Garage Rock Dreaming with The Boxers
Including an interview with lead singer Duncan Lee, where we talked about growing up in the scene, the truth behind being a musician, and what’s next for Chicago
By Megan Landre
If you crave insanely enticing guitar riffs, heavy doses of some seriously sweet vocals and even sweeter lyrics, then look no further. If you don’t know who The Boxers are, it’s about damn time you’ve learned. A savory blend of psychedelic blues, 60s pop rock, and the tiniest bit of punk, The Boxers are everything you didn't know you needed. Their debut album, The Blue Pool, is comprised of thirteen sun-soaked tracks that will make you look back upon your teen years and remember the wild nights you thought you’d long forgotten. Although The Boxers are making a few changes (more about that later), I can assure you, they’re coming back bigger and better than ever. Get ready Chicago, because for lack of a better phrase, The Boxers are about to tear some shit up.
I can remember the first time I heard them. It was late at night and I was somewhere in the middle of Florida, my skin sticking to the lumpy leather couch I was crashing on. Restless, I decided to read an ancient interview with Connor Brodner of Twin Peaks, where he very briefly mentioned his brotherly love for The Boxers. I was intrigued to say the least. I looked them up immediately and was instantly blown away by their lucid, radiant sound. Who were these guys? Where had they been my whole life? I downloaded the album right then and there and had it on repeat until I finally sunk into a garage rock-induced slumber. I’m not even ashamed to say that I played the album most of the way home (a 22-hour drive, mind you), and even now, six months later, I still can’t get enough of it.
So, what is it that makes The Boxers so damn infectious? A number of things, really. I am in no way exaggerating when I say that lead singer and songwriter Duncan Lee’s got one of the best voices in Chicago. Smooth and intoxicating, it’s strong enough to knock you off your feet. And what’s more? His lyricism is pretty much pure genius. From girl problems, to being young and angsty, to trying to figure out what life’s all about, Duncan has flawlessly captured what it’s like to be an adolescent in this day and age. Even better is his incredible ability to incorporate conceptual ideas and thoughts into his albums, creating a one-of-a-kind listening experience. Now throw in a couple killer guitars and an incredible drummer and you've got yourself some downright tasty tunes.
As I mentioned earlier, The Boxers are changing things up a bit. Formerly comprised of Terrence Kiser, Zach Bridgman, and Vince Pimentel, The Boxers have decided to swap out a few members; however, you can expect a slightly larger lineup with a few new instruments and a groovier, more far-out sound. While it’s still too early to tell, The Blue Pool is a clear indication of what The Boxers are capable of and I'm eager to see what they're going to hit us with next.
Rolling Papers and a Kitten: Meeting Duncan Lee
So there I was, a kid from the farms, standing on the front stoop of a house in Lakeview. I was more than a little tired (I had just come from a 9 am Monday morning class at Columbia) and moderately nervous, seeing as it was my first solo project for Houseshow. Not only that, but how often do you have the opportunity to sit down with one of your favorite musicians and just talk? Not too often.
I knocked on the door a few times and was greeted by Duncan’s roommate (and Brisco Darling bandmate) Socks, and told him I was there to interview Duncan. Socks led me into the living room and announced my arrival, which was followed by a colossal “FUCK” from another room. Duncan came out and assured me that he hadn’t forgotten about our interview, but that he had accidentally slept in due to a wild night the night before. He apologized and told me that he would just be a moment. I was grateful, because that meant that I had bought myself a few extra minutes to go over my shitty excuse for notes that I had scribbled down on the train ride over.
After feeding his kitten, we exchanged a proper introduction and got to talking. Right away I noticed how genuinely kind and laid-back Duncan was, and throughout our conversation I was surprised at how much he had actually opened up, despite the fact that we had just met each other for the first time minutes before. I almost couldn’t even comprehend how it was possible for someone to know so much and care so deeply about music, but really, what else would you expect from someone that was practically thrown into the scene at the tender age of fifteen? Below you’ll find the entire (and mostly unedited) conversation, where we discuss The Boxers’ future, Duncan gives advice to younger rockers, and tries to predict what’s next for Chicago’s scene.
Did you always want to be a musician?
No, not til like eighth grade, which was when I started playing music. I really didn't care that much about it back then. I guess it really started when I started going to live shows, that was when I figured out that it was something I really wanted to do. I made a band my sophomore year of high school. It was my first real band.
What was that called?
Magic Child we were called.
What type of sound did you guys have? Did you guys experiment with sound?
Yeah, it was really psychedelic. Psychedelic blues. We had a girl singer. It was really far out stuff, like seven-minute-long songs, stuff like that.
Have you always been more drawn to the psychedelic stuff? Blues and rock, too?
Uh-uh, no. I used to listen to terrible music. I grew up on like, okay music. My dad liked Springsteen a lot, which is eh. He likes The Clash, Bob Marley, and I’m really into all that stuff. But yeah, I listened to really, really, really shitty music for a long time.
Did you go through that pop punk phase?
I never really got into that, like I never really got into Blink. I loved Linkin Park for a long time. I went through the whole like, death metal phase. When I started playing guitar, I was into like, uh, I don’t even know what I’m talking about, it was just so upsetting.
So you said you started playing guitar around eighth grade, was that to be in someone’s band or did you just feel like picking it up?
I just had friends who played music, and I went to a tribute show they were doing for like 70's rock songs, and there was this one kid, who is still in the scene now, who was just like playing guitar so crazily that I wanted to learn how to play guitar, and that’s why I started playing guitar.
So who were your influences when you were in Magic Child?
Like people? Or like personal?
Both.
Oh yeah, people I know, Twin Peaks. I went to grade school and high school with most of those dudes. They’re really good friends of mine and they’re sort of the reason I started making music myself. I was a freshman in high school when I went to their shows and it was just so much fun, being a freshman and drinking beer and jumping in the mosh pits and stuff. It was cool. And older influences, I mean, The Beatles.
Did you get that from your parents?
Nah, my parents don't like the cool old music, they like the “almost” cool old music. Like my favorite older music was The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and then 50's doo-wop, and then like Pink Floyd. Those are my favorites from the past.
Nice, nice. So uh, I guess my next question is, what happened to The Boxers?
Oh, what happened to The Boxers…well, I mean we replaced half of the band. Our guitar player had creative differences, that’s how we put it. And in a good way, like it wasn’t like, bad creative differences. We just consciously wanted to go a different direction, and we both knew that we wanted to go a different direction. Also, he was a singer/songwriter and records a bunch of stuff by himself, so it’s hard to tell someone like that you don’t wanna play his songs. Yeah, so he decided to go back to school and then because of that we all just sort of reevaluated the situation. We actually, you’re the first person to publicly tell this, we’re coming back as a five-piece with a new sound. We’re working on that right now. We’re not completely done, because I think everyone thinks we were.
Yeah! That’s what I thought, I thought The Boxers were over. I was so bummed!
I found that out like two days ago, I thought everyone knew we were just sort of taking a break, but no, everyone thinks we’re done with the band. We’re coming back strong. We’re coming back with four or five harmonies. Two synths, a cat.
Good! That’s exciting.
[Duncan’s kitten jumps onto the table]
I just got this guy, his name is Hobbes.
He’s really cute.
Yeah, he’s the cutest little guy, don’t eat the bugs though.
But yeah, when I heard the news I was really bummed because I never had a chance to see you guys live, and I heard that you guys were over and I was just kinda sad for a second there. But I’m happy to find out you guys are just taking a break. Are you planning to release anything anytime soon? It’s probably all still in the early workings, right?
Okay, so that’s the other thing. We figured out all of this pretty much as soon as we got back from tour, which was a month and a half long thing. Before that we had just been practicing for the release show and finishing the album. We haven’t had time to just like, write. I haven’t had time to just create for creation’s sake in almost a year because we had the album, we had the two tours, we had so much shit to do. I haven’t been able to just sit with a guitar and a mic and just mess around.
When we got back, that’s really what I did for about three months straight, and got a million songs out of it. So me and the drummer, we’re working on some demos. We’re starting to get the general idea for the new album. I don’t wanna jump back into the world until we’re tighter than we once were. I think we’ve found the lineup, but I’m not sure if we’re gonna keep it yet. We’re figuring it out.
Are you or were you ever associated with a label?
No. No, we’re just hangin’ out.
You do all your stuff by yourself? You recorded and mixed all your songs and released it by yourself?
We had a lot of help from Treehouse Records with all of that. They hooked us up with CDs. House Call Entertainment helped us out with our release show. We had a couple of friends help us book the tour, it was really a team effort, but like it was our team.
About the tour, how did you set that up? Did you know people on the west coast?
Well, we went on tour two and a half years ago with our original lineup and our original shitty 10-track mixtape of an album, and that went just terribly. Don’t get me wrong, it was the first road trip I had ever been on, and it was a blast, but we played probably like 7–10 shows in three weeks. It wasn’t a successful tour by any means, but we made a bunch of friends and met a bunch of people. Then when we had a couple of singles out, we went for three weeks last October. Our buddy Daniel Jenks booked us half of that, and we did the rest of it, just filled in all the gaps. That was a Midwest-only thing. SXSW was cake, that was in March. We didn't play officially, but we got like 10 shows out of that. From there we went west to LA, and we played a little bit in between. And then we went to Washington and back through Colorado. That was very long.
Did you like the west coast? Have you been to the east coast?
I’ve been to the east coast personally, our band hasn’t been on the east coast yet. The west coast is like my favorite part of the country. Most people hate LA, I love LA. I had a great time in LA. When we were there we had our guitarist’s 21st birthday, and Twin Peaks had the same two days off we did, and we had hotels next to each other, so that was just a ball. I mean, I think the Pacific Northwest is the most beautiful place in the country for sure. I love it up there, I wanna move there as soon as possible. The west coast is just a dream.
You guys shot a music video with Ryan Ohm, what was that like, shooting with him?
It was great. It only took one day to shoot all of that stuff. Ryan Ohm is like the best dude in the world. He knows what he’s doing with a camera. He’s got it all up here, in his noggin. I don’t know, he’s great. Him and Jackson are both really good at what they do, they’re putting out a movie soon, which I’m excited to see. We shot in four places. We shot in a funeral home, we shot in our studio, in a house, and in a forest.
Was that shot locally?
It was all shot up north, in the suburbs.
Did you come up with the idea for the video, or was it more of a team effort?
I just went over to Ryan and Jackson’s house, or I think it was their house, I don’t know. We just had a few beers and just sat and talked about some ideas. The original idea for the video was to have a picnic at a cemetery, and shoot like a beach video at a cemetery and have it be really dark. But then they thought it would be in bad taste to be dancing and smoking at a cemetery, which makes sense. So then we moved it, and the idea just progressed into this thing where this ghost chick is just killing all of us pretty much.
It was cool though, I liked it a lot. Are there any new bands in Chicago that you think are worth a listen?
I just made a new band, with this dude Socks that lives over there, in that room, the one who answered the door. It’s called Brisco Darling, I play keyboards for it.
Okay so you have The Boxers, which is kind of in limbo at this point? And this side project, Brisco Darling?
I do, it’s sort of in limbo but it’s also the main thing that I’m working on. We’re not really in limbo, it’s just the calm before the storm. We’re about to do a bunch of shit and the game plan is not to release anything or play any shows until it blows everyone’s minds completely away compared to our last thing that we did. I’m excited about it. And this other band, Brisco Darling, is like a month old, we’ve played one show.
Where was that?
A house. We’re playing Beat Kitchen July 16th. Also, I haven’t heard them live yet, but the band Whitney…
Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about them lately, a Smith Westerns kind of thing.
Yeah, some of those Smith Western dudes. They’re like the Smith Westerns, but groovier to me, at least from what I’ve heard, which I think is pretty cool. Honestly, there’s not like a lot out there right now.
Nothing blowing up yet?
I think there’s kind of a settle down happening right now. There was the first generation of Twin Peaks and The Orwells, and the bands that were gonna make it made it, and the bands that didn’t sort of either stopped trying or started to lay low. And then that happened again with Modern Vices and I think right now it’s sorta at that in between. If there is a new band, we haven’t heard of it yet. There’s probably some cool shit that’s about to come out, which I'm really excited for. Oh, I’ve been listening to YAWN a lot.
Oh yeah, me too actually. For this class I'm taking we had to pick a label for some project and…
Did you pick FeelTrip?
Yeah, I did. So I’ve just been trying to listen to as much of their shit as I possibly can. I’ve known of FeelTrip for a while, but I’ve just been kind of slacking.
Did you ever go to FeelTrip?
No, unfortunately. I kind of missed out on that whole thing. I live out by the Illinois/Wisconsin border, so it’s hard for me to come down here a lot. Also, I didn’t really know about them in their heyday.
Yeah, they had the best DIY venue in Chicago.
Do any newer DIY venues even compare?
Nope, not even close. I think The Observatory is a really cool place, they just don’t have a lot of shows there. That place is the most legit one now, because they have a bar, they have seats, and it’s still DIY.
Really? A bar? Like a legit one with a permit and everything?
Nah, no permits. You know, we smoke cigs and sell alcohol to anyone who needs it and drink on the roof and it’s awesome. FeelTrip was just the bomb, it was just too good. We were blessed with it and then it got shut down. There’s one sort of similar to it in Pilsen, but it’s in Pilsen, which is a bitch to get to. And then it’s also not the same thing. FeelTrip could probably hold over a thousand people, it was a warehouse. They had a giant paper mâche cat head with a fog machine cigarette coming out of its mouth. All of the best bands that were coming out of Chicago were playing there. They had Chinese lanterns hanging all over the place, it was the coolest place ever.
You were talking about coming out at the same time as some of these other bands, but before I go there when did you first start The Boxers?
The original lineup was 2012, I think it was the end of 2012.
When did you initially notice that your music was gaining some popularity?
Early 2014, I would say. You know, we were just another shitty high school band. Our original shit was more punk, we were just a shitty garage rock band like every other band at that time. Then we decided to go to school for music, and we started to get more serious and got asked to play the House of Blues and stuff like that. That was really the first notable thing I remember. We played at the House of Blues in January of 2014, and that was really memorable. That was the first big place that we played. But then we switched the band lineup less than six months after that, and that’s when things really started to pick up. That’s when we would go play shows and people would sort of freak out, and that was like the first time that happened. We started selling places out and things definitely started to get on the more serious side
Looking back, what was your most memorable show? It doesn't have to be Chicago, it can be anywhere.
Hm, I'd say…I'd say Lincoln, Nebraska was a lot of fun. There’s this house that we played there called The Treehouse, that our buddy Colby runs. It was our bass player’s birthday and people just get rowdy in Nebraska. It was great, we were all drunk and we broke Vince’s drum set and my guitar and we were bleeding all over the place, our gear was all over the floor. I dove into the drum set during the last guitar solo and I threw my guitar and Vince was bleeding out of his head and drumming around my head, it was kind of crazy.
Sounds like a successful show.
Oh yeah, for sure.
So back to what I was about to say, you went to school with Twin Peaks, and maybe some other people, I think?
Yes, Chance The Rapper. He was a junior when I was a freshman and Twin Peaks dudes were sophomores when I was a freshman. We all definitely hung out. You know, after school, if you were one of those kids, it was such a small school that you knew every other one of those kids, so we would all chill in the park and smoke cigarettes after school and stuff like that. Plenty of times we would just be playing acoustics or free-styling at the park after class.
What’s it like having all these artists that you can kind of lean on, or ask advice, or play shows with?
It’s stressful.
Is it?
It’s helpful when I have a big decision to make. Frequently when I have a big life decision about music to make, I go and talk to Cadien cause he’s a wise, wise Buddha man. Chance, like I’m friends with him, but I’m not tight with him like that. We’re in such different worlds that I don’t even know if he could help us if he wanted to, not that I know if he wants to or not.
Honestly? It’s just a lot to live up to. It’s really a lot to live up to. After one year of touring, I was pretty upset that we weren’t playing Pitchfork, which is totally unreasonable. Which I forget is unreasonable, because that’s what Twin Peaks just did. They toured for a year and played Pitchfork. Which, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been seeing them since the beginning of high school, I knew they were gonna get famous. We all knew they were gonna get famous.
Shit, I’ve never really even thought about the possibility that you can see your friends or peers succeed and just wonder why you yourself aren’t at that same level…
Yeah, that’s the whole thing. I try not to compare myself to them because we are really good friends with them. We hang out with them, we used to play shows with them. They deserve every bit of fame they get, I think they’re one of the best bands in Chicago. Actually, just one of the best bands, period. It’s motivational too though. It gets me kind of revved up. When Chance did it, it was like cool, another rapper got really famous. That has nothing to do with me. When Twin Peaks did it, it was like shit, a garage rock band is taking over the world right now.
Seeing as you aren’t signed to a label, do they ever kind of tell you which labels are worth working with?
Cadien helps us get in contact with people, he put us in contact with Grand Jury Records and we were talking to them a little bit at SXSW. He was just introducing us left and right. It’s sort of like you can bring the horse to the water, but you can’t get it to drink type situation. The most that they can do is introduce us to people. I’m not that great at talking to people, I'm alright at it sometimes.
You mean when it comes to business?
Yeah! Frequently when that would happen, I’d be drunk or something and eh…
So, backtracking a little here, how did you get into the DIY scene? I know you said your friends were playing shows…
Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks is how I got into the DIY scene. My first real concert was with Jack and Cadien. I don't know, I was probably about 15, and we killed a thirty case. We broke in to see Black Lips in Logan Square Auditorium. There’s still a video, like we broke out on stage. It was my first concert, but also like first mosh pit, first crowd surf, first stage dive…
Would you consider that a defining moment?
Yeah, like broke on stage and moshed with the band, I was like fuck yeah. And after that, I knew that they had been going to backyard shows and I thought it was weird to hangout with 20-somethings who were smoking cigs all the time, but it’s not weird, it’s like, the best. And then I started doing that, pretty much non-stop.
Your parents, what did they think when you started doing shit like this? Did they understand it?
No, not at all. They’re starting to, now that I don’t live with them, and I’m an adult. Not that they weren’t supportive, because they totally were, but what parent is happy about their high school student child drinking and smoking with a bunch of college dropouts in jean jackets? Not that many people are stoked about that.
It looks like it paid off though. I mean, it looks like you got something out of it…
Even if it doesn't pay off in the conventional sense, it was so much fun. I’ve had some of the best times of my life. I have no regrets about going on tour and seeing house shows across the country, it’s just the funnest thing in the world to do. I almost get bummed out when we play real venues now, cause we’re not playing sold out venues outside of Chicago. I’d rather just play a house full of drunk ass crazy people.
Is it the fact that there aren't necessarily any rules or regulations like your typical venue?
It’s the fact that there’s respect. It brings respect back into the whole thing. It’s the type of thing where you break a guitar string and you can just ask someone if you can use their guitar because you need it. Like, if you spit at someone you’re probably gonna get punched in the face, but you’re not gonna spit at anyone. There’s no asshole doorman telling you not to drink. There’s no dude saying don’t smoke your cigarettes here. It’s just like, I don't know. Bands don’t get ripped off. There’s just a bunch of reasons why. I think there’s a very good place for both of them. Venues couldn't exist without DIY spaces, and DIY spaces couldn’t exist without real venues, or they would just turn into real venues.
I've heard some people from out of state say that they think the Chicago scene is pretty exclusive and hard to get into. Would you disagree with that?
Oh, entirely. I’d say that’s the least true. Get three friends, get one friend. You need one friend. Get one friend who doesn’t know how to play the drums, and you don’t need to know how to play guitar and you got your first show. “We’re a punk two-piece from Missouri,” you know, people love that shit right away. There’s a little bit of exclusivity, it’s weird. Like, it’s exclusive in a way, like you can't be too clean is sort of what it is. There’s a difference between getting into the Chicago scene and making friends with all the people who run it. As a younger kid, I wasn’t really accepted by all the people running it for a long time. And then it just kind of happens eventually, I guess. Like, if you stick around long enough you just become known.
What happened to The Boxers’ older stuff? I know you had an album put out before you released The Blue Pool…
Yeah, we had a little thing called “Manorisms.”
I can’t find that anywhere.
I know you can’t, we erased it from the world. I erased it from the world, we didn’t do anything. Everyone voted against it, but I was like, this is my shit and I’m taking it away. I think it’s bad, I think it’s really bad. But sometimes I listen back on it, and I think there’s some cool ideas. There really are some cool ideas on there. I wish I could just pick and choose a few songs and put them up but…fuck it.
It’s in the past?
Fuck it, yeah. It’s kind of like, I just want to put out a first album and have it be really put together, rather than put out a first album and have it be shit. There’s just a little bit of a personal excuse by erasing that off the internet. Also, we really did become a new band, we got new members, and started writing in a new style, it was very different.
Do you ever plan to be on vinyl?
Oh yeah. We’re working on this album right now, and as soon as we record it we’re gonna put that shit on vinyl.
That’ll be exciting.
I’m excited. I don't know what it’s gonna be called yet, we’re figuring all of this out. I did that song-a-day thing for two months, so we have like, 50 songs or something like that. I tried to pick the best 10–15, and so that’s what we’re sort of working on right now.
Do you have any advice for the kids trying to follow in your footsteps?
Yeah, prioritize your fucking band, man. PRIORITIZE YOUR FUCKING BAND. Don’t prioritize girls, or beer, prioritize your band, first of all. Second of all, take it seriously and don’t give up on your band. I feel like every band could go from a mediocre band to one of the best bands in the scene if you just play together for a year. You’re not gonna sound good if you practice once every two weeks, you will sound good if you practice three times a week. It makes worlds of difference. Instead of going to a party, write a fucking song. That’s the best advice, and I’m trying to tell myself that right now. You have to sacrifice some shit. You have to sacrifice having some fun, you have to sacrifice chilling with some people, you have to sacrifice this and that. Stay on the grind, the music grind. It’s a lot of work sometimes.
Even if it is a lot of work, would you rather be doing anything else?
I would not do anything else, you could not get me to do anything else.
Do you have a side job? The reason I ask is because a lot of musicians tend to have some pretty unusual jobs…
Uh-uh, nope. I’m broke as fuck. I don’t have a job, I’m hangin’ out. I’m in and out of work sometimes, but whenever I don’t need a job, I don’t have a job. It takes a lot of work away from the music, you know?
Where’d you guys record The Blue Pool?
Our buddy, Johnny Meeks, runs a studio in his basement, but he has a bunch of really nice gear and he’s got a soundbooth. It was a really good environment to record in, it’s in Palatine, which is kind of a bitch to get to, but once you’re there, you’re like, there. I like a little bit of isolation from the world. He has pizza rolls, coffee, a swimming pool, N64, and a pool table. So when you’re not recording you can just jump in the pool, play pool, all pool everything. He engineered a lot of it for us, but we did a lot of that for ourselves as well. We took that to The Observatory and mixed that with Colin Croom and Andrew Humphrey, who are really great.
Shit, I’m impressed because all of that is really hard to do, especially with just a small team of people.
Well, Colin is like, a professional mixer. He knows what he’s doing, he’s awesome. He’s in Twin Peaks now.
But I guess it all goes back to what you said earlier, it’s all about having a team.
Yeah, that’s what it was. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to put out something that I recorded and mixed all by myself, but if I’m being honest, it wouldn’t sound too good. It’s all about a team effort, just bringing everyone together.
So, it seems you’re kind of big on making changes and just being as creative as you can be, basically just doing whatever you feel. Is that safe to say?
Yeah. I’m big into concepts, and I want this to be another concept album, like how I tried to make The Blue Pool as conceptual as possible. I wanna do that again. It’s kind of hard to think of another concept, but I think I figured it out, but again, I’m not sure. It’s very rough right now. We’re really trying to diversify the style. Get more psychedelic, get more groove. Probably gonna get a little less punk, a little more soulful. We’re all trying to do new stuff. The album’s in a really early stage, I’m still writing half of the songs. The other half that’s already written, I have to finish recording. I’m trying to have live horns and strings on the whole album, we did some of that on The Blue Pool. I’m trying to go past the nine yards, I’m trying to go 110% further with this album and do everything and have it be absolutely perfect. I’ll take three years if I need to.
Shit, that’s gonna be crazy. And you said about five members?
Definitely at least five members. The game plan is drums, bass, guitar. I’m still doing vocals and guitar. And the new member is gonna be another voice and keyboard. I have two synths I’ve been recording with a lot lately, so that person will be using those.
If you could sign to a label, who would you sign to?
That’s a hard question…
Would it be something local?
Nah, fuck that! It would be like, Capitol Records. Something huge. I don’t wanna sign with Burger. I’m not saying they’ve offered us, because they haven’t. So like, what does that say about us? I think their big thing is garage rock. They're like “We are garage rock, we are lo-fi, we are not gonna sign the biggest acts in the world.” We’re trying to transcend the whole four chords and a person screaming sort of thing. I really wanna get beautiful, but also sort of funky and dark, and just weird. What I wanna do with this next album is have it be something that no other band in Chicago is anywhere near what we’re about to do.
I think you’ve kind of done that, at least from what I've heard from The Blue Pool, and I’m sure a lot of people would agree. It’s really refreshing. And with Burger Records, I feel like those bands are all very similar.
It’s just a bunch of bands that are gonna get kind of famous. Cherry Glazerr is never gonna headline Lollapalooza. FIDLAR is never gonna headline a tour at the United Center, it’s FIDLAR. Just not enough people like that kind of music, but I do. I love it. It’s just like, how far can you take that, you know? I think a lot of garage rock bands are moving into new genres. A new wave is about to hit. There’s always gonna be a scene for garage rock and punk, but something new is about to be what everyone in the city cares about, and I don’t have any clue what it’s gonna be. Hopefully, it’s just awesome, rock n roll shit.
Is that the ultimate goal then? To sign to a major label and play sold out shows in arenas?
I would like that very much. That would be great, because that would mean I’m rich. That would be great because I love playing shows, the more people I play to, the more I enjoy it. I’d very much enjoy all of that, but really the ultimate goal is to just, even if it doesn’t get recognized till after I’m dead, I just wanna change someone’s life with an album. If one person would cry, I would be really happy with that. I just wanna make something where I can be completely and entirely proud of what I’ve put out into the world. Which is hard for me, because I don’t like my music very much.
Do you think that’s the case with a lot of artists though? I feel like more often than not, a lot of artists don’t seem to like their own music.
Yeah, I would say most. It’s not like you dislike your own songs, but you hear other people’s songs and think why couldn’t I think of that, and why did I think of this instead.
Back to the label thing, it’s not necessarily uncommon to get fucked over by major labels. But I guess it really depends on which major label.
I feel like, with a rock n roll band, sometimes you just need that though. It’s hard to reach that level of stardom without a record label. Like, how are you gonna book a world tour without a record label? You can’t, you can’t do it. No rock n roll band can go from nameless to headlining Lollapalooza in one year, that’s not how the rock n roll game works anymore. I find it to be a lot slower, and honestly just really competitive sometimes. Not a lot of people in the band scene are half-assing it, like everyone is trying really, really hard, and they’re not making it because not enough people care about what we do.
Why do you think that is?
I think it has to do with idiots. I think it has to do with idiots all over America. I think it has to do with the lack of emphasis that our society puts on music and its importance. If people, at least smart people, spent time caring and thinking about music, no one would like Katy Perry. But nobody has time, with your job on Wall Street and in your frat house, you don’t have time to think about music, you don’t have time for this or that, you just need to listen to what’s readily available. And what does it matter to you if it is the most poppy pop song that has ever popped? It doesn’t matter, because it’s just background noise. And if it’s pop music and you have some good memories to it, then you start getting down with it and before you know it you’re listening to 103.5 for the rest of your life and you’re fucked in the head. You can say that the biggest labels might rip people off, but I know Taylor Swift is not getting ripped off. She is like, the richest person in the world right now. I think that music for kids is a new thing. I think in the 70s, there weren’t bands or popstars making entire albums, and their demographic is children. “I’m going to pander to the kids watching Disney,” like who would ever say that? But people say that now, because it’s money. It’s the rich parents sending their kid to the United Center for 700 bucks a ticket. I just think that we have to put more thought into music as a society, and I think that people need to stop being idiots. That’s what I think.
Is there anything else you wanna say? Anything to the people reading this?
Make a band. Go make a band. Go do it. I don’t think anyone is born with it, you know? We all just spend hours and hours doing it, and you can too. And it’s a lot of fun, for everybody. Just go make a band, it’s really easy to make a band. Find two people and you have a band. You don’t need to know how to play, no one is born learning an instrument, you just do it. Just do it.
Witness the glorious return of The Boxers, with special guests Modern Vices and Strange Faces on Saturday, September 26, at The Abbey Pub.
Special thanks to Taylor, Katie, and Duncan for making this possible.
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