Boasting a line-up spanning continents, it's no surprise THE BOXER REBELLION kick up a mighty, guitar-driven thunder. Signed by a drooling Alan McGee to his Poptones imprint and with two fantastic, enigmatic singles to their belt and a new one ("Code Red") ready to seep out, they took time out from their headlining UK tour to talk to W&H. Once they finished eating, that is....
W&H arrive at Stealth Club in Nottingham bang on time only to find the The Boxer Rebellion in the middle of their dinner. A late sound check has led to the cancellation of the two previous scheduled interviews. Aussie guitarist Todd Howe is at another table. But I join Tennessee frontman Nathan Nicholson, and his British rhythm section - drummer Piers Hewitt and bassist Adam Harrison - and they seem to be happy enough for me to gate crash the meal. We chat about Nottingham, venues, caves, the Parisian catacombs and so on. Todd rejoins the group and then I make the mistake of starting the tape recorder.
‘Funny how it all goes quiet’ muses Adam to generally agreement.
’We’re waiting for a question’ says Todd bluntly. ‘A couple of rules for you: You can’t ask how we all met, or what do we sound like.’ I gawp a little mentally.
At this point Mooney Suzuki strike up next door, so we move a cold upstairs area in Stealth where the beer is chilled at room temperature. Adam promptly lies down on a spaceage silver sofa whilst I try to avoid eye contact with the psychedelic wallpaper.
The band have supported acts as diverse as A Perfect Circle, The Cooper Temple Clause and Lenny Kravitz (‘We had to call him Mr Kravitz’). This tour is almost a reconnaissance for a return in October with Biffy Clyro. So I ask about headlining without an album out.
You were talking about not liking support slots…
Nathan: "No, I like support slots. It’s just a little difficult to come across the way you want to because you definitely play to people that haven’t heard of you most of the time."
Piers: "We haven’t really thought about what it would be like touring once the album’s out. This is what we know. If you’re going to throw your toys out of the pram because you’re playing in venues that aren’t full when you’ve only got one single out then you really shouldn’t be doing it". He adds pragmatically.
Have you finished recording the album proper?
There’s a general negative response.
Todd: "When we finish the tour we’re going to record and see how that comes out."
But you’ve finished the singles?
T: "yeeeeah. We’ve had two singles and this is our 3rd coming out."
N : "This is our first major release."
Poptones getting friendly with Mercury...
P: "We didn’t play a whole lot of gigs over the summer, we’ve just been recording. We haven’t done any headline shows since.. the beginning of April? So we’re a bit.."
You were going to say ‘rusty’! (Laughter)
T: "No we’ve been doing a lot of rehearsals and we’ve got some new tracks."
So you’ve had time to write?
T: "Yeah, well there’s only so many times you’re going to rehearse the same set and we’ve had a couple of weeks before this tour."
Do you have time to see other bands?
Piers: "We’re in London when we’re rehearsing so we have time to." He describes a preference for smaller venues and smaller bands. "They’re generally more passionate about what they do."
T: "We’ve been in this whole state of finishing of the album, we haven’t seen a whole lot of live bands in the past months because we’ve been focussing on that."
Adam (stirring from his horizontal position): "There comes a point where you reach music listening overload."
N: "When you’re working on your album and you then hear other bands that you like, you actually don’t want to hear them because, you know you’re going to be like ‘ah, that’s fuckin’ good’ then you start second guessing your own stuff."
So you find it’s better to insulate yourself when you’re trying to write?
T: "Oh yeah."
N: "Yeah, definitely."
P: "Oh, I disagree. Personally, sometimes if you’re in this writing mindset, if you just want to try something different, you know you can, but you just lose it because you put yourself in that state of mind where you’ve GOT to write something. You can feel a little blank, and listening to stuff can change that. Writing’s a very personal thing, though, even when you’re writing with other people. You’ve got to be happy with what you’re playing before you can be happy with the whole thing."
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Are you worried about the difficult second album yet?
T: "We’re worried about the difficult first album!"
N: "We’re still writing songs for this album. Since the album’s probably going to be released around February/March next year it’s kind of like we still have a rush to have totally everything finalised. There’s a definite picture. It’s been produced and mixed."
T: "It’s 80% done, I’d say."
A: "We’ve got a whole album if we want it. But we’ve got all this time to sit on it so we might as well be writing just in case there’s something we want to replace that’s already on there."
Why has the release been put back so far?
T: "Record company."
Piers slides into corporate speech: "Because for a proper campaign for the single to be done, or two singles, which is what you need for an album, by the time you go to release it you’re into the shitty end of the year and Christmas sales."
You haven’t got a Christmas single?
T: "We did write a Christmas song but it was a bit too Cliff Richard."
P: "So we gave it to the Darkness." (Laughs)
"The scene at the moment tho is very punky."Says Nathan, pulling the conversation back. "There’s a bunch of bands on Poptones [Alan McGees’ label, whose roster includes The Libertines], with us and The Others on the Mercury release thing. Basically, besides a band called Echelon [also on Poptones] it’s really punk orientated, garage-y rock at the moment so I think the later release will help the scene move towards us, Kasabian …
T: "And Hope of the States and bands like that."
Did you know what you wanted when you went into the studio?
N: "We worked with Chris Sheldon, he’s done stuff with Biffy Clyro and Oceansize, so we left it a bit open, but we knew what we wanted."
T: "We did a lot of stuff, like experimenting in the studio as well."
You’ve got a free-form jazz album in the offing.
"Yeeeah." Says Todd, nearly straight faced. "If we sell a couple of million records – then we release the free form jazz album and people’ll just buy it anyway."
At this point the conversation spirals off in glut of comic-side projects each band member has evidently been planning for some time. Piers percussive outfit ‘Screams of the Beyond’ is struggling to get a deal apparently.
T: "I’m in a 70’s prog band called Sarcophagus II’"
Do you travel through time to play with them…? (Laughs)
Adam offers to read out some of Piers’ poetry...
Todd: "We’ll crack on, there are copyright issues with Mercury, we’ll crack on."
"I think I might have one that might be relevant to you" says Adam darkly. I clumsily change the subject squirming slightly, before we’re interrupted by crew. Discussion spills onto the merits of Girls Aloud.
I was going to ask you about your multi-culturalism.
"I think that falls under ‘How did we all meet’’ says Todd dubiously.
A: "Basically we were all influenced heavily by British Rock."
That’s not really what I was asking…
A: "Are you going to say ‘does you area of birth affect your music…"
It does though doesn’t it?
Todd has the last word: "I’d have to say that I come from the most un-British place on earth. I come from Adelaide in Australia, and it’s not really what you’d call the epicentre of music. I think that’s where my ambition comes from, cause there is fuckin’ nothing there. I grew up listening to a shit load of British music and because it’s all so far away it becomes kind of mystical to you. Just being here and actually doing it is just amazing."
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