When I first heard I was going to be reviewing someone’s cover of Don Henley’s 80’s hit, “The Boys of Summer” I groaned a little bit and wasn’t particularly looking forward to it.  I’m not a huge fan of the 80’s adult rock genre, except maybe to sing along with ironically on road trips or put on blast as a guilty pleasure in traffic.

To my surprise, I was absolutely blown away by rock/metal guitarist “Xander Demos” and his cover of the song. He reinvents “Boys of Summer” into more of  a heavy metal jam. Henley’s track was released in 1984 and had that kind of cheesy power pop/rock vibe.  Xander’s version has more of a 1989-90 feel to it, a sort of polished metal with epic guitar solos like Iron Maiden. It is an amazing recording, and the vocals are flawless. To call it a cover song does not to it justice.  I dare say that this is actually even better than the original. Xander is obviously a total pro guitar player, and this is top notch in every way.

http://www.xanderdemos.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/xanderdemos