Sunshine Boys

(Chicago) Sunshine Boys started after Freda Love Smith (Blake Babies) and Dag Juhlin (The Slugs) were separately asked to help round out a band being assembled by playwright Brett Neveu and cartoonist Rich Sparks based on their spiky pop tunes. When Jason Narducy (Superchunk, Split Single) was unable to be a part of the group, Juhlin told Brett and Rich that they had to bring in Jackie Schimmel (Big Hello) on bass. 

This five-piece collective, christened “Sex Ritter," gelled quickly and fleshed out Brett and Rich’s songs for a couple of really fun gigs. The ulterior motive, according to Dag, was to get Freda and Jackie together. He knew that Jackie’s brilliantly melodic bass lines would fit perfectly within the hypnotic gallop of Freda’s drums, as well as the unkempt jangle of his guitar. They knew that they had something as soon as they started rehearsing and decided that “Sunshine Boys” would make for a great trio.

After more than a few years of Dag not writing songs (he was busy learning a couple of hundred songs by other artists for his cover band Expo’76), he began to crank out a bunch of material which Sunshine Boys set about learning in the summer of 2016. Deadlines are great motivators, and they asked Brett and Rich if they could open for them in November (Sunshine Boys’ live debut) and they worked in earnest throughout the fall. 

“Infinity Girl” will appear on the band’s sophomore album, Work and Love, to be released by Pravda Records on May 1, 2020.

Listen & Share: Infinity Girl



The material for Sunshine Boys' debut Blue Music was almost entirely new and written specifically for the trio, but when they found themselves needing some songs for their gigs, and to keep their set list fresh, Dag reached back into his archives for some previously written songs, a couple of which ("John Cage", "Sign of Life") found their way onto Blue Music and into their live sets. 

Blue Music was released to critical acclaim in 2018 the band’s sophomore album, Work and Love will be released by Pravda Records on May 1, 2020.

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