Downtown Boys

Born in 2011 in Providence, RI, from the combo of singer Victoria Ruiz and guitarist Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Downtown Boys are an activist punk quintet. Joe DeGeorge (sax and keyboards), Norlan Olivo (drums) and Mary Regalado (bass) complete the original lineup, offering punk rock that is both fierce and enthusiastic at the same time.

An overflowing energy, frenetic tempos that could unleash a frenetic Pogo on any dancefloor, screaming saxophones: Downtown Boys take the allure of electoral campaigns transforming it into warm and light-filled songs, in a sweet mix composed of their desire to make music and by the urgency of social and political change.

Downtown Boys released their first ten-song self-titled EP in June 2012. Their first full album, Full Communism, was released in May 2015. Cost of Living is their third album.

In 2020 Downtown Boys took part in the creation of the soundtrack of the film Miss Marx, a biopic presented at the Venice International Film Festival. The complete soundtrack, a collaboration with Gatto Ciliegia Contro II Grande Freddo, has been available on streaming platforms since June 2021.

The group also performs the famous song “L’internationale”, recorded in an unreleased version as “an ode to the global struggle and the passion for achieving a freedom greater than themselves”.