Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - 7:30pm

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
Off With Their Heads' new album Be Good is available now.
“All the other records were about moping around and feeling sorry for yourself,” says frontman Ryan Young. “This one is less about feeling sorry for yourself and more about accepting how goddamn miserable you are.”
Young and the band members—bassist Robbie Smartwood, guitarist John Polydoros, and new drummer Kyle Manning—holed up at The Hideaway in Minneapolis with additional recording at Pachyderm Studios, a mid-century mansion where Nirvana recorded In Utero, to make Be Good. Young produced the record himself, and it was the first time he enjoyed the process, or at least tolerated it. “I don’t like how the old records sound, and I hate recording so much,” he says. “You could just hear all the dumb shit on them where I was like, whatever, just let it go, I want to get out of here.”
Forced acceptance is a big theme of Be Good, though it’s a hard-learned one, often emerging in the form of primal screams in the band’s trademark style of gruff-punk. “Hands up to the sky and shout at the top of your lungs, ‘til the floor falls out!” Young yells on the title track, sounding somewhere between motivational speaker and hard-nosed therapist.
Much of the self-deprecation that defined the band’s previous work has been adjusted. It was the years spent out of the van, developing a life at home in Chicago, that gave Young his newfound, slightly more positive perspective. “Not being on the road 250 days a year, actually trying to develop some sort of life outside of playing shows and drinking, you’d be surprised what that does,” he says.
If ever there was a time for Ryan Young’s distinct brand on cautious optimism, it’s now. “The title is an answer to that question of what you’re supposed to do now that the world is so awful and the climate of this stupid country is so shitty,” he says. “Be good, be loud—that’s sometimes all you can do, I guess, as cheesy as that sounds."
BEN ROY
Taking comedy audiences by storm since 2004, Ben Roy brings an unparalleled energy and unique voice to stage. Often compared to Lewis Black or Bill Hicks due to his passionate, ranting approach, Roy has a style that is definitively his own.
Roy cut his comedic teeth in Denver at Comedy Works. Since then, he has been selected to perform at the Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, LA Riot Comedy Festival, Boston Comedy Festival, Austin’s South by Southwest festival, and many more. Roy has been featured on HBO’s Funny as Hell series; in the John Wenzel book Mock Stars: Indie Comedy and Dangerously Funny (alongside comedy greats like Patton Oswalt and Fred Armisen); as well as on the Comedy Central shows @Midnight, Adam DeVine’s House Party, and This Is Not Happening. Ben has also released three stand-up comedy albums.
Along with fellow Denver Comedians Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl (who collectively perform as The Grawlix), Ben created, writes and stars in TruTV’s original comedy series Those Who Can’t. On the show, Roy plays “Billy Shoemaker,” an inspirational History teacher. Catch the third season of Those Who Can’t airing on TruTV this fall.
In addition to stand-up comedy, Roy is a prolific musician, currently the lead singer of SPELLS.
THE LEGENDARY WID
The Legendary Wid is a Philadelphia-based comedy veteran known for his clever wordplay and hectic use of excessive props. He has worked with everyone from Bill Hicks to Jonathan Winters and has been seen on Comedy Central, ABC, Showtime, and HBO.