The title of Destroy Boys’ new album, Funeral Soundtrack #4, might seem like a bit of playful irony but the California band is being quite literal. “Looking back, our first three albums marked the deaths of things,” says guitarist Violet Mayugba. “They were soundtracks to our funerals, whether they were for our ages, our mental states. We’ve gone through a lot of changes as a band and as people.” Destroy Boys formed in 2015, when founding members Violet Mayugba and Alexia Roditis were just 15 years old, and each release has marked a period of growth and change. “The first one was our high school album,” Mayugba explains. “On the second record, we went to college and were saying goodbye to our childhood. On the third one, we’d just gone through COVID and, speaking for myself, I lost my entire sense of self and gained a new one.” Now, at 24, Mayugba and Roditis are standing firmly on solid ground with their fourth album, more resolute and confident than ever in their place as musicians. “With Funeral Soundtrack #4, I’m done being walked all over. I’m done being taken advantage of by people in the music industry and by people I date. I’m done doing what other people tell me to do,” Roditis says. “Funeral Soundtrack #4 is our best record yet, no question, but it’s still authentic,” Mayugba says. “It’s more presentable, it’s hookier, it’s more palatable, but it’s also real Destroy Boys.