BOYS PLAY. GOOD TIMES, GREAT OLDIES.

Missoula, Montana is becoming more of a place, and less of a "sort of," I think. The classic Missoula shirt for years was a sort of over-sized, Beefy T with the phrase "A Place. Sort Of" printed on it. Rockin' Rudy's, (a shop here) still sells them, we think. It was kind of the default Rudy's shirt, and you still can probably see an average of one a day if you keep your eyes peeled.

What exactly "A Place. Sort Of." really meant was always kind of mysterious to me. I guess I primarily took it to be a comment on the transience of Missoula, Montana. An oversize university town with a rotating door at one end and a brand new cast of characters every 3-5 years. It's hard not to get a little shell-shocked as a person in your twenties here. You get to know some cool folks and then they invariably head to somewhere with more economic opportunity, or more places to play tunes within a half days drive if they're musical. It's just they way of the place. But more and more, we seem to have a scene here that generates some good bands pretty regularly, some bands leave town and tour, and those bands become new bands. And bands stick around long enough to put out a couple good recordings.

Boys are a week-of announcement for Total Fest, and as our final, and a local it's obviously one we're pretty excited to make. What can you say, exactly? Boys are a rock and roll band, they hit the road and get out of town, play tightly and have recorded three separate records, all up here on their Bandcamp. They recorded with Chris Bauman at his Black National studio here, and the result's pretty rad. It's in the spirit of the kind of San Fran-2008 vibe of your John Dwyers/Ty Segalls and Mike Cronins lay down. Be there when things start up on day two of Total Fest this year. Boys play the Palace.