Destroy Boys - Obnoxious LGBTQ+ activists opening up the day!

June 28th, 2026

London, Crystal Palace Park, UK

***1/2

Bad attitude impresses a lot of people, but not me

Destroy Boys ***1/2 are

a highly energetic American Punk Rock band formed in Sacramento, California, in 2015. Today they are opening the whole day of The Offspring's mini festival at Crystal Palace Park, which is a real honour for anyone. Also on the bill are Pup, Pennywise and The Dropkick Murphys, as well as headliners The Offspring, which will play a much longer set later on. Opening their set with 'You hear Yes", singer Alexia Roditis prances and dances to the middle of the stage as she leans in and spits out the lyrics like the World is all about her. Her confidence is oozing out, and her overdetermination to impress really shows.

While bassist David Orozco stomps around the stage and does little kicks, and is a steady presence on his side of the stage. He doesn't talk, I think, for the whole performance, but his stage presence is pretty steady and good. Drummer Narsai Malik is also quiet, and so is the additional guitarist they had playing with them. I can't find the name online, but she just gets her head down and backs up the band's sound. Violet Mayugba starts off quiet and gets louder as the set goes on, so towards the end of the band's set... she is screaming out the lyrics, profanities and political nonsense and things to bring out their agenda.

I have to say, putting political ideas into the lyrics is fine, but I don't like it when people shove their learnings and views in my face for the entirety of their set. It's a music concert, not a political rally. They preach about every topic related to the LGBTQ+ community and topics of abuse against women. Forgetting that in this day and age, there is a lot of abuse towards men. Like I have experienced and witnessed myself, women feeling up guys at gigs. This kind of thing does not only go one way, and I think the way they are jumping on too many topics and being so one-sided with the fact that they only talk about abuse to women. Is really diluting their message, so maybe they should stand up for abuse against anyone... not just women.

I also think that the flippant way they talk about it wouldn't make anyone take them seriously. So are they doing it for effect, or do they really believe in what they are saying?. I really hope they do, because too much bad stuff is happening all over the place at the moment. You can't fault the band's spirit and their performance. They really know how to put on a show, and they have well-put-together songs. But for some reason, at times, it seems to wind me up the wrong way. And I can't decide if I want to listen to more, or I want them to finish. And in a way, this is a shame, maybe I am not the right audience for them. Even though I did like some of their songs, like 'Locker room Bully' and 'Fences' which are later in the band's set and are really good.

I will have a listen to Destory Boys on my iPod, to see if I like them more without the on-stage banter and views. They sound like a lot of good bands from the 90s that I like, a little bit Grunge alot Riot Punk. And if you are into girlie Riot Punk, like Pussy Riot, Hole and L7 then you might love Destroy Boys. I know the girls standing next to me loved them and knew every lyric. Actually, most of the girls at the concert loved them. But maybe not so much the guys, and that may be because they kept attacking men in various ways with things they said. Another song I would recommend having a listen to is 'Drink', but I am sure they have lots of other good songs. So let's see what the future holds for Destroy Boys, or will they just end up alienating everyone... I really hope not.