Last Thursday, Kansas City, Missouri punk outfit Beta Boys, which features members of Nuke Cult and Dirty Work, shared a new EP, Real Rockers. The title track opens with a fitting gesture: Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up”, only slowed down, as if intended as tribute and kiss off to rock’s past. Which isn’t to say Real Rockers is especially inventive–recalling as it does the careening, mid-tempo punk of The Adolescents or Zero Boys–but the frenzied instrumental performances and wily vocals are riveting. At any rate, the title track closes with a familiar sneer: We’re the Beta Boys and we don’t care. The Real Rockers EP, which follows three cassette releases since 2014, is forthcoming via Lumpy Records and Eat the Life.
