Boy In A Box (14/10/2011)
Boy in a Box exploded onto the Melbourne scene late last year with the heavenly pop sensibility we'd been craving since Ben Lee had that weird flower phase.
First off, what do you think is the power behind pop music?
Pop music is timeless. It's funny how so many bands will try and avoid calling themselves pop, I guess it's because they link music such as Britney Spears and Pink to Pop, which they then link to selling out. Anything with a hooky melody that you can sing along to is pop, whether it be a punk band or rock. There's nothing wrong with being pop, it doesn't mean you've sold out. All it means is that your music is more accesible to the masses. I don't know about everyone else but the more people that hear my music the better.
The band has cited some pretty genre spanning influences from Kanye to Springsteen, is Boy in a Box the love child of a blinged up Boss?
I draw influence from everywhere. People like Kanye and Jay Z I admire for their amazing production, Springsteen I admire for being able to play the most blatant, cheesy pop songs and convince everyone that they are tough rock songs. So yeah, I guess if you mix amazing production together with that ability then I'll be happy to be deemed as the love child!
Melbourne is known as one of if not the most musically cultured city in Australia, this can also make the competition stiff in a town of constant gigs and all nighters, what sets Boy in a Box apart from the rest?
I guess that I was very lucky from the get go. I had a song on radio at high rotation before I even had a band! This meant that I was able to dodge a lot of those smaller gigs playing clubs around the city and be put on tours with amazing bands straight away. But trust me, I did the hard yards in my previous band. We spent three years playing seedy clubs in Sydney, so having the opportunity to have this head start with BIAB was a blessing and I'm very thankful.
Now you've played with some awesome acts such as Calling All Cars, Birds of Tokyo, ALPINE and international indie lads Funeral Party, what has been your favourite show to date?
It's truly hard to pick, I've had so much fun playing with every band. If I had to narrow it down it would probably be the Forum show in Melbourne that we played with Birds Of Tokyo. It was sold out and the crowd was amazing. It probably helped that we put away a bottle of whisky before we played, that always makes things a little bit better.
If you could tour with any band/artist living or dead (decade regardless) who would be your ultimate tour buddy?
I've heard that Joe Strummer was an amazing person, really kind and down to earth. Plus it would be great to be side of stage for a Clash show!
For such a cheery and bright band, you have quite an interesting choice of name (for those playing at home it's the name coined for an unsolved murder victim) tell us about the contrast in the bands character here?
I stumbled across that case, but had came up with the name before that. When I was thinking of the name I didn't have a band, so I wanted a name that could work as a solo musician and as a band. It was just the first thing that came to my head.
After receiving critical support from Australian radio station Triple J, would you say in digital times radio still possess power in local music?
I think radio play is everything, people seem to gauge a band success off how well they are doing on radio. The digital side helps for self promotion. I guess that people also go off how many 'likes' you have on Facebook and 'hits' you have on Youtube. For a band, you could have all the attention ever online, but it won't be until you get played on radio that you feel something is happening. Then again there are exceptions, look at short stack, all of their success is based on their ability to work social networking sites without any radio play.
I love the video for Glitter, Gold, Ruin. The shoot looks like it would have been a lot of fun (and a bit dizzying!) Could you explain the concept and reasoning behind the 360 degree camera movements?
The concept was thought up by the director Patrick Fileti, he wanted to inject some extra intensity into the stock standard 'band playing in a room' thing. It was a crazy day, the camera was hooked up to this huge metal arm that was being spun around by a motor on the ceiling. If we took one wrong step we'd be KO'd by this device! It was a lot of fun.
Tell us, what's next on the horizon for Boy in a Box?
We are going to spend the rest of the year writing out debut album. We are planning to head over to LA at the start of next year to record it, then play SXSW while we are over there. We are also playing Falls Festival in Lorne. Should be a massive end of the year!
Finally, Boy In A Box have a free gig coming up at the Espy in Melbourne, what can your fans expect from this show other than a rockin’ great time?
We'll be playing a few new songs, a great new cover and Crimmo will have his shirt off!
Samantha Dickson
Boy In A Box play the Espy Front Bar October 28th. Entry is free, 18+
First off, what do you think is the power behind pop music?
Pop music is timeless. It's funny how so many bands will try and avoid calling themselves pop, I guess it's because they link music such as Britney Spears and Pink to Pop, which they then link to selling out. Anything with a hooky melody that you can sing along to is pop, whether it be a punk band or rock. There's nothing wrong with being pop, it doesn't mean you've sold out. All it means is that your music is more accesible to the masses. I don't know about everyone else but the more people that hear my music the better.
The band has cited some pretty genre spanning influences from Kanye to Springsteen, is Boy in a Box the love child of a blinged up Boss?
I draw influence from everywhere. People like Kanye and Jay Z I admire for their amazing production, Springsteen I admire for being able to play the most blatant, cheesy pop songs and convince everyone that they are tough rock songs. So yeah, I guess if you mix amazing production together with that ability then I'll be happy to be deemed as the love child!
Melbourne is known as one of if not the most musically cultured city in Australia, this can also make the competition stiff in a town of constant gigs and all nighters, what sets Boy in a Box apart from the rest?
I guess that I was very lucky from the get go. I had a song on radio at high rotation before I even had a band! This meant that I was able to dodge a lot of those smaller gigs playing clubs around the city and be put on tours with amazing bands straight away. But trust me, I did the hard yards in my previous band. We spent three years playing seedy clubs in Sydney, so having the opportunity to have this head start with BIAB was a blessing and I'm very thankful.
Now you've played with some awesome acts such as Calling All Cars, Birds of Tokyo, ALPINE and international indie lads Funeral Party, what has been your favourite show to date?
It's truly hard to pick, I've had so much fun playing with every band. If I had to narrow it down it would probably be the Forum show in Melbourne that we played with Birds Of Tokyo. It was sold out and the crowd was amazing. It probably helped that we put away a bottle of whisky before we played, that always makes things a little bit better.
If you could tour with any band/artist living or dead (decade regardless) who would be your ultimate tour buddy?
I've heard that Joe Strummer was an amazing person, really kind and down to earth. Plus it would be great to be side of stage for a Clash show!
For such a cheery and bright band, you have quite an interesting choice of name (for those playing at home it's the name coined for an unsolved murder victim) tell us about the contrast in the bands character here?
I stumbled across that case, but had came up with the name before that. When I was thinking of the name I didn't have a band, so I wanted a name that could work as a solo musician and as a band. It was just the first thing that came to my head.
After receiving critical support from Australian radio station Triple J, would you say in digital times radio still possess power in local music?
I think radio play is everything, people seem to gauge a band success off how well they are doing on radio. The digital side helps for self promotion. I guess that people also go off how many 'likes' you have on Facebook and 'hits' you have on Youtube. For a band, you could have all the attention ever online, but it won't be until you get played on radio that you feel something is happening. Then again there are exceptions, look at short stack, all of their success is based on their ability to work social networking sites without any radio play.
I love the video for Glitter, Gold, Ruin. The shoot looks like it would have been a lot of fun (and a bit dizzying!) Could you explain the concept and reasoning behind the 360 degree camera movements?
The concept was thought up by the director Patrick Fileti, he wanted to inject some extra intensity into the stock standard 'band playing in a room' thing. It was a crazy day, the camera was hooked up to this huge metal arm that was being spun around by a motor on the ceiling. If we took one wrong step we'd be KO'd by this device! It was a lot of fun.
Tell us, what's next on the horizon for Boy in a Box?
We are going to spend the rest of the year writing out debut album. We are planning to head over to LA at the start of next year to record it, then play SXSW while we are over there. We are also playing Falls Festival in Lorne. Should be a massive end of the year!
Finally, Boy In A Box have a free gig coming up at the Espy in Melbourne, what can your fans expect from this show other than a rockin’ great time?
We'll be playing a few new songs, a great new cover and Crimmo will have his shirt off!
Samantha Dickson
Boy In A Box play the Espy Front Bar October 28th. Entry is free, 18+