Los Angeles-based indie outfit Dear Boy — founding members Ben Grey (vocals, guitar) and Keith Cooper (drums) alongside Austin Hayman (lead guitar) and Lucy Lawrence (bass, vocals) — can trace their origins back to when its founding members Grey and Cooper were living in London during their mid-twenties. The band’s Hayman and Lawrence joined once the duo returned to the States. Interestingly, despite their Stateside roots, the Los Angeles-based quartet’s work has drawn from ’80s and ’90s Brit pop and shoegaze — with the band citing Pulp, Oasis, Slowdive and The Jesus and Mary Chain as major influences, while also embracing the likes of Pixies and R.E.M.
The band’s sophomore album sophomore album, the Aron Kobayashi Ritch-produced Celebrator is slated for an October 17, 2025 release through Last Gang Records. Following the success of their full-length debut, 2022’s Forever Sometimes, the band took a step back from perfectionist production practices and leaned into spontaneity. Written in 12 sessions and recorded live in under two weeks, the album’s material reportedly bristles with a palpable energy while showcasing the band’s musical and creative chemistry. “We made this album to remember why we do this in the first place,” the band says. “Because we love it. We adore each other. Joy. Connection. Heartbreak. Celebration. We’re not interested in anything other than that.”
Celebrator‘s first single, “After All,” features Rocket’s Alithea Tuttle. Anchored around rousingly a rousingly anthemic hook and chorus, the new single immediately brings 120 Minutes-era MTV and 90s Brit Pop to mind while arguably being the most straightforward, bombastic rocker of their growing catalog to date. “It is crazy to have been a band for this long without contributing a primal-teenage-bedroom-rock riff. Happy to finally right a wrong,” the band’s frontman Ben Grey says.
The collaboration with Rocket can be traced to a deep and genuine friendship. “We first played with Rocket on New Year’s Eve a few years ago and became fast friends. We’re both from the Valley, went to the same pre-school, a tale as old as time,” Grey explains. “But truly, they’re an important band, and I think Alithea has one of the defining rock voices of this generation. We feel so honored she sang on ‘After All’. It’s the Catherine Wheel/Throwing Muses moment we’ve always dreamed of.”
Directed by the band’s Ben Grey, the accompanying video for “After All” is fittingly, a decidedly 120 Minutes-era MTV-like visual that’s a slick mix of old super 8-shot home videos of family gatherings and celebrations with footage of the band playing in a studio amidst a storm of confetti.
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