justice organization famous for working with the DC punk rock scene to stage protests and raise money for numerous worthy causes, and synonymous with DC’s legendary “Revolution Summer” – celebrated their 40^th anniversary with a series of concerts, rallies and fundraisers. OG Brad and I volunteered to assist before, during, and after several of the shows (Brad at all of the shows, while I pitched in at two of them, partially due to familial obligations, and partially because Brad is a better person than I am; seriously, just ask anyone).

That’s how I found myself working the Positive Force merch table at St. Stephen’s church that Friday night, just to the left of the stage. As I sold t-shirts and books and pins and posters (so many very cool Positive Force posters, easily the most popular item so of course I ended up going home with one, only for someone in my house, either a child or dog or adult child, to tear a hole in it and naturally no one owned up to it, especially not the dog) I got to a close-up view of some super cool bands to start the night – whitepicketfence, Maafa, War on Women, and an acoustic set from Kevin Seconds from 7 Seconds.

From that point the anticipation in the crowd started to build and… wait… is that Swiz’s music I hear?? (Actually not yet, but they were walking to the stage.) Long-dormant hardcore band Swiz – who arose from DC punk legends Dag Nasty – played a blistering set. Two thumbs up, no notes. But once Swiz left the stage the crowd thinned out a bit. I sort of get it. We’re all getting older. But it’s a Friday night! We’ve got another band playing! Check out the lineup – post-hardcore legends from our beloved ‘90s. Maybe you heard of them? Didn’t you look at those posters you bought?

Girls Against Boys played a killer headlining set, and those who left early really missed out. Again, two thumbs up, no notes. The dream of the ‘90s was alive in St. Stephen’s church.

Girls Against Boys initially formed in 1989 in Washington, DC, as a side project featuring Soulside guitarist Scott McCloud (who also became the vocalist for GVSB), bassist/keyboardist Eli Janney, and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty. After recording their first few songs, Canty left the band to focus on Fugazi. Later on, Soulside broke up, so McCloud brought in the Soulside rhythm section – drummer Alexis Fleisig and bassist Johnny Temple – to round out the band and continue recording as GVSB. At this point, the band relocated from DC to New York and then released their first full-length album, 1992’s Tropic of Scorpio, on the Dischord-adjacent label Adult Swim.

For their second album – 1993’s Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby – GVSB’s post-hardcore/noise rock sound made them a perfect addition to the artist roster at Chicago’s Touch and Go records, home to bands like Big Black, The Jesus Lizard, and Killdozer.

With Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, GVSB utilized McCloud’s growling vocals with relentless guitar playing to match, Fleisig’s punishing drums, the double-bass aural assault from Janney and Temple, and opaque lyrics to create a menacing and beautiful noise rock masterpiece that was inventive for its time and equally rewarding on re-listen.

That pounding rhythm section kicks things off on album opener “In Like Flynn” before McCloud’s guitar hooks you in and builds as the chords layer on top of Fleisig’s driving beat. “Go Be Delighted” is nightmare fuel, the initial gentle guitar notes fooling you as McCloud’s gruff voice howls “It’s feeling dreamy and it’s feeling right.” But as the volume, the pace, and the inherent tension all escalate, is it? Strangely, it kind of is.

“Bullet Proof Cupid” is the closest thing that Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby has to a potential radio song. Think a grimier, less polished version of Sonic Youth’s “100%.” And it’s one of several tracks on the album that could be categorized as “noise rock that fucks” with some of the most direct lyrics on the album like “stop the machine if you see something you could like” and “it’s a lot more physical right now.” “Seven Seas” appears to cover similar terrain in a more roundabout lyrical manner, but the song’s focus is more on the distorted guitars, the heavy low end, and the big-rawk pre-Blur “woo-hoo!” between verses.

Chances are, at least a few of the late ‘90s post-grunge bands listened to the bruising, mildly distorted, chord-heavy “Rockets are Red,” “Learned It,” and “Let Me Come Back” and, well, learned all the wrong lessons. The influence on those bands is clear, but all they gleaned from them were loud guitars and growling vocals. Missing from the imitators were GVSB’s creativity, interplay, and musicianship. With these tracks, GVSB are able to disguise melody under darkness, while the bands that seemed to follow them could never accomplish this balance.

GVSB are able to slow it down while maintaining the same intensity. Album closer “Bughouse” contains the same elements as the rest of the album, and while it steadily builds in volume it remains at the same deliberate, haunting pace, as if the listener is gradually finding the monster under the bed. Similarly with “Satin Down,” which starts with a hint of a jazzier addition to GVSB’s post-hardcore sound that would resurface more frequently on later albums.

Girls Against Boys have been largely on hiatus since 2003, self-releasing an album in 2013 and playing shows sporadically in the mid-2010s and the 2020s. During that time, the band members have been consistently active in various other acts like New Wet Kojak and Paramount Styles, plus Janney began doing studio work for other artists and spent 10 years with the house band for Late Night with Seth Meyers. GVSB’s refusal, or maybe just reluctance, to engage in never-ending nostalgia-baiting reunion tours made their performance at the Positive Force 40^th Anniversary show even more meaningful and more special. The fact that their involvement contributed to celebrating an amazing local organization and raising money for some truly worthwhile causes only enhanced the experience. I was thrilled to have an up-close view.

Shame that some folks decided to leave early. If they stuck around, they would have seen a group of true pros rocking as hard has humanly possible. They would have been reminded of how vital Girls Against Boys are to the post-hardcore/noise rock canon. And maybe, like me, they would have been encouraged to go back and listen to an album like Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby (or Tropic of Scorpio, or House of GVSB) that deserves, at minimum, wider recognition for what this band was able to accomplish at its peak, not to mention their ability to blow the roof off all these years later. (Brian)