Viagra Boys

The Swedish punk band Viagra Boys began in 2015 when singer Sebastian Murphy and bassist Henrik Höckert decided to start performing together after a night of karaoke. They brought in Höckert’s former bandmate, Benjamin Vallé to play guitar, and installed Tor Sjödén on drums. Establishing themselves as a five-piece with the addition of saxophonist Oskar Karls, they began playing live, eventually issuing their debut EP, Consistency of Energy, in 2016. After 2017’s EP Call of the Wild, they began working on their first LP. 2018’s Street Worms was a full expression of their artistic approach, raucous and driving music wedded to lyrics that satirized toxic masculinity and right-wing politics with black humor. It would win Album of the Year from the Independent Music Companies Association for the LP. They issued the EP In Spite of Ourselves in 2020, and issued their sophomore LP, Welfare Jazz, in 2021.