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Next Big Thing?!: Boxstep
Boxstep, a six-piece musical assemblage from Pittsburgh, USA, are quietly becoming the American underground's best kept secret. The group combines two guitarists, two violinists, an organ/accordion player and rhythm section with bittersweet, melodic vocal harmony that lights a stick of dynamite that slowly and beautifully ignites into a sonic explosion. The band's intense live shows have landed them opening spots for Godspeed You Black Emperor! a
Tekst: Pat Wensink
Publicatiedatum: 29 januari 2002
SO WHAT'S THE DEAL?
Boxstep have been together for nearly three years. Beginning with a core of guitarist/vocalist Eric Graf, bassist TR Daddario and guitarist David Wallace. "We were all in other bands that kind of ended at the same time," said Wallace. "We knew who each other were and formed a band."
After initially forming, the band added members bit by bit - Drummer Craig Cislon, Violinists and vocalists Erin Hunter and Sarah Siplak and organist Paul Laorise.
The band played out and recorded a demo that landed in the hands of Chicago's Overcoat Recordings, a satellite label of Touch and Go Records and Thrill Jockey Records. In 2001, Overcoat released the band's first full-length album 'The Faces All Look On'.
WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD?
Boxstep plays a style of music that not only defies mere classification, but requires none. Intensity, beauty and power serve as the backbone of a musical machine that produces sweet ballads that can bruise you.
The band employs the intensity and elegance of groups like Godspeed! and The Dirty Three and intertwines the lyrical wit and stratospheric guitar work of Built to Spill and early Dinosaur Jr. The adhesive of the entire band is Graf's stinging vocals and lyrical intricacy. Rather simple tales with themes like marriage and deer hunting evolve themselves into intriguing stories of human nature.
"As an English teacher, I read quite a bit of poetry and I have some personal favorites that I know have influenced my work..... Neruda, Yeats, Heaney, Lucille Clifton to name a few. With all of these poets, the language is deceptively simple. The language doesn't necessarily call attention to itself, but if you look closely there is a structure," said Graf.
"Yeats had the greatest ear for language I've ever read. If you read his poems, it's only after the third reading that you realize there was a formal rhyme scheme going on. I make an effort at that sort of thing. It's not always successful, but I hate really bouncy rhyme or ridiculous word choices to fit a pattern. From Neruda and Clifton, I've learned that there is a beauty in simple images and natural things if it is presented in a slightly off kilter way that suggests meaning rather than explicitly directs it. I love poems where your understanding comes from feeling and not necessarily some sort of intellectual catharsis," he said.
WHAT HOLDS THE FUTURE?
The group plans on touring in support of its latest album for certain. "(Opening for Godspeed You Black Emperor!) has had a big influence on people," said Graf. "In Cleveland, for example, after we played with GSYBE! we noticed a lot more people coming to our shows there after that".
In addition to touring the group has a split EP with the Pine Top Seven in the works. The album is slated to come out this spring.
While the band has been working new material into its live shows Boxstep has no immediate plans to release a new record.
"I think a band on our level has to realize that it is going to take some time before you make headway. So, why rush to make another recording when people are just starting to hear the first record? I guess it's a timing sort of thing," said Graf. "Right now, I think we all feel that we are making real progress on the first record. When we sense that it is slowing down a bit, we'll go in and make the next one".
Boxstep is quietly earning a loyal fanbase on the time-tested formula of intense performances, original musical talent and clever writing. While the band is the underground's secret now, the world will soon be jumping into step with them.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/toekomstmuziek/boxstep/next-big-thing-boxstep/985/
Meer Boxstep op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/boxstep
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