The BoxCutters
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The BoxCutters

Missoula, Montana, United States | INDIE

Missoula, Montana, United States | INDIE
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"All You Need Is Two"

They might have thought And You Will Know Us By The Shoeless Singer was too long. Two words ought to suffice, as the only two members of the Boxcutters make sounds bold enough to convince you that two is all it takes.

The diversity of songs from something so simple — just a voice, a guitar and a drum set — is a testament to the talent and passion guitarist/singer Bill Birkenbuel and drummer Abe Jindrich bring to their shows.


Really, you want to make sure your music has soul to it," Birkenbuel said.

It would be easy to tell you these guys have a genre-specific sound, but they don't. It's funky, catchy and just plain old fun.

Essentially, they sound like two dudes having a great time playing rock and roll. The chemistry on stage is visible, audible, captivating and dance-worthy throughout the set.

There are the blues riffs and the soulful grow (with occasional falsetto) of Birkenbuel's voice, backed up by a consistent and often syncopated rhythm.

At the same time, there's the kind of pseudo-twang that makes you feel like the sun's setting on a windswept hill … in the middle of the city. Then, suddenly, you hear the kind of classic rock that sounds like you're driving an old Camaro through the country.

"We're all over the board," Jindrich said. "I don't want every song to start to sound the same."

Meeting and playing together in a previous band, Pluto is a Planet, the Boxcutters formed as a side project for the two friends and eventual roommates. They played house shows when Pluto was on break. When that band broke up, the duo got devoted.

They took third in Sean Kelly's open mic contest last winter and were anointed winner of KBGA's battle of the bands in June. The band has expanded its repertoire, playing shows around town with local and touring acts.

They opened for the Sick Kids XOXO CD release party at the Wilma Theatre in December, and the two proved they could fill the theater as fully as the five-piece they preceded.

"That was a gnarly place to play, it's just loud," Birkenbuel said.
Though they've contemplated adding a bassist or keyboardist to round out the sound, the Boxcutters will remain a duo for the foreseeable future.

"We were just tired of putting up with egos and personalities — having to deal with all of those different emotions from all of your bandmates," Birkenbuel said.

"It's just simple," Jindrich said.

It isn't just the two-man aspect — but it's safe to claim the Boxcutters are Missoula's Black Keys.

"I can't deny it, but I don't think our sound is that close," Birkenbuel said. "We try to hit the whole spectrum."

Their influences obviously go beyond the hard-blues duo. Birkenbuel takes cues from his Motown and soul collection, while Morphine, Led Zeppelin and Hillstomp inform Jindrich's fills.

But mountains and space affect their songwriting even more.

"Growing up in Montana was as big an influence on us as anything," Jindrich said.

Looking forward, they're scheduling a blitz of shows before Jindrich takes off to Argentina for a few months, and they're hitting it even harder when he returns.

They've recorded some tracks — new and familiar — at an "off-the-grid cabin up Mill Creek Road," and plan to hold an album release party May 12.

The timing, they said, will be perfect — graduation that afternoon guarantees a rowdy crowd wherever they play.

Afterward, they're planning a 10-city western tour to promote the album, and from there have no intention to slow down.

Tonight, they're opening for Last Watch — featuring John Johnson of Hillstomp — and McDougall, a one-man power-play. It's 21 and older at the Palace for those so inclined, and the Boxcutters think you should be.
"Every show is fun — our energy is there," Jindrich said. "Once we get playing, it's all smiles. So if I can make a living doing that, that's what I'm looking to do." - Montana Kaimin


"Root of Evil: The BoxCutters dig up the dirt on their new album"

William Birkenbuel has a few regrets: spotlight-hunting coyotes in his hometown of Great Falls when he was in high school; maybe a little too much partying and chasing girls. But that's what rock and roll confessionals are for. Along with drummer Abe Jindrich, the guitarist and songwriter for Missoula's The BoxCutters lays it all out there in a new album titled The Evil in Young Men. "I've been trying to think of a way to explain it," says Birkenbuel, "but that's pretty much what these songs are: growing up and suffering from heartache and causing heartbreak and all the evil things you do in between to pass the time."

"Evil" might be too strong a word here; "mistakes were made" seems more apropos. The story behind "Skinning Knife" is probably startling for big city folk: skinning dead coyotes to sell the pelts to buy booze to go to parties to chase girls. But it's an intriguing story nonetheless. "If you think about it, your teenage years are such a weird time to tap into to extract stories," says Birkenbuel. "There are all sorts of scenarios. You totally aren't that way any more, but it's just fun to go back and pull the stories from it."

Fiction or fact, The BoxCutters's songs dig into dark habits and youthful inhibitions. In the swingin' song "Honky Tonk," there's "cuttin' cocaine on the cellar floor." But even with "Only Seventeen," where Birkenbuel sings about a beautiful girl with "Spanish eyes" who turns out to be underage, it only really comes off as innocent intentions gone wrong. In his gritty, wildly soulful voice, Birkenbuel sings,"Oh yes I'm lost! / I'm so damn lost. / I never knew that she was se—ven—teen!"

Jindrich and Birkenbuel have been a two-man band for two years. They got their start at Sean Kelly's open mic. Last year, they won KBGA college radio's battle of the bands, which aired for a suspenseful two months before the winner was announced. For a while, The BoxCutters were playing everywhere, every week: The Top Hat, the Palace, the Badlander, Sean Kelly's, a show at the Wilma for Sick Kids XOXO's album release party. "We were taking any gig we could get anywhere, any time of the week," says Jindrich. "People see your set enough times. We still have a strong contingent of friends who come to our shows, but it's hard to justify every week. At that point, they've heard our songs and there's only so many orders we can play them in until they've heard it all and then their enthusiasm starts to wane, just like anything you do too much of."

The BoxCutters play a few Black Keys covers, plus "Folsom Prison" and Edward Sharpe's "40 Day Dream." But listening to their original songs on The Evil in Young Men, it's clear why they rose to the top. Birkenbuel has the voice for it—a crooning, desperate confidence that you can also hear from Jack White or Dan Auerbach or Greg "Oblivian" Cartwright. You can't just cultivate that sound; it's the kind of fervid delivery that comes from impassioned outbursts. "She's So Damn Beautiful," which seems like The BoxCutters's radio gem, could be misconstrued by any number of singer-songwriter cheeseballs, but Birkenbuel makes it sweetly raw. Same goes for "Wanna Make Love," a term that only classic rock bands like Bad Company could barely get away with. With The BoxCutters, it doesn't seem foolish: The sauntering intro and Birkenbuel's "Please, please, please get out of my head" is so persuasively tortured that the subsequent line, "Please, please, please get into my bed," doesn't actually sound like a bad pickup line.

The Evil in Young Men was recorded in a cabin outside of Missoula. - The Missoula Independent


Discography

Debut Album - "The Evil in Young Men"

on Itunes, Amazon, and Various Pandora Stations.

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Bio

We are two friends who have been playing music together for over seven years. We grew tired of clashing egos amongst past bands we've played in together. This drove us to the two man format, which in turn freed us to do what we wanted with our music.
Our music is a slick raucous blend of rock, blues, and rockabilly. Our aim as a band is to have as good a time as possible on stage, and we have found this to be infectious to our audiences. We've come up from playing small venues and events to lager venues such as River City Roots Festival where we shared a stage with Robert Randolph and the Family Band. We've also opened for the likes of RNDM, Jeff Ament's new band. We want to continue to grow and play with more great musicians on larger stages.
We are a unique act in that we are a two man band that sounds like a five man band. We are continually told we have a larger sound than we would appear to have at first glance. Our energy and stage presence belie the fact that we are a duo. See us for yourself!