Viagra Boys

Swedish post-punk outfit Viagra Boys construct their singular noisy chaos from pounding hard rock grooves, minimalist melodies, discordant guitar and sax, and howling vocals, delivering an unfiltered sonic barrage. Obsessed with drugs, anger, and the corrosive effects of male privilege, the group built a devoted following in Sweden before their punishing yet articulate approach spread across Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America. Their 2016 EP Consistency of Energy introduced both their recorded output and foundational template, after which the 2018 album Street Worms refined and intensified that core sound. Strong reviews for the debut full-length fueled anticipation for the early 2021 release Welfare Jazz, while Cave World emerged in 2022 as a pointed satire on paranoia and internet-fueled groupthink.

The band originated in Stockholm in 2015 when tattoo artists Henrik Höckert and Sebastian Murphy—the latter born in San Francisco yet based in Stockholm—were introduced by a mutual friend and spent an evening drinking. Their path led to a karaoke bar, where Murphy’s singular take on Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” convinced Höckert to start a group. With Murphy handling lead vocals and Höckert on bass, they enlisted guitarist Benjamin Vallé, already a collaborator with Höckert in Nitad. Drummer Sol Tor Sjödén completed the initial lineup, and songwriting commenced.

Once Viagra Boys began performing in June 2015, saxophonist Oskar Karls and producer Martin Ehrencrona on keyboards had joined. By 2016 the quartet documented their material on the four-song EP Consistency of Energy, issued via Kosmos Recordings. Push My Buttons released the 2017 follow-up EP Call of the Wild, yet the 2018 album Street Worms appeared on Year0001 Records, placing them alongside Swedish rapper Yung Lean. Any unease about the association went unexpressed; the record earned enthusiastic notices, and tracks such as “Sports” and “Just Like You” accumulated enough streams and views to expand their reach past underground circles. A 2019 Japan-only concert document, Shrimp Sessions, captured their volatile stage presence. April 2020 brought the forceful four-song EP Common Sense, their first studio material since Street Worms, followed in January 2021 by the chaotic, subversively satirical sophomore album Welfare Jazz. Guitarist Benjamin Vallé, who had exited prior to those sessions, died on October 27, 2021 at age 47.

During the 2021 COVID-19 lockdown the band wrote and tracked their third album, with Murphy’s lyrics addressing global turmoil and the fearmongering plus disinformation prevalent in pandemic-related online discourse. Released in July 2022, Cave World featured Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson on “Big Boy” and introduced new guitarist Linus Hillborg, previously active in Saigon and Sankt. A deluxe edition containing four additional tracks appeared the following January.