Exclusive Interview: The Boxer Rebellion on US tour

Without fail, each time Live4ever sits down The Boxer Rebellion (and we’ve probably been pointing recording equipment at them more often than any other band this decade), they’ve got a new anecdote to share, or two, or three, which restores our faith in the old adage of getting out of life what you put in.

What once simple pleasures to a band touring the US an outfit like this can truly appreciate; right from the time when a record company rug was pulled from under their feet The Boxer Rebellion have been a dedication to their craft, every step forward, inch of progress, good news story emphasised by the independent spirit which has driven this band’s journey like few others. And now, there’s something else driving their latest US tour forward: a gleaming, shining, bona fide tour bus.

“It’s like a 12 berth, two lounges, it’s not swanky but it’s a nice bus,” they told Live4ever before a show at Bowery Ballroom in New York. “And it means we can be in places to do this, promotion, radio, all kinds of stuff, whereas before, when you’re travelling America in a regular van, and you’re doing hotels as well, all of your travel is happening during the day in windows which would otherwise be really well used for press and stuff.”

Forget logistics for a moment, it’s a relief too. “On the first tour that we did our van caught fire in D.C., whilst parked luckily. It caught fire but it also broke down. It looked basically brand new, it’s not like it was a shitty clunker or anything like that, but we abandoned it. It was weird, we had to rely on the support band to take us to the next show so we bundled into their van.”

Get out of life what you put in, and enjoy the rewards that bit more. Their audiences are enjoying it too right now; a canon of five albums whose most recent addition, this year’s west coast drenched Ocean By Ocean, has been lapping acoustically over the feet of crowds thanks to frontman Nathan Nicholson and new guitarist Andy Smith‘s mid-gig ventures off-stage. “That’s quite fun just because it’s different, we haven’t done it before. The mood in the crowd seems to change, we come on after that and we go into the opposite, a song called Weapon, and everybody just seems to move a lot more than they did for that first part of the set. In some ways it’s like a little interval when people can rest from the really loud noise and listen in a different way, almost a different appreciation, and then they’re ready to get involved again.”

If a more laid back vibe is something the band have looked to capture in concert, it’s a vibe which can be traced right back to the origins of Ocean By Ocean. While the cramped, permanent rush-hour streets of London might have made up their physical surroundings, it was the sun and sea of west coast America which informed their imagination. “We recorded it out in LA, and we did our last two albums in LA, and we recorded them in the summer, sunny, beautiful every day, it gives you more of an optimism. We wrote all of it in London but we had projected images of California or Miami – a coastal beach thing – we had that in our heads despite physically being in London. Certain songs were written along the way where we suddenly thought, ‘This sounds likes Miami’, ‘This sounds like California’, and we then catered to that with the other songs and with the artwork and videos.”

It’s out in America then where this trans-Atlantic group is currently most at home, and it’s where Ocean By Ocean has been held dearest – as a packed out Bowery Ballroom paid testament to. “Songs like Let’s Disappear and Weapon from the new album, they’ve been a lot more popular with people over here,” they reflect, casually bucking another trend as the feel good stories once again continue to pour out of The Boxer Rebellion. They are stories of perseverance, integrity, bold artistic independence, and we look forward to more of the same on their next visit. Until then, just keep on driving down that road fellas.