Bay-area based Greg Hoy & The Boys are impossible not to root for and the poster children for consistent, sustained promotion. With others in the music industry gasping for air, grasping for straws and trying desperately to regroup after thirty two months of challenges, these indefatigable rock and roll stalwarts just returned from a successful East Coast tour, continue to write and record, and are already planning a continued 2023 toe curling onslaught. “Everybody Wants To Be Somebody” is their final music video in a year that we enjoyed many music videos from these creatives that truly live it, breathe it, sweat it and bleed it.
Taking inspiration from Sly and the Family Stone and the groove of “Dance To To Music”, Rock and Roll in its purest form is like this. “Everybody Wants To Be Somebody” is jarring, driving, while utilizing well crafted songcraft and a Van Halen inspired guitar solo delivered by demon lead guitarist Jon Reider. The track is three minutes of no nonsense, no filler, in your face sonic bliss. It’s as simple as a pure gold, rock and roll hit from the era when rock reigned.
Greg Hoy & The Boys burn hot and always deliver. “Everybody Wants To Be Somebody” is cogent social commentary wrapped up in a statement of purpose that gets stuck in your head like a solid three beer buzz. If you find yourself commenting to others that nowadays “everybody wants to be somebody they’re not”, it’s Hoy breaking through the AI and infiltrating your brain with the truth, though at first it may seem cynical. “The past is history and that time is not coming back”, so be the change you seek. Don’t try to be somebody you are NOT. In this band’s humble, positive outlook, being a friend and thoughtful citizen is where it’s at, and the best thing you can ever be in life is yourself.
Filmed at their practice space in Berkeley, California, the visual is old school too. “Dave, Vicky and I watched two straight hours of MTV from 40 years ago and shot the music video in one take no more than a half an hour later!”, Hoy exclaims as his fingers still ache from his meticulous “Chroma Key/ Kodachrome” approach to the lyrical graphics. Using an Exacto knife and implementing tons of mettle, Greg expertly raised the bar by turning this compelling live performance into a memorable and engaging lyric video. This “cut and paste” job using green construction paper and an antique typewriter compliments the video’s one take simplicity. Everything Greg Hoy does is about the human connection and condition, and his deep embracement of “All Things Rock and Roll” is manifest in every new creative effort he releases.
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