The Bobby Lees — Sam Quartin (vocals, guitar), Kendall Wind (bass), Nick Casa (lead guitar), and Macky Bowman (drums) — are a rapidly rising, Woodstock, NY-based garage punk act that has received attention here and elsewhere for a feral and frenzied punk rock sound and a unpredictable, high-energy live show. And adding to a growing profile, the act has opened for The Black Lips, Murphy’s Law, Boss Hog, Future Islands, Daddy Long Legs, The Chats, and Shannon & The Clams.
Originally slated for a May 8, 2020 release through Alive Naturalsounds Records, The Bobby Lees’ Jon Spencer-produced full-length album Skin Suit has been pushed back to July 17, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — but what still remains is that the album finds the band crafting forceful and self-assured material centered around some of the most blistering and dexterous guitar work I’ve heard this year. The band has released a handful of singles this year, including the breakneck “GutterMilk,” a feral and gender-bending over of Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man,”‘ that nods at George Thorogood‘s and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-like “Move” and the gritty, garage punk ripper “Drive.”
The album’s fifth and latest single finds them taking on Richard Hell & The Voidoids‘ “Blank Generation” and much like the album’s previous cover, the Bobby Lees take on the song is a grungier and feral one than the original while retaining the original’s insouciant spirit. “Richard Hell is one of our favorites,” the band’s Sam Quartin explains in press notes. “We reached out to him to see if he wanted to be on the track, he wrote back and said he doesn’t play music anymore but gave us his blessing so we felt like we had to give it a try!”