The Nasty Boys

Notes by Lucinda
SDSU Collegian
published 12/3/08

It's hard to call The Nasty Boys "scene veterans" because these five guys are not even close to being done with music.

Alex Foster (drums), Sheldon Swan (guitar), Ben Murphy (vocals), Brady Murphy (guitar) and Nick Murphy (bass) made history in bands After The Sun and Nodes of Ranvier, and now they're continuing with music success in the death metal band they've entitled The Nasty Boys.

"It kind of started off as a joke," says Foster of the band's name. "We thought it would be funny to call it The Nasty Boys so the back of our shirts could say 'Get Nasty'."

Although their name might be a bit of a joke, the skills these musicians have is far from it. Hailing from prevalent metal/rock bands in the Sioux Falls scene, they not only bring the love of old fans, but also the recognition of new ones by catering to a different genre. The band wasn't formed to sell records and sign deals; it was created through the love of music.

"We all just really love heavy metal," says Foster. "We just play the music we've been loving forever."All members have somewhat "grown up" with music being a major part of their lives. But neither the past nor the future is as important as the present.

"We really don't know what will happen in the future," says Foster. "We're all kind of at that point in our life where we're graduating college and paying loans and have careers. We'd love to make something of this, but if not, we're perfectly fine with that, too."

The Nasty Boys started with the five jamming, and they keep the same "whatever will be, will be" type attitude now. There are no set-in-stone plans to tour or record and certainly no shopping for labels; instead, the guys are putting all of that effort into just making the best music they can and making sure it's something they will always enjoy doing.

"We're all about having fun," says Foster. "If people don't like it, that's cool, but we're going to keep doing it. We're all really passionate about it. We're just as passionate as people in the business, we're just not actually in the business."

The Nasty Boys will open for Write This Down along with Life's Breath on Dec. 6. The all-ages show is at Nutty's North in Sioux Falls, starts at 5:30 p.m. and costs $8.

I highly recommend that you don't miss your chance to "get nasty."