Click here to download Boba Fett Youth (1995)

Welcome to Vegas Archive, a feature where we re-release music from local bands that are gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Today we’re bringing you the second part of our series with Boba Fett Youth, releasing their 1995 self-titled full length. View part one of the series here.

1995 was an awesome year for Boba Fett Youth. The band was incredibly active after releasing a demo tape and a 7”, and they also accomplished something that only a handful of Vegas punk bands have done: they recorded and released their own full-length album.

Boba Fett Youth’s S/T album was the 4th release on the band’s own Bucky Records, and was available on LP, CD, and cassette. Of course, the vinyl version is my favorite, as it showcases Greg Higgins’ unique artwork, and each LP came with a different Star Wars trading card and a lyric insert.

The band also managed to do a west coast tour at the end of 1995, and I was lucky enough to tag along as a roadie. We had many adventures along the way, and we celebrated the arrival of a new year at a rad house party/show in Boise, ID. That trip was my first taste of touring, and I had an absolute blast traveling for two weeks with the goofballs in Boba Fett Youth.

Also included in this archive entry is an interview I conducted with the band in ’95. It was originally featured in the second issue of a small fanzine I did called Help, and offers a more insightful look at the characters that made up the band.

As with the first installment of this series, I’ll let BFY guitarist Nate Robards take over again here with his own written retrospective regarding album-era Boba Fett Youth. Read on and enjoy! – Lance Wells

Part two of this archive features the album and spans the period from late ’94 to early ’97 (the time when Milo joined the band). After our drummer Chris moved away, we went through several drummers, and we played our first out-of-town show while still looking for the right fit.

Milo tried out in late ’94, knew all the songs, had some great ideas, and instantly clicked with us. Milo brought a metal influence to the band which I loved. He was the quiet drummer that wore black metal shirts to all our shows. Milo and I would goof off playing metal in rehearsal just having a blast. We even started doing a metal yell contest at our shows! Milo, Boyde and I would start jamming and Andrew would have people in the crowd line up and give their best metal yell. The winner usually received a t-shirt or 7”.

Our musical ability grew in this time, we bought better equipment, and played tons of shows. We were one of the first Vegas bands of that era to go out on tours and we did quite a bit of out of town stuff. Touring was one of the greatest things I have done personally. It was so awesome being with my pals in a van seeing new cities and trying new foods. It was incredibly inspiring to meet so many individuals in the punk scene and to see so many great bands from other places! I love telling people that we have toured with Braid, Naked Aggression, Submission Hold, and Tomorrows Gone! “Toured with”…the thought humbles me. Our bass player Boyde booked all of our out of town shows and deserves a lot of credit. We also played with too many incredible bands to even begin to mention.

During the time we started to write the songs for the LP, we practiced at a tiny storage shed shared with some friends. Rent was super cheap and we had one giant extension cord which we ran across the building to a light socket in a stairwell to power our equipment (ha!). After about 6 months of that, we started practicing at our pal and roadie, Rob Nelson’s house. He had a room built and soundproofed just for us. Amazing place, amazing friends, and we played some amazing shows at that house!

Now to the LP! We recorded at Brickhouse Studio with Michael Stratton in 1995 over a 2 1/2 day period. I always felt that we had rushed it a little bit and I can always hear little mistakes which drive me nuts. It was mastered by one of Boyde’s friends in California and we had CDs, vinyl, and even a small run of cassettes!

The artwork is one of my favorite album covers. The art was by Greg Higgins and features an alter ego/caricature of each of us portrayed as a different Star Wars character with a funny story about how old school Star Wars we each were.

I could probably write an essay on each of the songs from the album, but I honestly only wrote the guitar parts. That was one of the cool things about the band. No one person took credit for anything, and we all contributed. That was a strength and possibly a weakness as well. I read a review recently about the album that said that we had very strong opinions displayed in our songs, and the reviewer mentioned that he didn’t always agree with us. Well, Andrew wrote all the words, and while I think he is a genius, I don’t think we ever shared every opinion.

So let the songs speak for themselves. Enjoy!

– Nate Robards