Q&A: The Boxer Rebellion (Part 1)
By Kate Cliffen on February 9, 2010
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For London-based alternative rock outfit The Boxer Rebellion, the past decade had more ups and downs than a tabloid romance. The band, who are currently writing their third studio album, are made up of vocalist/guitarist and keyboardist Nathan Nicholson, lead guitarist Todd Howe, bassist Adam Harrison, and drummer Piers Hewitt.
After more than their fair share of set-backs, 2009 was a deservingly great year for the band – who have risen from the record-label dust (who needs ‘em?) with a No.1 album on iTunes, as well as iTunes proclaiming the self-released and self-produced UNION as their ‘Alternative Album of the 2009.’ Yes, The Boxer Rebellion is back in full force (the band, that is - not the violent anti-imperialist uprising in early 20th century China), and will be hitting the U.S. in March as part of SXSW Festival.
FILTER recently had a Q&A with leader of the pack, Nathan Nicholson, about the triumphant, though formidable, task of self-releasing an album and how they are basking in its glory.
Your latest album, UNION, did outstandingly well on the download chart. Is there a much greater feeling of satisfaction because of the fact it’s self-released and self-produced?
Nathan Nicholson: I suppose so, though we'd never experienced chart success before. The album was finished over a year before it was released, collecting dust, but even then we were pretty satisfied with it. For a few months we actually considered putting the album up for free because we had this finished work and no one, especially the ghouls of the record industry, showed interest. When we initially started to record a second album we were simply recording whenever a new batch of tunes would come along. We figured the album was finished on many occasions and then suddenly something new would present itself and we'd be back in the studio. In the end it was lovely to receive a great response from something that took us years to record and well over a year to release.
Is it hard, constantly promoting yourselves, as well as touring? You must be busy.
Our management is probably the busiest. They are effectively running things like a small label. We are the ones that get the privilege of traveling around the world playing shows. Nothing is ever too hard if you are in a band full time. We relish in activity, because we know that at least things are happening and progressing. We were stagnant for such a long period of time that answering questions about our music, and gigging our music, are fairly simple and often wonderful tasks.
How did you feel about the U.K. charts initially denying you of official chart success, because of the ‘rules and regulations’ of a download-only album?
I think our fans and the press actually picked up on it before we did. The rule at the time was that an album couldn’t count towards the Official UK Charts unless it appeared in physical format in the stores. Obviously we couldn’t afford to make a physical CD, so we were naturally bemused as to why a legally downloaded album wouldn’t be just as relevant a ‘sale’ as a legally purchased CD. We weren't overly bothered by it. I felt it was an outdated rule, but I was more impressed by what was happening in the USA with the Billboard Charts. Luckily in the last few months that rule seems to have be amended, just a bit too late for us.
Look out for more from Nicholson tomorrow, where he tells us about the inspirations behind that stadium sized sound.
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