by Dan Dellechiaie | November 2, 2026
Photo Credit: Tommy Krause
I first saw OBOY! play on a tiny stage in a sweaty basement in Bushwick. And yet, despite the cramped conditions, they threw themselves around like they didn’t give a fuck about the laws of physics. Each kick and lick filled the thick air with danger.
I caught up with OBOY! in the shadow of a churning volcano as they recovered from their concerts promoting their debut album, Blood & Love.
What’s the origin story of OBOY!? Where does your very fun to say band name come from?
The only other real thing that spells the phrase the same as the band is from a sort of children's comic called Little Lulu. It’s where the band name came from and sparked the idea to have the band's name be something gendered and non-gendered at the same time. Like when someone says “Oh BOY!” the “boy” part sort of becomes something else than the regular gendered connotation the word has. Living between this heavily gendered word and non-gendered phrase is the area the band likes to attack and embrace.
You guys are drawing on a lot of traditions: garage rock, black metal, blues, goth, death rock. Talk to me about what you love about these genres and how you utilize them.
It’s always fascinating to hear how different people may describe our sound and the influences they hear because it’s often different than what we pull from. We ourselves as members are more of a radiating mixed bag of sounds than one monolithic inspiration. The most attractive thing about all the genres you named is the propensity for sex and death to be closely tied together and to fluidly run between set notions of self so they can constantly change perspectives and attitudes while still being true to themselves. The apocalyptic edge is also certainly a shared feeling, apocalyptic descriptions, and romantic ambition filled with dread. Acid Bath and Patsy Cline, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Alice in Chains. There’s never somewhere we feel we can’t go musically. But we still love to soak in a blues-heavy thundering sound that tries to tear you up a bit.
What’s each of your favorite songs on Blood & Love and why?
Mara (vocals, guitar): Mine would have to be the last song “Little Ghost” because it was the first time we really could experiment in a studio. Almost all of the songs on the record have been performed and practiced countless times with a strict regiment. “Little Ghost” was the first time I could come in with an acoustic song and kinda let Chris feel it out and we could think about what we wanted to add to amplify it. Also: Soren Bryce who produced and did all the
recording and mixing for the album added the E-bow to the song. I really am still in love with that sound.
Chris (drums): “My Queen” has always been one of my favorites even before joining the band. The lyrics draw from so much emotion and it ever fails to move me. Truly one of the best.
Cue (bass): Mine would be “Without Anyone” The pace and feel of that song is in its own realm of groovy.
I was at the album release show for Blood & Love in Unruly Collective’s sweaty basement and was amazed by your stage acrobatics and passion. What does an OBOY! concert give the audience that a normal rock concert doesn’t?
Most concerts, sadly even rock concerts now, have become nothing short of a standing-still contest. Even if the crowd is desperately trying to move, forcing a sort of mosh pit atmosphere despite the soft indie or ridiculous math rock type of song that may be playing, you’ll likely see a band simply staring at their guitar pedals, trying to act tough or grandiose, while an audience begs for a drop of sincerity. Whether you see OBOY! in a crowded basement, a daytime park show, or a bougie nightclub, every ounce of every song is being physically exorcised and forcibly poured out of each of us. You know that every song being played isn’t simply a recital but a harboring endeavor that the band needs to do and not a choice they can stop. Besides chewed drumsticks, flying guitars, and swinging hips, OBOY! Live gives the audience a chance to break away from forced notions of themselves and even for just thirty minutes or an hour they can simply be and react physically without being disparaged.
Photo Credit: Michelle Wayne
Rock music, in my opinion, has become more tame sexually than other genres like rap and R&B. But your dark rock is very sexy à la Christian Death. Maybe it’s the blues influence. Can you talk about this?
Mara: I think it stems from writing a lot about a contradicting sexuality, coming from the way that we are all forced to keep our sexual desires aligned with a larger set societal or cultural thing, which is crazy when you think about the inherent endlessness and privateness of sexuality itself. Coming back to the early influences though, metal and heavier music has always been to me the most sexual music to dance to. Especially bands like Acid Bath. Their riffs are so easy to dance sexually to and more provocative like and musically as a band I’ve tried to re-create these heavier sounds that to me are just so hot like you can’t not want to move your body up and down when listening to that stuff. Trying to point out the way we can never make sense of sexuality, only that it is far from the fake constructed one that mainstream media portrays to us, while sonically presenting rhythms and melodies to dance provocatively to is really the core of the band’s ambition.
The record label side of knifetwister records new york have a new compilation CD, Trans Riot!, coming out on November 20th so we’ve been thinking a lot about gender and music recently. Can you talk about how your music is a revolt against binary sex/gender systems?
The music can be a way to unlearn the constraints that may plague your psyche in regards to ways you’ve been forced into certain boxes, despite your inner self begging for more. Similar to the reality of inhabiting a contradicting sexuality, the notions that support a binary sex/gender system are inherently opposed to each other and eventually always fall apart when you give them a bit of a push. Like the song “Dream Girl” is all about being this seemingly perfect feminine figure for certain types of gazes, but in the construction of that feminine perfection is something that falls apart on itself every time and really can not exist. “I’m quiet and loud / I’m big and small / I’m there when you need or I’m nothing at all.” The music is giving that push, an attempt to defy and transgress across the norms of what is allowed in our current surveillance state, especially when it comes to the way sex/gender is conflated and controlled, we aim to bring a nostalgic sound to a new way of being that only should be feared by those who seek to control and limit your inner self.
Photo Credit: Nico Malvadi
You have one LP under your studded belt. What’s next for OBOY!?
We are getting back into the studio now in November to start recording the next album. Obviously, you can also catch us a couple times a month usually playing somewhere between the different boroughs of New York City.
Who are your favorite bands you’ve played with, your comrades, your day ones?
We really love this band called Figure of Fun. Derek is a true friend of the band, a powerhouse, and his partner, Sweetheart, puts on some of the most innovative shows in Brooklyn.
A Total Wreck is one of our all-time favorites. They always put on a great show and are some great musicians.
Also love the band Skeeter De Milo and their song “Website.”
We’ve played with bands like Drop Dead Gorgeous, LOST DOG, and The Pale Hand for a long while now and always love seeing them live and what they can do to a room of people.
Photo Credit: Tyler Bertram
Anyone you’d like to thank?
We'd like to thank knifetwister for having us, Soren Bryce for producing and recording our debut album, Beth Narducci for everything she’s done for the band, and the endless support of the people who come to our shows and listen to our music.
OBOY! will only keep pushing on and on toward the apocalypse.
OBOY!’s Linktree: https://tr.ee/OdX_ML8oSB
OBOY!’s Bandcamp: https://oboydeath.bandcamp.com/music
OBOY!’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oboy_death/
OBOY!’s Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/oboy/1641012673