By Darren Young
Boys Night Out are taking a step back and getting to know the men in the mirror better. Following some intensive touring and a couple changes in the band lineup, the group recently released a self-titled follow-up to 2005’s Trainwreck. The record by name alone has garnered the band plenty of attention, leaving many fans scratching their heads why Boys Night Out would issue a self-titled disc after releasing one of the most impressive concept albums ever made. Jeff Davis, guitarist for the group, explains the band simply needed to get back to being Boys Night Out.
“We knew that [releasing a self-titled album] would be a chance for us to really get back to ourselves,” says Davis. “We kind of stepped away from ourselves for a period to write Trainwreck. The new record is very personal, lyrically.”
Boys Night Out is lyrically a gigantic leap from the twisted storyline of Trainwreck. Whereas the latter is a conceptual album based on the story of a man who experiences violent nightmares and murders his wife in his sleep, Boys Night Out speaks more from the personal experiences of the group and band lyricist Connor Lovat-Fraser. The band is also feeling more connected at this point in time due to the return of drummer Ben Arseneau to the fold. Arseneau was one of the original members of the group, of which there were five and are now only four.
“While we were writing, we were in a really good mindset,” says Davis. “We were really comfortable, the songs were coming naturally, and we liked the sound we were putting out. This is the most comfortable we have been as a band.”
Not only is the band feeling more comfortable recently, they are generally excited to be around one another. The term “family reunion” has been tossed around frequently in band descriptions of their current tour. This is all a part of settling in to the new lineup, which was established after the departure of keyboardist Kara Dupuy from the group last year. While her resignation was voluntary, there is reason to believe the formula was not exactly working while she was in the group.
“Touring with Kara was very different for the reason that she’s a girl and we’re a bunch of stinky boys,” says Davis. “It wasn’t working out for all of us the way we had intended. She was not kicked out of the band, but her departure was very well-timed.”
Accepting a new member into a family can be a difficult thing, especially amongst such a tight group of friends. Still, the band remains comfortable in their current state and harbours no hard feelings towards Dupuy. Psychiatrists say that one is incapable of love until one is willing to love oneself and Boys Night Out are just taking their time getting to know and love Boys Night Out.