MUSIC | Soundscapes: An Interview with The Boxer Rebellion
August 2011 | The Boxer Rebellion, with Daniel J. Gerstle | Humanitarianbazaar.org
Q has described the music of the UK-based alternative rock band, The Boxer Rebellion, as “arena-sized rock music redolent of Bends-era Radiohead and full of shimmering grace.” Artrocker wrote that the band is “dripping with achingly beautiful tunes.” The soundscapes they refer to originate with American singer-guitarist Nathan Nicholson, Australian guitarist Todd Howe, British bassist Adam Harrison, and British drummer Piers Hewitt.
The Boxer Rebellion surprised many music watchers last winter when their latest album, Union, outsold Coldplay on iTunes in the United States. The feat put them at the top of the US iTunes alternative chart, even though the group does not have a label and has not yet released the CD version of the album.
For a first run at TBR’s new album, Union, HELO recommends starting your playlist with band favorite “Flashing Red Light Means Go.” Follow that up with their driving hit single “Evacuate”, the dreamy “These Walls are Thin,” and then the nostalgic song, “Spitting Fire.”
After seeing TBR’s two live shows – including a little stage miming for one scene on the set of Nanette Burstein’s upcoming film, Going the Distance, (starring Drew Barrymore, Christina Applegate, and Justin Long) – HELO Editor Daniel J. Gerstle had the opportunity to speak to all four band members by conference call.
Before heading out to their Samsung BEBO Nights concert at the Gibson Guitar Factory in London, the group talked with HELO about the quartet’s craft, overcoming near-death experiences, keeping long distance relationships, creating a zombie super-band, eating camel in the desert, and sumo-wrestling Bono. The band also generously helped HELO assemble a playlist recommendation for you, the readers.
HELO MAGAZINE: Thank you guys so much for talking with HELO. You know, many of our audience members are humanitarian aid workers, human rights advocates, and journalists who work in, or are from, crisis zones all over the world. They’re often looking for new music, and it can be hard to find in some of those places… Also, if you ever wanted to tap the Taliban or Somali pirate markets, this might be your best bet.
ALL: Great. Sounds good.
H: Your name, The Boxer Rebellion, calls a lot of attention, as do the names of your songs “Evacuate,” “Semi-Automatic,” “Forces.” There’s some kind of passion at work there, but I’ve read that you’re not political. Are we missing something? What are the origins of these kinds of names?
NATHAN NICHOLSON (VOCALS, GUITAR): The only real political song that we did, as far as the lyrics, was a song called “Cowboys and Engines.” That was the only kind of quasi-political song that we’ve actually done. We might sing a bit about this and about that, but…
ADAM HARRISON (BASS): We selected the name in a historical dictionary. We liked the idea of the story, too. I don’t know how much you know about the Boxer Rebellion, but it was an uprising in 1900 and it seemed to be a pretty genuine tide rising up to resist the colonial influences in China. Not intentionally, we’ve always felt that we’ve kind of struggled to get ourselves out there.
TODD HOWE (GUITAR): We didn’t know that when we named us, though. I guess it’s quite paradoxical because music for the most part is escapist.
NATHAN: A lot of our music is escapism though we’re not necessarily unhappy people. Like our first album is called Exits, a new song is “Evacuate,” and the song “Soviets” is about the first ones to go, “heading westwards towards the sun.” Kind of like when the pioneers came and they all moved to California looking for a better future, that’s what our songs are about.
H: So, as far as you know, there aren’t any Chinese Boxers out there setting themselves on fire in protest of your name or anything?
[Chuckles]
ALL: Nah.
H: In fact, they should see you as their champions.
NATHAN: There probably aren’t any left, but if there are they haven’t heard our music.
H: I think one of you used the term “soundscapes” to describe your music. Maybe we could start with Todd? What is your starting point when you’re looking to create a soundscape with this music?
TODD: Lots of effects. To be honest, our influences are eclectic, from different areas of music. We’ve worked out that it’s what we do best, creating that sort of music. That style promotes the best emotional response internally when you’re writing it and performing it. I guess that’s why we like it. There’s a lot of escapism in there, as well. We search it out.
NATHAN: The atmosphere adds emotion to the song. A lot of the bands we like collectively, like Radiohead or Figueroa or The Nationals, all have a definite mood to their music. Radiohead especially, because what they do is add reverb and guitar sounds, the backing vocals.
H: Piers, on the drums, you’re really working your ass off out there. With “Red Lights” and then “Move On,” you start off the new album as much more of a forward presence than one is accustomed to hearing [in this kind of alternative rock]. I read that some of your influences were Keith Moon and John Bonham. Can you talk about what your starting point is?
PIERS HEWITT (DRUMS): Yeah, definitely. Keith Moon, I wouldn’t say is an influence. I’ve read his biography and that was a really interesting book, but I wouldn’t say he influences my playing. And I’d like to think he doesn’t influence my playing everywhere else, as well, or I might be dead pretty soon. But in terms of playing, I’m quite influenced by the bands that we all really get off on like Elbow and The Nationals. They somehow deliver more than your box standard back beat drummer. The best of what we do is like in Soviets where you take a rhythm inside a good song and lift it, rather than just sit behind it. That’s what I get off on in terms of drums. I’m not really interested in drummers who actually piss all over their kits and stuff like that. I’m also not interested in drummers who just sit there. My starting point, well, my favorite drummer is the guy who plays the Paul Weller stuff. Not because of Paul Weller’s songs, but because he really brought something to the table other drummers might not have done.
H: Great. Adam, I wish I could start off with a question about craft, but all I can think about is when we see pictures of your albums is you standing on the roof above everybody else. Are you about to jump down on them, or what?
ADAM: Yeah, thank you for the question about my superior bass playing. I was actually planning for your war thing, a surprise attack. While the guys stand around the roof, I might jump down and break their necks.
H: You’ve listed Elbow as one of your favorite bands. What are some of the heroes you aspire to?
ADAM: There are heroes that I listen to and identify with, [but they] aren’t necessarily that “cool.” I’m really influenced by a guy named Mike Dirnt who played with Green Day and made the switch from guitar to bass. It kind of set up my style and gave me the passion to nail the songs and get into it.
PIERS: Very similar to where I’m coming from. Adam and I work pretty closely together. We generally get off on the same things as far as we create pretty similar stuff. I don’t like to think that I’m like one particular drummer, cause that’s quite one- dimensional.
H: Nathan, I stumbled upon the story about you in the Maryville Daily Times [of Maryville, Tennessee, where you’re from]. You’re making them famous.
NATHAN: Fantastic. Well, the most famous citizen from there is, you know, Lamar Alexander, the Republican who ran for President a few years ago? He was Mr. Miracle High School, but he’s kind of a douche. Anyway, yeah, hope you learned something.
H: I think your voice is really unique. A lot of people are bringing up Sigur Ros of Iceland to compare to your vocals. Do you feel when you start a song that it is something cathartic, curative?
NATHAN: A lot of times you write stuff that you don’t like; I think about what would work really well for all four of us to play together. What works best is what everyone can put their own stamp on. I’m really interested in creating good melody. When Todd and I started playing, I didn’t want to sing, but it was the only way to play the songs cause we didn’t have anyone else-
TODD: I forgot about that. Originally, I was going to sing. Can you imagine me singing? Wow.
NATHAN: [Cautious laugh] We’ve been a band for eight years now, and my style has just kind of grown out of those eight years. Originally, I could only sing falsetto and it took a long time before I was able to. So yes, Sigur Ros is an influence, anyone who has a really good melody and some kind of emotion to it, not teenage angst, but real feeling to it. I’m a big U2 fan as well.
[Pause]
H: Um, uh, I totally forgot my next question.
TODD: Cause of the tumble weed over the U2 comment.
[Laughs]
H: Do you find that playing the music is something that becomes technical, like a job, or does it remain something that is still cathartic? After you play a song a thousand times does it still give you goose bumps?
TODD: If it was still like a job, I’d probably be the first person to say I didn’t want to do it anymore. You get so much more from it than that…
ADAM: Some songs maybe, but I guess the aim is that when you’re writing that you write a song that’s true to what you’re trying to do and if you manage to achieve that, it becomes less mechanic.
PIERS: Sometimes there will be a song which you can get bored of, but then you’re in a gig somewhere and [suddenly playing] it means something to you again and feels almost new. The trick of playing really good shows is that you can get into that as much as the audience.
NATHAN: I feel lethargic about some songs usually when we’re rehearsing them, but during a gig there’s more spontaneity to these things.
H: Another reason you guys rose to the surface is that definitely a subset of our audience is out in war and disaster zones risking their lives, sometimes having near death experiences and things. Music becomes a kind of comfort, a place where people escape when they’re out in the desert or the jungle or whatever… Nathan, I read you had a near-death experience when you were touring with The Killers? What role did it play in your music?
NATHAN: Yeah, we weren’t on tour [with The Killers] but went to play some shows with them. Then my appendix ruptured, and I was in the hospital a while.
ADAM: It was pretty bad.
NATHAN: Yeah, everyone else says it was pretty bad. I was obviously sedated. I wasn’t in a good way for quite a while. It took a few years before I was well. It was a crappy time, but I wrote a few songs we ended up using for the first album [Exits].
H: Did it change the way that you not only wrote music but how you heard music? Maybe others of you have had similar experiences?
NATHAN: I wouldn’t say [it changed] how I listened to music. I was just happy to get out of the hospital and happy I was home writing. It was really good to get back into the band again cause things had just started going well and all of a sudden that happened. For me that’s where music played a role; it gave [me back a sense of] normality.
ADAM: I know that music has definitely helped me depending on what mood I was in throughout my life. I see how it can play a role in the lives of people you know [in international work] more so than others.
PIERS: [In the context of my] friend who’s gone out with the territorial army, and he wasn’t even a soldier, it puts things in perspective in a good way. I don’t like musicians who take what they’re doing too seriously. It’s kind of where we fit artistically, soundscape escapism, but it’s not the be-all end-all in the context of what we’re talking about. Thinking of how people get through things like that helps us create music in the right way and not take it too seriously.
H: Let’s say you had some good friends like many of our readers working overseas, what would you put on a playlist soundtrack to send to them?
ADAM: That’s a tough one, because on the one hand you wouldn’t want something melancholic. And you wouldn’t want something to far to the other end of the scale, too happy, so…
TODD: You wouldn’t want too much sunshine on there?
ADAM: Good music’s good music. I really like MGMT’s new album, I find that music to be interesting without being too introspective and depressing. It depends how people treat music, cause I find things – stuff like Figueroa to be quite helpful, whereas others think they’re depressing. It depends what you’re looking for.
TODD: I’m still listening to the new Noah & the Whale album. If you take it just on lyrical content it’s probably the most depressing thing you’ve ever heard, but it’s original in such a way and the music is so amazingly beautiful that you focus on its delivery. That’s really magnificent.
PIERS: I think Coldplay’s a good example. They’re downbeat and uplifting at the same time. They’re the ones I would put down if I were to do a mix tape. For me it’s what communicates. However commercial Coldplay might be, they’re really good.
H: Another thing you guys have in common with many of our readers is the long distance romances, right? Those of you who have a significant other, how is it when you go out on the road for a period of time? What do you do to cope and let them know that you’re doing right?
TODD: You never really seem that far apart anymore, because you’ve got Skype and Blackberries and iPhones. It’s really easy to stay in touch. I’ve got a daughter and she’s about fifteen months. When you’re away, particularly at this point they just grow up, even when you’re away for a week. I missed her walking. I missed her crying for the first time. It does become a bit difficult, but it’s all part of it.
ADAM: I try and look at it in a conscious way, realizing that I have advantages other people don’t get. Other people have relationships where they’re constantly with each other and they can’t look at how good they’ve got it and how they love each other.
NATHAN: I think our wives, they don’t have to worry if we’re coming home or not.
H: I don’t know, the history of rock and roll…
[Laughs]
NATHAN: Yeah, well, we’re not that crazy, we’re pretty boring.
PIERS: When we go away sometimes it’s pretty tough, but it’s really good to come home as well. That kind of feeling you get when you come home and see them again. Not many of my friends probably get that.
H: In this new movie that’s coming out, Going the Distance-
PIERS: Which you’re in.
H: Yeah, I’m just a blur in the background.
PIERS: Did you get on camera?
H: At Southpaw, I was pretty close to the stage, so I might have. Remember there was this silly moment when we had to pretend to be enjoying the music when you guys weren’t even playing and you were just standing there?
[Chuckles]
ALL: Yeah.
NATHAN: I was saying to someone afterwards when we got to England that it’s a weird experience playing in front of a room of three hundred and fifty people, and they’re really into it and then the director calls cut. There’s no clapping, there’s no “that was really good,” just obviously an act.
PIERS: I’ve never played in front of a crowd that was so into what we were doing, but knew none of the words.
TODD: At the Bowery Ballroom, we really weren’t sure how we were going to be able to mime our own stuff.
H: What I thought was hilarious is that you had stand-ins.
[Chuckles]
TODD: That’s how we roll these days. I really want one of those for real life.
NATHAN: It was a good few days when we were in New York. We’ve been in New York about four times this year and just had a great time.
H: … Justin Long’s character decides to manage your band in the film, after having met his lover, Drew Barrymore, at one of your concerts at the beginning. How did you land that?
TODD: I had emails back and forth with a guy at New Line Cinema. Our manager [Sumit Bothra] used to know someone who worked at New Line. She passed it on to the music supervisor who came down to our Troubadour show in L.A. There was a script and a need for a band. She basically pushed us as the only band for the film.
NATHAN: We only met the Director [Nanette Burstein] a few days beforehand in New York.
TODD: When they knew we were a real band, they adapted the script as well, which is even more amazing. We can’t believe our luck on that one.
H: A lot of the crowd was not only appreciative, but then they discovered you, so it was so much better to have your music repeated a hundred times in a row than say, the Insane Clown Posse or something… I was going to ask a few absurdist questions, but now I’m starting to think they’re just silly.
TODD: Yeah, they’re the best.
H: If you had magical powers to resurrect any kind of dead rockers that you like and you could make your own zombie band, who would you resurrect?
NATHAN: Jimi Hendrix.
TODD: Would they be the same age or the age they’re at now?
H: Well, if they’re zombies…
TODD: Ah, the same.
NATHAN: Would Kurt Cobain be missing his head?
[Awkward laughs]
PIERS: I would like to see Keith Moon.
TODD: Nick Drake.
NATHAN: Yeah, Nick Drake. Jeff Buckley would be great.
TODD: Jeff and Tim, like a father and son gig.
H: We need a base player.
ALL: Entwistle. Yeah, John Entwistle.
TODD: That’d be a shit fight between them and the live ones, you know. Messy.
[Chuckles.]
H: If you could choose any band living or dead to kick their ass, who would it be?
NATHAN: The Kinks?
ADAM: The Bee Gees.
[Laughs]
ADAM: Robin Gibbs, really.
TODD: I’d like to go sumo wrestling with Bono.
[Laughs]
TODD: Put one of those sumo suits on and just go for it.
H: Yeah, he’s kind of asking for it these days…Okay, so then which band – living or dead – would you choose to a rock duel?
TODD: The Mars Volta.
PIERS: We’d lose, that’s the thing, wouldn’t want to lose.
ADAM: You’d have to duel with feeling.
PIERS: How about Nickelback?
ALL: Oh, God, yeah. Nickelback.
NATHAN: Creed just came back.
TODD: Yeah.
PIERS: You know what? Jon Bon Jovi. I’d love to smack him. Sorry, went back a question. There’s a photo of Bon Jovi on the tube over here advertising a gig at the arena, and they’re all wearing shades.
TODD: And stone-washed denim.
PIERS: I bet the photo was taken indoors, as well.
H: If you were stranded in the desert and had to eat something to survive, which would it be: a) a camel, b) goat liver, c) a baboon, or d) a fellow band member?
TODD: Definitely a fellow band member.
PIERS: I’d go for the goat liver.
ADAM: But if you’re going to starve you [want something bigger].
TODD: Go for the camel.
NATHAN: I’d go camel. Though, not sure how to order it.
ADAM: Can I have bacon with the goat liver?
H: When you capture the pirate market and you’re playing in the deserts of Somalia, that’s what you might eat, camel or goat liver… Okay, imagine you’re on a plane, flying over the Pacific and the pressure drops. Do you a) scream in a high pitched squeal, b) flirt with the flight attendant, c) confess to a fellow band member that you’re not who he thinks you are, or d) fill in the blank?
TODD: I’d shit my pants.
PIERS: I’d probably hit on the airhostess.
NATHAN: I’d probably just get out a magazine and read it.
ADAM: I’d go for the free bar.
TODD: I’d definitely upgrade myself to business class for the few minutes.
PIERS: If you’re going to die, you might as well do it lying down.
NATHAN: Try and get shot by an air marshal.
[Awkward laughs.]
ADAM: [You mentioned before that the band could actually play for troops or aid workers] in Kabul?
H: We have advisors or volunteers in a lot of these crazy places that you would probably never want to go to… Would you consider doing something like that? And wearing flack jackets and all?
ALL: Sure.
TODD: I think I’d wing it.
H: Does your tour go out of the Western countries very much?
TODD: Australia…We were planning on India. Other places possibly down the line.
ADAM: We had a gig in Iran as well, but that’s kind of out now.
[Awkward laughs]
H: Well, thank you so much for doing this. It’s really a privilege.
NATHAN: Thank you very much for thinking of us.
ALL: Thanks. Have good holidays.
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