ACL Fest: Nothing Odd About The Strange Boys' Sense Of Nostalgia

As the early bands battled it out for immediate attention during the hectic opening hours of the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, local four piece The Strange Boys calmly transported us to decades past with a flurry of garage-pop ditties. Bringing back memories aplenty of bands we've witnessed via the historical catalog of footage from The Ed Sullivan Show, the band's demeanor, attitude, and style all tied in perfectly with their sugary sweet melodies. The audience at the Austin Ventures stage seemed mesmerized in this time warp, and the mix of young and not so young in the crowd, bobbing its head in unison, was awakened by an electrifying guitar solo courtesy of singer Ryan Sambol. Sambol immediately harnessed the burst of energy and broke into a harmonica fueled nugget (no pun intended), continuing to effortlessly murmur through his vocals. Drummer Matt Hammer pounded away as a mix of easy on the ears powerpop and classic R&B riffs powered the thirty minute onslaught. The first wave of British pop music was influenced by American rock 'n' roll icons; The Strange Boys brought that vintage sound full circle in a short but very enjoyable set.