It’s the last day of what has felt like a longer than usual January. With political incidents occurring left right and centre, we’re all a little tired after a rough start to 2025. Tonight though, we are in a safe space. We’re at the Destroy Boys headline show at London’s Electric Ballroom, situated right in the heart of Camden. It’s the penultimate night of the UK leg of the band’s tour, and we’re here to celebrate the release of the their fourth album.

The gig was opened by Gaffa Tape Sandy, a riotous rock band based in Brighton. Playing multiple songs from their latest release (their second album, “Hold My Hand, God Damn It” was released in May 2024), and mixing in some older material, the crowd was enthused and ready to go; some fans even getting the moshing started early. They were electric, fully enjoying the experience, captivating the crowd and getting them warmed up for the main event.

Destroy Boys also had speakers from Trans Kids Deserve Better and Youth Demand London on stage to raise awareness of the causes they champion. They were fully supported by the fans, and, because Destroy Boys are so big on community activism and grassroots change, were also given stalls in the entrance to the venue for fans to find out more about what the organisations do and how they can get involved.

Not long after 9pm, Destroy Boys burst onto stage. The American punk rock band are far, far away from their home town of Sacramento, California, but they’re right at home at the Electric Ballroom. Lead singer Alexia Roditis’ make-up and outfit are pure punk, with a top lip painted with black lipstick and a vivid energy akin to Joan Jett or Kathleen Hanna.

They start the show off with ‘Shadow (I’m Breaking Down)’, ‘Crybaby’ and ‘Drink’, and the moshing starts almost immediately. It’s a careful, considerate moshing though, exactly what you’d expect from the Destroy Boys fans. We flow easily between tracks from across their discography, with the crowd giving the newer songs (from the fourth album released in 2024, ‘Funeral Soundtrack #4’) as much energy as their old favourites.

In the middle of the set, we get thrown back to some of the first ever Destroy Boys tracks, with ‘K Street Walker’ from their 2017 debut album ‘Sorry, Mom’ and 2018 track ‘Vixen’, before coming back to their latest album release with the first song on the record, ‘Bad Guy’. It’s a testament to how strong Destroy Boy’s sense of identity and sound is that every member of the crowd goes crazy for every song, no matter how new or old it is.

‘We do have the power to make change…There is always something we can do.’

We continue with new songs, ‘Beg For The Torture’ and ‘Should’ve Been Me’, and then ‘Muzzle’, ‘Amor Divino’ and ‘Boyfeel’. At one point, lead singer Roditis takes a moment to talk about the current state of the world, and tells everybody to let out a collective scream with anger for the state of the world. Of course, the crowd let loose and go for it, turning their faces to the ceiling and screaming in unison. It’s a cathartic experience, seeing this many people go listen to such an politically-inclined band and watch them all scream and cheer as Destroy Boy call out those that they don’t agree with.

Towards the end of the set, Roditis invites the crowd to form a pit only for non-binary people and women, to which the crowd obliges. Amidst the chaos, they’re hyper aware of each other, and they carefully help up anybody that’s unsteady on their feet in the swirling eddy of people. Throughout the show, Roditis frequently draws attention the political and societal upheaval currently ongoing across the world, while also thanking some inspirational artists that came before them: Nina Simone, Bikini Kill, Sinead O’Connor, who ‘fought for [their] right to be on stage’. She shouts out to the audience: ‘We do have the power to make change…There is always something we can do.’

It was a slightly different flavour for the encore. Roditis comes back out first, and performs an emotional rendition of ‘Piedmont’ solo, before the band come back and they cover, through teases and partials, some incredible work by huge artists that inspire them, including Green Day and Weezer. They finish the night with an iconic Destroy Boys song from their debut album, ‘I Threw Glass At My Friend’s Eyes And Now I’m On Probation’. The crowd is electric, and some people that were hoping to make the last train dash back into the crowd and throw themselves into the pit. It was a raucous night, and nobody left that venue feeling less than inspired to be more punk rock and to go out and make change in the world.