London-based breakthrough act The Boxer Rebellion are an indie success story of epic proportions. They were the first unsigned band in history to break into the U.S Billboard Top 100 Albums Chart with a digital-only release. iTunes cast them into the limelight by making their lead single Evacuate the store’s first ever Global Free Single of the Week in January. Their album Union went on to sell an extraordinary 10,000 digital copies in its first week of release and scraped in just behind Kings of Leon to peak at the number two spot in the iTunes U.K Alternative Charts.
Australian guitarist Todd Howe and American vocalist Nathan Nicholson formed the band in 2001 after a chance meeting in London. The pair found a perfect harmony between Howe’s relentless guitar assaults and Nicholson’s powerful yet ethereal vocals. They completed the line-up by recruiting Englishmen Adam Harrison on bass and Piers Hewitt on drums and released a debut album, Exits, in 2005, to rapturous reception.
Having just played to thousands of screaming fans at the U.K’s prestigious Glastonbury Festival in June – joining a bill which boasted Blur, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Lady Gaga, Bloc Party, Madness, and The Prodigy – they now join the line-up for Perth’s Southbound festival.
Nathan Nicholson spoke to OUTinPerth’s Scott-Patrick Mitchell about their recent success.
How much has the internet helped your band? It’s really helped us. It’s good for smaller bands to have that ability to not have to go through big companies – anyone can put their stuff up. Everyone who’s kind of serious about being in a band has a MySpace page and you can hear what they’re doing, so I think that’s quite exciting.
How was Glastonbury? It’s almost gotten too big. I went first in 2003 and for a lot of people back then it was still quite big but it’s just so much more overcrowded because it’s gotten such a reputation that people go regardless of what’s going on. Usually it rains – luckily this year it wasn’t that bad – but because it’s on a farm and it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere it just gets incredibly muddy. There’s great bands there, I mean obviously that’s the job, everyone wants to play it and it’s hundreds of bands.
Have you guys ever played in Australia before? No, we haven’t, it’s going to be great. I mean our guitarist is Australian but we’ve never played out there so it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m from the states, so for Christmas we’ll be in the states and then I’ll be coming to Australia. It’ll be nice to have some sunshine. I hear Perth is extremely hot.
What are essential things you think a punter should be bringing to a festival? If it was England, I’d say wellies. If it was Australia I’d say sunscreen. And a phone charger is a good thing.
If you had unlimited funds for a festival and you could hold it anywhere in the world, where would you hold it and who would be on the bill? I’d probably hold it someplace kind of like Australia that is known for being really warm at that time of year or just, you know, tropical. Basically, in 2003, when we played Glastonbury, it was one of our favourite lineups – there was Radiohead, who are all of our favourite band, and there was Sigur Ross and R.E.M., Interpol, so that kind of lineup would be great to have, and maybe a band like The National.
Scott-Patrick Mitchell
