For three decades Boyracer have tirelessly driven through the international indie pop underworld, embracing and promoting the essential essence of DIY punk ethics with an armful of fuzzboxes, a cast of thousands, and a continued sense of playful urgency.

Boyracer’s 13th full length album, On A Promise, arrives on June 5th via Emotional Response. The LP finds original member Stewart Anderson flourishing with the welcome addition of Christina Riley (Artsick, Burnt Palms), who effortlessly adds elan to the band’s classic fuzz-pop blueprint.

On A Promise features 16 track that are chock full of passion and purpose. Having honed their sound, Boyracer are now at their most comfortable and confident. The album was recorded over a two-year period in such exotic locations as Flagstaff Arizona, Sydney Australia, Berlin Germany, and Scarborough UK.

Riley reveals, “For, On A Promise, {Stew} sent me a bunch of tracks which I then added to, and we also recorded a song I wrote as well. I feel like we’ve got a good thing going, which is super exciting and inspiring. We have some plans to record some more in the coming months!”

Typical of Anderson’s approach to his music over the past decade, On A Promise features many guest players old and new, building on the bands reputation and past positivity, while continuing to move forward.

Sarah Records -era member Simon Guild makes a return to Boyracer after a 27 year absence, as does Laura Bridge (Kicker, Hood etc), who also returns to the fold after 29 years to make her Boyracer vinyl debut on two of the record’s tracks!

Also featured are Mary Wyer and Anita Rayner (Even As We Speak), Snowy (Ocean Party), Penny McBride (Cannanes), and longtime, well known Boyracer members Matty Green, Jen Turrell, Ged McGurn, and Ara Hacopian.

Anderson spills details about the album his musical past, and bright future, commenting, “This LP is the 13th Boyracer full length. But I think it’s how I would like to be remembered if anyone only ever heard one Boyracer record. For me its a perfect distillation of past and present. Boyracer has always been about moving forward. I try to record subconsciously…By that I mean, never overthink anything. I impose a “3 take” rule. Nothing I ever commit to vinyl has taken more than 3 takes. That’s not to say I am flippant in my approach. But I believe in urgency, and a sense of honesty and purpose in what I present. I mean, imagine being in Fleetwodd Fucking Mac or something where you spend 3 months recording a drum track…”

“I feel like I got it right on this LP. There has been over 50 people in the band over the years… I have felt pigeonholed in the past, particularly when people bang on about how great the Sarah Records stuff is, because possibly that’s all they have heard…. Those records were great, at the time. I don’t want to dismiss them. My singing is crap on those records, but that’s how I sang 25 years ago, so I’m okay with that. I feel I’ve made much better records since then.”

“On A Promise was written over a bizarre and turbulent period of my life. It features many old friends and lots of new people. There are 15 different people on the LP, and pretty much each song has a different line up. But I’m extremely proud of that.”

“One huge difference between this LP and previous recordings is writing with Christina. I am indeed truly blessed to be working with her. I never give her instructions, because she intuitively knows how to enhance the songs. I absolutely love singing with her. I think her vocal melodies are remarkable, and compliment how I approach Boyracer, as well as including her own identity within the songs. Which is everything I have tried to do with the band from day one. I give her bare bones songs, often just vocal, drums, and bass, and she brings so much to the new material. I can’t wait to get out on the road with her later in the year.”

Big Takeover is excited to host the premiere of the charming fan-made video for the catchy and snappy track “Hit and Miss.” Paul Bayer, a long-time fan of the band, put the narrative video clip together, with his daughter Celeste as the main character who receives from Boyracer, only to discover that its contents, a record, of course, is broken in several pieces.

But that doesn’t stop Celeste from getting creative, as she artfully glues and tapes up the fragments of vinyl together, making a magical platter to spin on the record player.

She’s assisted (well, distracted by) her two dogs in the process, one who is curious about what’s she’s up to, and the other who could care less (and who sits on the album cover).

DIY director Bayer digs into the meaning of the video, and the Boyracer connection, revealing, “ I’ve bee a fan of Boyracer for as long as they’ve been a band and through the internet, and a night of drinking, we became pals. Sometime late last year Stew asked if anyone would be interested in making a video, I said I’d give it a shot…”

“The idea came from a lifetime of record collecting and periodically receiving a damaged package. If you’ve ever seen 12-inch record box bent to fit in a mailbox then you know how it hurts your heart. Still though, everyone I know, will open the box and hope that that everything is fine. It’s a strange kind of hope that takes over.”

“When I heard the song I was immediately drawn to it the song’s urgency and the lyrics… I laid out the idea to Celeste and pretty much let her run with it. I really like the part where she puts tape on her mouth and then takes it off and uses it, and I like the part where she runs out of a roll and tosses it to the side and one of the dogs, Winston, goes after it. I guess that is about it. Boyracer is great!”

Riley adds, “I’ve always enjoyed making videos for my other bands, current (Artsick) and past (Burnt Palms), so working together to make Boyracer videos happen feels natural and fun. I think it’s nice to ask friends and fans to contribute. It’s cool to see what they come up with, and also sweet to have people we care about in the videos! This video for “Hit and Miss” is a great example of that!”

Pre-order On A Promise at Bandcamp

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