The Boxer Rebellion might be named after a century-old uprising in China but their place in modern history was cemented earlier this year when they became the first unsigned band to break in to the Billboard Top 100 Albums Chart with a digital-only release. With a haunting sound befitting the musical zeitgeist, The Boxer Rebellion are a band that bypassed the normal routes to the mainstream – but don’t let them bypass you this summer.
Despite attracting support in the unforgiving realm of cyberspace, their formation came from a chance meeting at a good old-fashioned live London venue. American vocalist Nathan Nicholson and Australian guitarist Todd Howe realised their electric connection instantly and once they’d added bass thumping Adam Harrison and master of the military drum-roll Piers Hewitt to their numbers, they set out to march on the music industry.
Before long they were signed by Alan McGee’s Poptones label. However, despite NME tagging them ‘a band to change your life’ they were dropped the very same week debut album, Exits, was released. Fading back into an ordinary existence of part-time jobs and moonlit rehearsals, follow-up album Union was born after four years of self-production and belief. And in an indie fairy tale twist, opening single ‘Evacuate’ was downloaded a massive 560,000 times in one week, having been made exclusively available to iTunes in January.
Without a nano second of radio airplay or a pixel of TV coverage, Union subsequently broke into the top five iTunes album chart both sides of the Atlantic – a feat never before achieved by an unsigned band. And with thought-provoking lyrics and striking, howling guitar the rebellion has only just begun.
Leave a Comment