Brigade tubaist Joey La Neve DeFrancesco met vocalist Victoria Ruiz while working at the Renaissance Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island.

Rachel Brodsky of Spin wrote of the single: "Bravely combating, as their press release reads, 'the prison-industrial complex, racism, queerphobia, capitalism, fascism, boredom, and all things people use to try to close our minds, eyes and hearts,' Downtown Boys do what their finest punk-rock forefathers did before them: challenge long-held ideas.

[1] The New Yorker described the group's live performances, noting that "[t]he tracks speed by with hardcore kineticism, but Ruiz's lyrics squeeze your hand through the pit: she’s lucid and blunt, shouting down cops, traders, and any other impediment to justice that she can spot.

"[2] In 2015, Ruiz and DeFrancesco launched the online magazine Spark Mag in collaboration with grassroots advocacy group Demand Progress.

They later released an open letter denouncing the festival's business practices and donated "a portion of the money" paid to them by Coachella to the LGBTQ organizations Prysm and FIERCE.