Strange Boys Don't Strive for 'Retro' Label

If we're talking membership cards and logo coffee mugs, then no, there is no actual "Strange Boys and Girls Club," the title chosen by the Strange Boys for their 2008 debut. Even so, the Austin-based band is part of an informal collective -- a grouping of artists committed to playing raw, unpretentious rock 'n' roll.

Strange Boys singer Ryan Sambol is no fan of genre labels, but he tells Spinner he's comfortable being associated with the Black Lips, King Khan and other likeminded rockers.

"The majority of the bands that are constantly around the US and Europe that are any good, they all know each other," Sambol says. "We see each other around, and a lot of good songwriters are going around right now that are touring and putting out records. I guess you could say there's a community, but it's not very big. It's not very big, but it's far-reaching, if that makes any sense."

If the bands in this "community" tend to draw on decades-old influences -- shades-and-fro-era Bob Dylan, old bluesmen, no-hit-wonder '60s punks and classic country singers -- Sambol hesitates to label the Strange Boys revivalists.

"I don't think there's anything that makes us sound older," he says. "So, no, I guess we might be compared to other things that have a similar vibe -- they both have drums and guitars and vocals, and we record on tape, or something like that -- but [our sound] is definitely not specifically retro, by any means."

Not that Sambol won't cop to borrowing ideas from the past. The Strange Boys' sophomore album, 'Be Brave,' out now via In the Red, features a song, 'Night Might,' whose chorus, "Nightlife ain't no good life, but it's mine," paraphrases the country standard 'Nightlife,' co-written by Willie Nelson.

"I didn't have lyrics for ['Night Might'] the first time we were going to play it live and then we were playing in Dallas with my friend Chad's band, and they covered ['Nightlife']," Sambol says. "That's why I took that lyric. I don't know if that lyric should really be credited to me in the liner notes."