Boyzlife released their first original material album ‘Old School’. The album is available in digital, CD, Deluxe CD edition with two additional tracks, and as two limited edition cassette tapes - Stream/Buy 'Old School' Album Here.
Boyzlife have also announced a series of signing events and live performances to celebrate the release of the upcoming new album ‘Old School’ Brian and Keith performed live at Pryzm in Kingston presented by Banquet Records, the duo will also visit HMV stores around the country, including; Southampton, Birmingham, Sheffield’s Meadowhall, Manchester and London to sign albums and meet with fans.
Made up of 10 tracks, ‘Old School’ is an exhilarating homage to the music the duo grew up listening to, expertly re-crafted through the lens of today’s pop sensibilities, a nostalgic but modern collection of songs about love, family, mental health and the power of our memories. “There’s a lot of new sounds in music today, but not many are writing the kind of power ballads we grew up with,” Boyzlife enthuse.
Boyzlife introduced the upcoming album at the end of last year with the single ‘'The One' - co-written by Brian and legendary songwriter Guy Chambers (Robin Williams, Kylie Minogue, Rufus Wainwright), with production by rising producer Jackson - who has honed his skills engineering and programming for the likes of Shawn Mendes and The Libertines. ‘The One’ marked a shift into original material and showed the band’s new aesthetic vision through the single 80’s influenced sound and neon-drenched video.
With second single ‘Burn For You’, the duo confirmed their writing abilities - written by Brian, Keith and their producer Jackson with guitars by Mac Douglas (Emeli Sandé, Jessie J) -‘‘Burn For You’ is a 90s-inspired power ballad with contemporary pop production. “The work of producers like Mutt Lange really inspired this song. If somebody asked what Boyzlife's sound is? ‘Burn For You is the perfect example”, explains Brian.
Whilst powerful and uplifting 80s synth pop number, ‘A Little Saving’, reflects upon mental health. Modern sounding 'All This Times' Private Stream is “just a great pop song,” says Keith, adding; “being in the studio and writing the song from scratch with Brian and Jackson was great. Brian would lay down the guide vocal and then bring me in and tell me how we were going to break the song up vocally.
“It's probably one of the best vocals I've ever done”. Both Keith and Brian weren’t afraid to lean into their softer side, and songs like the propulsive synth pop ‘Her’, the stadium-sized ‘Coming Back To You’ and ‘If I Asked You To Love’, which features percussion that Phil Collins would be jealous of, are all unashamedly romantic.
Work on the album truly began when the group were introduced to rising producer Jackson, who understood Keith and Brian’s vision for the record, while also adding his modern pop production stamp. Making the record was a collaborative effort, and for Keith it provided a confidence boost with songwriting.
Talking about the making of the album Brian says: “Working with our producer Jackson has been an extremely creative process, we went into the studio with lyrics ideas, worked together to find a melodic sound to go with the lyrics and built the songs from there”. When Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden first went on the road as Boyzlife, they never imagined that six years later they would be preparing to release an album of original material.
“The whole concept of the band at the start was that we wanted to do an autobiographical show,” says Keith. “Instead of doing what everybody else does and write their life experiences through the music business in a book for people to read, we decided to actually tell people the stories out loud”. Scattered among the stories, the duo performed several Westlife and Boyzone’s biggest hits.
Within their stellar 4 stars review, RETROPOP wrote; “‘Old School’ is a testament to Keith and Brian’s passion for music. Most impressive, though, is the sheer reinvention that the guys have undertaken on the album; once a live act performing the tracks of their respective bands, Boyzlife has become a credible pop group and creative entity that, over the course of the album, earns its place in the pop canon”.
Their debut album, 'Strings Attached’, served as a closing chapter of the last 25 years of their lives. Featuring 9 UK Number 1 songs from Boyzone and Westlife, performed by Keith, Brian and accompanied by the world-renowned 84-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Released on 17th July 2020, 'Strings Attached’ topped both the UK & Ireland’s iTunes and Amazon Music charts immediately, the album charted at #12 in the UK Official Album Chart.
Since their inception, Boyzlife have already performed some of their greatest chart hits for over 70,000 fans, their upcoming ‘Old School’ headline tour across the UK, will see the band perform new songs from their upcoming original material studio album, and classic hits from Boyzone and Westlife. About being back on the road, playing their original material for the very first time, the band says; “the show will be a Rolla-coaster through old and new songs and we cannot wait to take our fans on the ride”.
Boyzlife is the supergroup formed by long time pals Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden who previously appeared as members of '90s and '00s boy-bands Boyzone and Westlife, respectively. With Boyzone, Keith Duffy enjoyed six UK number one singles and 16 out of 17 of their first single releases making the top 5. With five number one albums also to their credit, Boyzone achieved worldwide sales of over 25 million records.
Brian McFadden has enjoyed similar success, including 12 UK and Ireland number ones as a member of Westlife, and a record breaking seven top spots in a row. The band also boast four number 1 albums and over 30 million record sales in total. Since Westlife, Brian has embarked on a successful solo career, including a UK number 1 single with ‘Real to Me’.
