Joey Valence and Brae share new single Watch Yo Step to fill that Beastie Boys-shaped hole in your heart

Remember when '90s rock / indie club DJs would mix Beastie Boys into Rage Against The Machine into The Prodigy and all hell would break on the dancefloor? Fresh-faced US hip-duo Joey Valence and Brae were still learning to walk and talk in the latter half of the decade, but the Pennsylvania duo - known to their mothers as Joey Bertolino and Braedan Lugue - undeniably have a brilliant grasp on the sound and aesthetic of the era, which they're now reviving for a new generation.

Following on from last month's excellent Startafight single, the pair tap back into '90s street culture for the raucous Watch Yo Step, complete with a suitably retro fish eye lens-filmed video, which you can view right here, right now.

“I think what’s setting us apart from other artists, and what our fan base is noticing and really liking, is that our music comes from a genuine and raw place. It’s super laidback and carefree,” Lugue told NME in June. “We’re not taking ourselves too seriously. What you see is what you get, especially when it comes to the glitz and glamour side of things. You’ll never see us pulling up in a Bugatti with stacks of cash in our music videos.”

The duo are coming to the UK later this month, and will play a headline show at Colours Hoxton in London on August 24 ahead of their scheduled appearances on the BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage at Reading festival (August 26) and Leeds festival (August 27). They will also play Riot Fest in Chicago on September 18.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.