Kansas City emo veterans Boys Life have announced a new EP, Ordinary Wars, which marks the band’s first new music in 29 years. It was recorded in June 2024 with Duane Trower, and the sorta-title track “Ordinary War” is out now. Here’s what singer/guitarist Brandon Butler had to say about it:
I think about how short life is a lot. I think we buy into a fantasy that America, money, status, time and titles are real. Those things are really just fabrications in the framework of the American psyche. Our government has failed us. Corporate America owns every facet of our lives. We’re all glued to social media. Cheap dopamine hits scrolling by. Your ideas and feelings use to be the only thing someone couldn’t take from you and now they found a way to take those. America is a business and we all work for the company. If one were to fight a war against these fabrications, one would have to start breaking that framework and value system down. The war would be inside each of us. Denying those forces trying to buy our minds and time. We are a part of something much bigger. So it’s not an ordinary war.
The song definitely isn’t an attempt to recreate the Midwest emo vibes of Boys Life’s highly influential ’90s material. It’s a step into new territory, as you can hear for yourself by watching the video (by Shawn Brackbill) below. The Ordinary Wars EP comes out on November 21 via Spartan Records (pre-order).
Back during the emo revival gold rush of the 2010s, Boys Life signed to Topshelf for a 2015 reissue of their classic 1996 album Departures and Landfalls and did a short reunion tour that same year. Last year, they put out the discography compilation Home Is A Highway via Numero Group and they regrouped once again for two Midwest shows last fall, which were their first since the 2015 reunion. With this new music, will they tour again? Will they play the 2026 edition of Best Friends Forever? Stay tuned to find out.
Also last year, Boys Life drummer John Anderson teamed up with Christie Front Drive singer/guitarist Eric Richter and Mineral bassist Jeremy Gomez for the new band Suburban Eyes.
Tracklist
Bleeds
Ordinary War
Equal In Measure
Always