Rock ‘n’ roll/surf rockers The Boys Ranch was formed as a solo project by Denney Fuller (singer/guitarist, producer) in 2015, but he quickly expanded the act by inviting a full band to play with him and collaborate.

Prior to that, Fuller had played in many bands and ensembles, most notably Joshy Soul & The Cool. He also studied classical composition and media music formally at the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College, but found rock ‘n’ roll much more thrilling. Forming The Boys Ranch fulfills Fuller’s childhood love of songs like “Wooly Bully” and “Wipeout” that left him feeling electrified.

The Boys Ranch has released an EP, ironically titled Extended Play, and a cover of The Shins’ song “The Fear” (“The Fear” was recorded for a contest James Mercer held a few years back to win The Shins touring van!). Those recordings can be found on The Boys Ranch’s Spotify/Bandcamp pages.

Live shows are extremely important to the group’s 6-piece aesthetic (they are notorious for wearing matching striped shirt outfits at every show), and they have been fortunate enough to share the stage with the following acts: La Luz, The Buttertones, Bloodshot Bill, Sad Girl, Wild Wing, Dante Elephante, Tele Novella, Gringo Star, Hal “Holiday” Schneider (Rockabilly Hall of Famer), and Chicano Batman.

The band shine a light on their song “The Barracuda”, the video of which The Big Takeover premieres today:

““The Barracuda” is a song that was influenced by the “dance move” pop hits of the early 60s: the twist, the mashed potato, the loco motion, and the jerk. We had been covering Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” live a lot and we decided to create a new dance move called “The Barracuda”, which fits our pacific-coast sound. The song, to us, was intended to sound like a healthy mix of 60s surf/garage like The Trashmen/The Sonics/Dick Dale, early rock ‘n’ roll, & modern garage rock like King Khan/The Black Lips/Shannon & The Clams. It’s mostly about a barracuda, who is a bit of a bully, but gets shut down by the narrator who stands up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves. The narrator suggests getting new pants, and staying active to fit it, but what he really wants is for everyone to just “do the Barracuda”!”

The fun ‘n’ frolicking video has it’s own origin story, as Fuller reveals, “The video idea came to me when I was watching Mr. Bonetangles (the puppeteer Will Schutze, who is featured in the video) perform at a Los Yayaz show (another SLC garage rock outfit) in early 2018. He was just dancing around, making all of us smile, and I thought it would be fun to film a music video of just that puppet dancing around. Later, in the spring of 2018, I got the idea to write a song with a dance move attached to it, which ended up being “The Barracuda”. The dance song and puppeteering both came in to mind together, and the idea to film Mr. Bonetangles dancing “The Barracuda” was born.”

You can find The Boys Ranch sharing the stage with L.A.‘s guitar-driven rockers Warbly Jets on January 26th at The State Room in Salt Lake City.

The Boys Ranch are:
Dennis Fuller – Vocals, Guitar, Trumpet
Joseph Michael Pedersen – Organ, Piano, Vocals
Wren Kennedy – Guitar, Vocals
Samantha Dickens – Vocals, Percussion
Conor Flynn – Bass Guitar, Vocals
Ian Francis – Drums, Percussion

Spotify (“The Barracuda” will be available starting on January 18th)
SoundCloud
Bandcamp
Instagram

Mr. Bonetangles (Will Schutze), who helped co-film/edit/direct the music video (alongside Boys Rancher Denney Fuller) for “The Barracuda”, currently resides in Austin, Texas. He has been featured in the Hollywood film Chef (directed by Jon Favreau), busks nearly every day, and is known in the puppeteer community around the world. You can find more of his work at:
Bandcamp
Instagram