Based in Aarhus, Denmark, the progrock band BOIL plays an ambitious style of progressive rock and metal that balances on the delicate edge of melodic catchiness, intricacy and complexity. With the 5 members drawing from widely different influences, the unique mixture contains elements of both polyrhythmic modern metal, electronica, grunge and classic rock. The guys took some time to discuss their latest album and upcoming plans.
1. Can I get a backstory on the band/ band biography?
BOIL was formed back quite a few years ago by Mikkel Ib (drummer) and Stig (guitarist). Their main goal was to create a dark and melodic universe with a focus on progressive elements. BOIL released its first album “Vessel” in 2007. It was self-released and basically only available in little Denmark. After some line-up changes, where for example singer Jacob Loebner joined the band, the second album “A New Decay” was released in 2010 in all of Europe and this opened up for heavy concert activity throughout Denmark. However with the new 2013 album “aXiom” BOIL has now finally completed its inner journey in personalizing its sound and expression and I think the outcome speaks clearly for itself this time. BOIL is definitely now also a different and more professional entity, ready to take on the whole world, with the dedicated Swedish record label “Vicisolum Productions” handling the world wide release of the album and “Intromental” (Leprous etc.) handling booking/management for BOIL in both Europe and US.
2. How did you guys come up with your band name?
Stig and Mikkel Ib came up with the name BOIL when they formed the band. They wanted a short and powerful name, and I guess they liked the duality in the word since it has different meanings. Or maybe they were just high or drunk at the moment of decision. Either way, the name stuck with us haha.
3. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?
We listen to tons of different genres and artists - and what Jacob likes the most might not be something that Kenneth would even consider putting on his iPod for doing his ab crushes (not that he knows what ab crushes is). However, we all like bands such as Lamb of God, Porcupine Tree, Tool, Gojira, and Katatonia - these bands have really hit the jackpot when it comes to building your own universe and communicating unique moods and universal emotions to us as listeners. I think all those bands have left some seed of inspiration in us, but the music that comes out of BOIL is in my opinion a unique blend of genres.
4. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Our style is probably somewhere between the Godfather Trilogy and Resident Evil - sometimes we really like to build up slowly, you know, just to make the effect even more powerful during the final showdown where we fire all the tommy guns and grenades 8 minutes later. But other times, we just wanna chop that zombie’s head clean off from the first chord without any dilly-dally. Genre-wise, we’re floating around somewhere between progressive, metal, and rock. Regarding sources of inspiration I will have to refer to the prior answer here.
5. You guys are a Danish band from the city of Aarhus in Denmark, so whats the music scene like there and do you have any band recommendations?
There is a good and very creative scene in Aarhus. Bands get good cultural support and facilities from the public institutions in the area, so there is no excuse not to focus fully on evolving as a band. Most Danish metal bands however have a tendency to focus only on the little nearby pond, and that lack of international ambition is probably their biggest limitation, not creativity. I guess they feel too comfortable with having music mainly as a hobby. Another local band however that really share our passion for taking their music to another and more international level is “Malrun”, which is Jacob’s second band, and they have toured heavily in all of Europe throughout the last year, hereunder e.g. with Mark Tremonti.
6. Vindication is a video that was made by Jose Cubero can you tell me about the concept and how you got in touch with Jose to do this whole thing for you guys?
Well, Kenneth found an animated video on youtube made by the Spanish guy Jose Cubero. It was about zombies having sex or something. Guess that was all it took to persuade Kenneth that we needed to work with Jose Cubero, because Kenneth wrote him an email and within a week the cooperation had started. We gave Jose more or less free hands to come up with a story about revenge, and the story in the video is therefore not really reflecting the true meaning of the lyrics. Still, it’s good entertainment. I am especially fond of the fact that we asked Jose to include some head banging in the video, and since he is not normally into metal, he apparently wasn’t familiar with the metal term “head banging”, so if you look carefully you will notice that two of the guitarists in the video suddenly butt heads. We laughed our asses off when we noticed that Jose had understood the term too literally but we decided not to request any changes, as some mistakes are too good to rectify.
7. Tell me about the song Vindication and why you choose this song in particular to be the single video out of all the other songs on the aXiom album.
We felt that Vindication was a perfect presentation not only of the technical and progressive aspects of the album but was also a good reflection of what we have evolved into as a band in our search for a personalized sound and expression. It sums up all that is BOIL in one song. Progressive elements, aggressiveness, dynamics, relaxing and silent parts, mood transitions and haunting melodies.
8. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?
aXiom is a concept album where the entire lyrical universe is created based on extensive interview sessions we – with the help from various mental institutions – conducted with mentally ill people, especially paranoid schizophrenics suffering from delusions. We were really moved by the life stories of the mentally ill, and Jacob wrote a 50-page story script based on his interview notes. That story script became the ground stone for musical and lyrical work on aXiom, and the lyrics operate on two levels. The actual joint (yet fractured) story being told about a schizophrenic man suffering from delusions is the first level, and the deeper underlying philosophical discussions about the concept “Truth” is the second level. So there are plenty of things to dig deeper into for the listeners if they have the time and interest in doing so. I guess the message we send is in the form of questions and reflections about whether we believe in objective truths or whether truth gains meaning only when experienced subjectively. But hey, if people just want to enjoy our music without thinking too much about story scripts and nerdy deeper meanings, then fortunately that is full-fledged option as well haha.
9. What was the inspiration for the album name aXiom?
Let’s just say it is related to the dualistic concept I talked about in the prior answer. I think I was nerdy enough for two answers back there haha.
10. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?
Yes, we wanted to explore our musical boundaries this time. We felt we had kept ourselves within a narrow box on the first two albums, and this time we did not want any limitations on our creativity. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why we found the whole lyrical concept of delusions and true vs untrue so appealing, because it allows for quite some freedom when it comes to artistic creativity. I think we succeeded in our goal, because aXiom has not only the most melodic songs we have ever made but also the most aggressive. We are very happy about taking things “to the edge” this time instead of being within a comfort zone.
11. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?
Not really, but we experimented a lot more this time, and allowed various instruments to play a more dominant part. So you will notice an increase especially in the use of electronica, but we also experimented quite a bit with strings and percussion here and there.12. Can you go into one or two tracks on the new album? If so, can you give us the track title and brief description of how the track sounds and how it came about?
Well, for example I can recommend the last song on the album “Almost a legend”. It is a monumental track and the grand finale of the album. It is a climactic journey with really good dynamic shifts and mood swings and the intensive levels of electronica and strings enhances the closure. Also the lyrics of the song contain the conclusion of the story about the delusional schizophrenic man that the whole album is about. Well yes, check it out. I think it speaks better for itself than I do hehe.
13. What made you guys decide to form a band?
A dark lump inside that needed immediate attention as we would otherwise have exploded. And no, I am not talking about turds here.
14. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We have played release concerts in Denmark, so now our management, booker and label are working heavily on preparing international concerts, festivals and tours for us. We need to go abroad to show people what we got. I have just received information that we have been confirmed for the Progpower Europe 2013 festival in the Netherlands, so that’s a good start. Hope our US management will open the door into the US as well, but let’s see.
15. Anything else you want to say?
Yes, check out BOIL on www.facebook.com/boilmusic where you will be able to find updates and news on our coming concert activity. Hope we’ll crash trough a city near you soon. See you all out there where music should be experienced, at a live venue where the sound is loud enough to hurt and the beer tasty enough for you not to care about the db levels anyway.
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