Artist Spotlight: Size 5’s, Nasty Boys
A smorgasbord of powerhouse rockers occurred at Company Brewing Friday night – punk band Size 5’s, ska rock outfit Something to Do, and noise-rock duo Nasty Boys gave us something completely different yet all just as good of a time.
Size 5’s consist of vocalist Juan Avalos, guitarist Ryan Larsh, bassist Rob Mojica, and Joe Martinez. Their heartfelt yet uncompromising punk sensibilities have made them a favorite of the Milwaukee bar scene. They have been around for about five years and their debut self-titled record came out this past May. Avalos shares what the band has going on now.
“We recorded a couple tracks and we’ve done a couple things in Spanish now,” Avalos said. “We’re going in a bit of a different direction – or *additional* direction I should say – since the majority of us are bilingual. So far we’ve done two songs in Spanish; the first is called “huelga” which is “strike” and it has to do with the current administration. Another is called “Sin Fronteras” which means “without borders,” and essentially it’s a song we live by – we live without borders whether we’re talking race, sex, religion..everything and anything. We’re all about community. For one for all.”
Avalos describes the band’s relationship as family.
“Even outside of the band, we’re all involved in each others’ lives – with our families, kids, jobs – everything. We’re really well-connected.”
They took a tour down south through Indiana, Louisville and Nashville earlier this summer.
“It was phenomenal; we had a great reception and toured with some gnarly bands – El Escapado from Nashville and Some Kind of Nightmare from San Diego. A lot of friends and family on that tour.”
Size 5’s plays Walker’s Point 5th Street Fest on the North Stage this Saturday and then at The Mode Theater in Waterloo later that day.
Nasty Boys are bassist/guitarist Robbie Schroeder and drummer Joe Plumeri Jr. Known for their animated and extraordinary antics, they “spread the power of the nasty” everywhere they go. The boys lost more and more clothes as the night went on; Schroeder climbed over tables and walls as he ran around Company Brewing serenading his songs to various guests.
The duo dropped a a six-song record “One” last year; the songs do not have titles.
“We really don’t name our songs; I don’t go that in depth with it I guess,” Schroeder said. “I just let the words flow out of my mouth. We just called them one, two, three, four, five, and six. Let the nasty of those hymns into your life.”
Although they have only been a band for about two years, Schroeder and Plumeri are high school friends.
“We used to be in dueling bands,” Plumeri said. “It’s super funny…I was in a band with Andy Kosanke and Joe Tomcheck ( both of Paper Holland) but Andy was in the band (Schroeder) was in as well. The two of us always just wanted to play together and did it, obviously.”
“Fifteen years later, here we are,” Schroeder laughed.
Schroeder explains how the band acquired their image.
“It’s kinda wild because it’s evolved quite a bit since we started. I don’t know, we just wanted to dress crazy and go up and be wild. Now the nasty has visited us and it has shown us so many things…now we’re the cult of nasty. We spread the word of the nasty. We play hymns. We are prophets of the nasty.”
The boys describes “the nasty.”
“I like to say it was always there,” Plumeri said.
“I don’t even know what it is,” Schroeder added. “It comes in so many different forms. I think it’s in everyone – it just needs to be unleashed. Starting the Nasty Boys just unleashed that in us. It comes to me every night and it orders me. It’s palpable.”
Nasty Boys are going on a twelve-day tour out west towards the Pacific Northwest in October and then plan on taking a break to write more “hymns.” They are working with local artist Alex Scott on an audiovisual project; Scott made a comic book depicting the boys and their songs will tie into the comic.
“We have a stupid amount of songs to record and a lot of nasty to spread,” Schroeder stated.
