Darkness Dear Boy

Darkness Dear Boy play Bro Rock. What's Bro Rock? To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart's words about hardcore pornography, "bro rock is hard to define, but I know it when I hear it." What exactly constitutes Bro Rock is, indeed, tough to pin down, because Bro Rock encompasses many genres, spanning...

By Jason P. Woodbury

April 8, 2010

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Darkness Dear Boy play Bro Rock. What's Bro Rock? To paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart's words about hardcore pornography, "bro rock is hard to define, but I know it when I hear it." What exactly constitutes Bro Rock is, indeed, tough to pin down, because Bro Rock encompasses many genres, spanning everything from the funky rap rock of 311 and Red Hot Chili Peppers to the modern rock of Breaking Benjamin to the punk/reggae-stylings of Sublime and the jam-band leanings of Dave Matthews Band. Those bands are all cited on Darkness Dear Boy's MySpace page, for the record. Darkness Dear Boy stray a little from the Bro Rock pack by also listing Motörhead and John Fogerty, but in general, the dudes crank out tunes that would fit perfectly on the playlist of every "alternative station" since the early '90s. Songs like "Get Off Me," with its wah-wah guitars, syncopated drums, and oh-so-funky bass, recall Valley stalwarts Authority Zero, and "Today" sounds like Offspring at their radio-dominating peak. Even if one despises the band's sound, it's tough not to be impressed by their mass-market crossover appeal, uniting the various strains of Bro Rockers Valleywide.

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Jason P. Woodbury is a music and pop-culture writer based in Phoenix. He is a regular contributor to the music blog Aquarium Drunkard and co-host of the Transmissions podcast.

Contact: Jason P. Woodbury

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Twitter: @Jasonpwoodbury