The Boxtones are a Scottish/Canadian 5 piece award winning band based in Dubai and signed to Universal Music MENA.
The band consists of: Louise Peel (Lead Vocals), Gary Tierney (Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals), Gill Tierney (Drums, Vocals), Will Janssen (Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals) and Patrick Thibault on Bass and vocals.
Since setting up their own Dubai-based company in early 2013 as full-time musicians, The Boxtones with their energetic and engaging live performances have captivated hundreds of thousands of fans at all of the big events in the region. Such events include Yasalam Beats on the Beach, Formula One Abu Dhabi Party in the Park, Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens and more.
The Boxtones are recipients of the prestigious Ahlan! Hot 100 Title winners of Best UAE Act at the annual Hype Awards and Rolling Stone Magazine’s Street to Stage competition winners. Leading brands Shure and Vic Firth also endorse the band.
The Boxtones have so far performed alongside Stereophonics, Kaiser Chiefs, Pharrell Williams, The Who, Blur, Florence & The Machine, Enrique Iglesias, Lily Allen, Jason Derulo, Travis, Razorlight, Richard Ashcroft, The Charlatans, The Ting Tings and many more.
The Boxtone’s new album ‘Home’ is out now and features the anthemic single Against The Odds, City of Mirrors” feat Ft Two Tone and ‘Home’ .
The album was produced by Gary Tierney and Elvis Garagic at Sound Struck Studios in Dubai.
INTERVIEW – MHBox in conversation with The Boxtones.
How would you describe your music ?
Gary: The band’s music comes from a rock and roll background, but people have often said that we sound like a whole bunch of bands that live in widely different genres. I write a lot of the tracks, and my background was the grunge days of the 90’s so I used to write a lot of heavy songs, with a lot of shouting. The band as we are today draws from the high energy of that decade, and the pop sensibilities of today’s music scene. I mean we have a rap, a folk and a near RnB song on our new album…ha ha (kind of).
Have you worked with any other established names in the music business ?
Louise: Elvis, our very aptly named producer on our latest album “Home”, has worked with some pretty big names. They usually come to Dubai for shows, and will end up using his studio as it’s the best in the city. Silento was on the couch while we recorded one of our tracks in there, and Will Smith’s son Jaden Smith had a few sessions in there for his radio show lately too.
What instruments do you all play ?
Gary: I play the guitar, bass, keyboard and drums (a little)
Louise: Tambourine, shaker and a few guitar chords (badly). I’ll stick to singing!
Pat: Bass, guitar and keyboards
Will: Keyboards and Guitar
Gill: Drums
Do you write your own songs ?
Gary: Almost every day. There’s always an idea I pop on my phone when I’m doing something completely unrelated to music. I find that the best songs I write come from times I’m not actually trying to write a song.
What’s your thoughts on the Internet in the music business ?
Will: I think in this day and age, music is way more accessible thanks to the popularity of social media channels. The word spreads a lot faster than it did years ago. I think this is especially important as the world today revolves around short attention spans and people can’t be ‘arsed’ to work hard to get new music. With streaming and downloading options, the average listener can hopefully get hooked immediately with little to no effort when we supply a ‘one-click’ link (we apply this method to our vlogs/behind the scenes videos as well).
Who other acts in music do you listen to the most ?
Gary: I just got Ellipsis by Biffy. It’s a departure from their usual sound, but I’m enjoying it.
Louise: Believe it or not I very rarely listen to music now. I think sometimes there’s an element of being ‘muso’d out’ sometimes. It is something I plan to remedy this year though so send me your recommendations.
Gill: I got a vinyl player for Xmas so I am listening to more nostalgic music at the moment than anything else, I’m just loving buying physical music and artwork again.
Will: The recently released 10th studio album from Metallica, “Hardwired…To Self Destruct”. They’ve gone back to their thrash roots after years of ‘going with the flow’ on the commercial front. I’m loving the whole record, front to back!
Pat: These days I’m heavily into The Flaming Lips “The Soft Bulletin”. What a great album! Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Poke’ is a song I was just made aware of last summer and can’t get enough of it. Beautiful track! Apart from that, not a day goes by without me putting on one of Rancid’s many albums.
What makes your music unique to the public ?
Gill: I think having such different tastes and influences individually, plus having played so many different genres in our day jobs makes our original tunes unique. Although this album is very commercial, we aren’t trying to fit into a particular mould.
What’s next for you ? Any big gigs coming up ?
Gary: At the time of writing this, we are opening for Elton John on January 20th here in Dubai. I don’t think we have ever had a greater opportunity in all of our careers. To say we are excited is an understatement. We want to follow this up with more of the album promotion, and festivals and dates in Europe and the UK. We do plan to hit the US and Canada, but it’s a bit further away for now.
Thanks to The Boxtones who you can find online here:
https://www.instagram.com/theboxtones/
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBoxtonesVEVO
https://www.facebook.com/theboxtones/?fref=ts
Check out their HOT new anthem ‘Against The Odds’