Boize Official Biography
-The Foundation (May 1989 – December 1989)
Boize (pronounced Boys) was a heavy metal band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, founded by guitarist Robert Kourie (aka Floyd Harem), and bass guitarist and keyboardist Stephane Fania (aka Zany Shultz) in May 1989. Fania and Kourie had been composing music together since 1986, after meeting at Saint-Lawrence College in the Town of Saint-Lawrence borough in Montreal. At the time, Fania lived with his parents in Saint-Leonard, an east-end district of Montreal, while Kourie lived, also with his parents, in Duvernay, a southern district of Laval (then called Jesus Island). Though it may seem like the two lived some distance apart, they were only a twenty-minute driving distance from each others’ houses, with the option to use either the Pie IX Bridge or the Papineau-Leblanc Bridge, connecting the Laval and Montreal islands across the Prairies River.
Some of Fania and Kourie’s early bands together (pre-Boize) include Alter-Ego (previously known as Unmarked), a new wave project active from the summer of 1987 until September 1988, and Strike Anywhere (previously known as Leading Edge), another new wave outfit, which formed in late 1988 and dissolved in April 1989. All of the material written with vocalist Suzanne Madden in Leading Edge/Strike Anywhere, totaling four songs, was recycled and evolved into Boize’s earliest songs.
To find a new vocalist for their band, Fania took out an ad in the classified section of Montreal’s The Gazette newspaper. The ad ran for one week from May 21st to the 27th of 1989 and read: “Wanted, lead singer, female or male, with experience for original rock band. Serious inquiries only. Stephane 374-1916 please leave message.” The ad prompted the response of over forty vocalists who called for auditions.
After trying out several singers, including a Bono-style singer coincidentally named Perry, the band auditioned Perry Blainey (aka Fyia Powers), an Ozzy Osbourne-style singer in early June 1989. The audition was set up on a whim, taking place in Fania’s car in the Town of Saint-Lawrence, where Blainey lived. Due to Blainey’s vocal similarity to Ozzy Osbourne, Boize’s fans eventually nicknamed the band “Ozzy Osboize.” While Blainey was in Boize, Fania handled most of the backing vocals, with Kourie occasionally adding a few shouts to studio recordings.
The new trio continued practicing in Kourie’s parent’s basement on Leblanc Boulevard in Duvernay, Laval, where he and Fania had set up a jam space in 1986. By the end of June, Boize had two of Leading Edge’s four songs reworked into hard rock/glam metal tracks. Before Blainey joined, Fania and Kourie had already combined and reworked the songs “Baby Come Back to Me” and “Running With Time” into “Can’t You See” (in April and May), and evolved “He’s Cracking” into “I Need You” (in May and June). When Blainey came in, he had already written some lyrics which were adapted to the new songs.
In late June, a rehearsal was taped using a four-track compact cassette recorder. The line-up on this recording (and on all of the band’s recordings in 1989) featured Blainey on vocals, Kourie on guitar, and Fania handling bass guitar, keyboards, and a drum machine as the band still had no drummer nor a dedicated keyboardist. This rehearsal recording session was motivated by local hard rock radio station CHOM-FM’s battle of the bands contest, Homegrown Music Search.
It was at this time that Blainey came up with the band’s name and its distinct spelling, BOIZE, which unbeknownst to the other members, was later revealed to be an acronym for “Bottled Ordeals & Insane Zany Experiences,” a reference to alcohol (or booze). Blainey was a recovering alcoholic and included several references to his turmoil and rehabilitation in the band’s lyrics. He later said “What you see is not always what you hear,” referring to his lyrics’ audible sound often being different from its written forms/meanings. Prime examples include the lyrics for “I Need You,” which on paper altered between “I needed you” and “I kneaded you,” and those for “In Too Deep,” which altered between “in too deep” and “into deep.” Boize became Blainey’s most important project, and being in a band initially helped him from falling back into comfortable habits.
In July 1989, 170 bands, including Boize, sent in demo compact cassettes to radio personality Robert “TooTall” Wagenaar, who was responsible for putting together the Homegrown Music Search contest through his CHOM-FM rock radio program Made In Canada. TooTall was to select six groups for a two-night battle of the bands held at Montreal music venue Club Soda on July 26-27, 1989. The prize package included major record label support and a state-of-the-art studio recording session. After two years under the name Homegrown Music Search, the yearly contest changed its name to Rock Showdown in 1991, then to Music Quest in 1992, and was finally immortalized as L’esprit for the next eleven years, 1993-2003, one of the most prestigious battle of the bands contests in Canada.
To accompany its compact cassette demo, Boize set up their first band photo shoot at Duvernay, Laval’s Nature Centre park, where Kourie’s then-girlfriend, Johanne, snapped some pictures of the trio. Unfortunately, Boize never heard back from CHOM-FM following their application for the Homegrown Music Search contest. Town of Saint-Lawrence’s hard rock band Cinema Five (also spelled Cinema V and Cinema 5) won the regional contest and was escalated to Toronto, Canada in August to compete in the national competition’s Rock Showdown. Cinema Five won first place again and moved on to the worldwide Band Explosion showcase in Tokyo, Japan. Boize’s path would later reconnect with Cinema Five when one of their members joined the band in 1993.
In August 1989, another rehearsal was recorded with the same line-up, featuring three more songs written over the summer. The first, “Out Too Deep,” was reworked from the last remaining Leading Edge song, “Silent Eyes.” The other two were Boize’s first original songs: “Out of Your Mind” (composed in June) and “The Bug” (composed in June and July). These three new songs were combined with the two from June and served as an early, unofficial demo tape for Boize.
Feeling that their chance at Homegrown Music Search was prejudiced by the lack of a professional studio recording, Boize booked a session at Studio Works (404 Saint Henri Street) in the Old Montreal district of the city. All five songs that Boize had to their name up to that point were “digitally” re-recorded (on a Digital Audio Tape) with studio engineer Mario Rubnikowich in late September/early October. Again, Fania played keyboards and programmed a drum machine on these recordings. A friend of Blainey’s, Eliane Goffoy, was then asked to design a band logo to be featured on Boize’s first official, self-titled demo (it was later re-baptized The Bug in 2011 when it was digitally re-issued). By late October, 250 tape covers had been professionally printed and Boize was dubbing and handing out the demos. The layout for the covers was designed by Fania and had a minor typo in the title of the song “Out 2 Deep” (spelled “Out 2 Deed”). But the band didn’t have the money to get new ones re-printed. This typo was later digitally corrected in 2011.
After shopping around the demo, Boize landed their first television interview in November on the late-night talk show Zone Rouge, a program on TVRS (Télévision Rive-Sud). During the interview, the band announced that they were planning their first show in December at Salle L’Intro (911 Jean-Talon Street East) in the Villeray district of Montreal. Fania and Kourie were already familiar with the concert venue as their prior band Alter-Ego had performed there twice in 1988. However, Boize was unable to find a drummer in time and the show was postponed. Instead, the trio spent the end of the year writing and demoing several new songs: “Uhh Beauty” (written in August and September), “What’s Cooking” (which was quickly retitled to “Give Me Your Love,” written in September and October) and “Into the Night” (written in October and November).
-Expanding the Band & the First Show (January 1990 – May 1990)
Determined to find a drummer at the turn of a new decade, Boize placed a new ad in the classified section of Montreal’s The Gazette newspaper. The ad ran for one week, from January 8th to the 14th of 1990, and read: “Hard Rock band seeking 4/4 drummer with style for recording, touring. Must be available. Stephane 374-1914.”
A great many drummers responded and an auditioning day was planned for a weekend in mid-January. Fania and Kourie took turns picking up and dropping off drummers from the Henri-Bourassa metro station in the Ahuntsic district of Montreal. Every hour, a new drummer was dropped off at Kourie’s parents’ house in Duvernay, Laval to audition to Boize’s heaviest song, “Out of Your Mind.” While in the car, Fania and Kourie would play the band’s compact cassette for the auditioning drummer. One of these candidates was LaSalle-based musician Scott MacDonald (aka Siegfried), who had previously played in the hard rock bands Funky Monkey and Physical Ace. A week after auditioning, Fania called MacDonald to tell him that he had been the best drummer to audition and that they wanted him in the band. Fania asked MacDonald to meet him at Steinberg’s supermarket, where the former was working as a fishmonger, to give him a copy of their demo tape with which he was to practice. MacDonald remembers that Fania had to take off several pairs of rubber gloves before shaking his hand to make sure that he didn’t get any fish on him.
A final role was left to fill before the band could play live. By chance, Fania ran into a keyboardist while shopping at Diplomate Musique, a musical instrument store at 311 Beaubien Street East in the Villeray district of Montreal. Vahe “Victor” Ananian (aka Zorba the Greek) was asked to come try out for the band in February and became Boize’s fifth member. Ananian’s moniker, Zorba the Greek, was coined after his physical resemblance to Mexican actor Anthony Quinn, who had played several Greek roles in his career. Ananian, however, like Quinn, was not Greek. He was born in Aleppo, Syria, and moved to Canada in July 1977. Ananian had previously played (and would continue to play) in the band Vahe & Krystal with his brother.
Boize spent most of January, February, and March adapting the eight songs written in 1989, from a three-member band to a five-piece band. They also wrote two new songs: “I’ll Still Love You” (written in February and March) and “Everytime You Come Home” (written in March).
In March, things started picking up for the band. To begin with, Boize moved into a new jam space located at 750 Cremazie Boulevard West in the Villeray district of Montreal, right above L’Acadie Tavern (now known as Trophy’s Sports Bar). At this location, it was easier for all of the band members to meet up. Boize then booked their first live appearance. Salle L’Intro was having an open microphone night on April 2nd and Boize signed up to play their newly finished song, “I’ll Still Love You,” in front of an audience. Immediately after their first live appearance, the band booked a full show at the same venue, as a headlining act for an hour-and-a-half event on May 26th.
During the rest of that spring, the band composed three new songs: “Boize Boys (We Ought to No)” (written in April), “Keep it Simple and Easy” (written in May), and “Once a Dream, Now a Reality” (which was later re-titled to “Once a Dream, “Then Reality”,” also written in May). To celebrate the progress, the band commissioned five customized wristwatches featuring Eliane Goffoy’s logo, which were purchased through a mail-order catalog, and given to each band member. The band logo was also used on their first batch of posters, printed to sell at their upcoming show along with the demo tape. Additionally, the band had a super-sized flag specially printed with their logo to hang up behind the drum set at their shows.
Wanting a fuller sound for their concerts, Blainey asked his friend, Pascal Trahan, a former member of his first band, Bloody L (a play on the cockney pronunciation of “Bloody Hell”), to join Boize as their live rhythm guitarist. But before Trahan’s first rehearsal with Boize, Ananian quit the band. Instead of finding a new keyboardist, Fania opted to resume his position as a part-time keyboardist for the few songs that required the instrument. By that time, Boize’s style was already beginning to change and move away from the 1980s keyboard-driven music. Though they were not yet the heavy metal band they later established themselves as, most of their new wave influences were gone and instead replaced by hard rock, glam rock, glam metal, and heavy metal.
Their first full show at Salle L’Intro was something of which to be proud; it featured strictly original material. At the time, most Montreal concert venues insisted that bands perform covers of popular songs to attract larger crowds and please their regular customers. But from the get-go, Boize refused to play covers and accepted the compromise that they would only be allowed to perform at select venues that let them play their original material.
The show started with friends of the band (including Kourie’s cousin, Marcel Beaudoin) dressed in medieval friars’ robes and holding candles, while Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” (conducted by Trevor Jones from the soundtrack of John Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur) played over the loudspeakers. Boize then launched into “Out of Your Mind,” “I Need You,” “Uhh Beauty,” “Once a Dream, Then Reality,” “Into the Night,” “Give Me Your Love,” “Can’t You See,” and “Everytime You Come Home.”
They then played an instrumental blues jam to give Blainey’s voice a mid-show break. Marcel, then dressed in an insect costume, ran out onto the stage with Blainey returning to perform “The Bug.” The song ended with Blainey covering Marcel and the audience with Silly String/Spiderman web spray. The final part of the concert included the songs “I’ll Still Love You,” “Keep it Simple and Easy,” and “Boize Boys (We Ought to No),” before signing off with “O Fortuna” over the loudspeakers once again. The band was cheered back on stage for an encore, deciding on the spot to perform “Give Me Your Love” a second time. During the concert, Boize also announced that they were preparing to record their debut album, having no less than thirteen songs in the bank. The entire show was filmed by Peter Molloy’s company, Peter Molloy Productions, and sold to the band on a video home system tape.
Blainey’s friend, Rick Annett, had just given him Corey Hart’s disposed wireless microphone, allowing him to move freely at concerts. This microphone later became a huge hassle (and the source of many inside jokes) for the band as it required nearly impossible-to-find, specially-designed batteries. One of the gimmicks that Blainey came up with to get the crowd going at the show was to start stripping. This was topical at the time because Madonna was controversially coming on stage wearing lingerie. Although Blainey only made it down to unzipping his jeans at the first show, by the end of the year he was regularly finishing Boize concerts in his boxers. This well-known stage antic wound up plaguing Blainey throughout 1991 and 1992, as the band became more serious while fans were coming to their concerts expecting him to do it. This ultimately motivated him to drop the act from Boize shows. Fania’s mother later designed and assembled a black and white medieval friar’s robe for him to wear at concerts.
-Record Label Interest & Recording the Full-Length (June 1990 – December 1990)
One Sunday afternoon in June, Boize played a five-song set for a major record label showcase at a nightclub in downtown Montreal. One of the people present was CHOM-FM’s radio personality TooTall (who had set up the Homegrown Music Search contest). But things didn’t turn out in their favour. Instead, Boize signed a contract with Saint-Leonard-based independent record label Imagination Records that same month, with a deal to record, release, and distribute their first LP, as well as copyright and publish its songs. The Stocola brothers, Peter and Tony, founded and owned Imagination Records, its music publishing imprint, La-Asa Music Publishing, and a recording studio, Cherry Production Studios. All three companies were operated from the same building at 8530 Champ-D’eau Street in Saint-Leonard. Boize’s association with Imagination Records came through one of Fania’s uncles, who knew the Stocola family.
Taking a break from composing, Boize began recording at Imagination Records’ private studio, Cherry Production Studios, in July or August 1990. Even though the Stocola brothers were engineering and producing the album in their own studio, for a release that they planned to put out through their own record label (and also publish the works through their own music publishing company), they still charged the band for the studio time. The band didn’t know any better at the time and saw no reason to complain since Imagination Records was the first record label to show them interest.
The recording solely featured the four official band members: Blainey on vocals, Fania handling bass guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals, Kourie recording all of the guitars, and MacDonald on drums. Trahan was still considered a hired musician and was paid a percentage of the revenue to appear live with them, so he was not present during the studio sessions. In August, the band moved out of their jam space on Cremazie Street West, partly due to poor noise isolation, but mostly to save money for the studio recording sessions, and returned to Kourie’s parents’ place for the next five months.
By November, Boize had completed the recording of their nine-song debut album at Cherry Production Studios. It included the songs “Boize Boys (We Ought to No),” “Can’t You See,” “Everytime You Come Home,” “Give Me Your Love,” “I Need You,” “I’ll Still Love You,” “Out of Your Mind,” “The Bug,” and “Uhh Beauty.” Fania then designed a new band logo and worked on artwork ideas for the record sleeve. With the new logo, he pitched the idea of sponsoring the pressing of their second poster to Franco Amante, the owner of Amanty Music (formerly called Diplomate Musique, where ex-keyboardist Vahe Ananian once worked). By then, the whole band had spent thousands of dollars at his store and Amante agreed to back the posters. Fania’s new logo was also used on Boize’s first batch of t-shirts and for a new backdrop flag that the band hung up behind the drum kit during their shows.
Before Boize’s debut LP could be sent to the record pressing plant, Imagination Records’ plans changed. When the band first agreed to work with the company, the plan called for the music to be recorded at Cherry Production Studios, the compositions to be published through La-Asa Music Publishing, and the twelve-inch vinyl record to be released through Imagination Records and distributed through BGM Records (an affiliate of Imagination Records). However, the Stocola brothers’ sister, Costanza Stocola (who was part-owner in the family companies), became extremely busy with her new musical dual, Boy Girl (with Jean-Louis Aquila), and at once all of the label’s finances were reserved for her project. Because of this, Boize’s LP was pushed back indefinitely with no promise of it ever coming out. Since the Stocola brothers had yet to invest any money into the project (everything thus far had been funded by the band), it made no difference to them if the music never came out. In order to see their music released, even by their own means and continued financing, the band was forced to legally break their contract with Imagination Records and reclaim the very recordings they had themselves paid for.
On the bright side, Boize was booked to play all of the holiday events at Sam’s Rock Bar (4278 Metropolitan Boulevard East), a new hard rock venue and bar in Saint-Leonard. It started with the Christmas show on December 23rd and was followed by both New Year’s Eve shows on December 30th and 31st. The December 23rd and 30th shows were accompanied by local hard rock band Barfly, while the 31st was with blues rockers Red Tape. After these three successful shows, Sam’s Rock Bar’s owner asked Boize if they would be interested in renting out the venue’s newly divided basement for their jam space. They jumped at the opportunity and became the first band to practice there. With this convenient setup, they wound up playing at the venue upstairs regularly.
-Introducing the Management (January 1991 – May 1991)
The owner of Whiskey’s Rock Bar (8921 Pie-IX Boulevard, in the Saint-Michel district of Montreal), the most prominent heavy metal and hard rock concert venue in Montreal’s East-End district, was very impressed by Boize’s Christmas performance at Sam’s Rock Bar. He invited Boize to perform at Whiskey’s Rock Bar on February 16th, with AC/DC cover band Ruff Edge, and Montreal’s all-girl hard rock band Barbarella. But Trahan then announced that he could no longer commit to playing live with the band. Hoping to keep him in the lineup, they offered to make him an official member. But Trahan turned down the offer, explaining that his new Francophone hard rock band, Les Diables a Quatre, was taking up all of his time. Trahan would later join another Francophone hard rock band, Les Moutons Noirs. Both of Trahan’s bands achieved considerable local success during the mid-1990s.
Looking for new exposure, Blainey asked his friend, Rick Annett, who was then working for the major concert promoting company Donald K. Donald, if he knew anyone who may be interested in signing Boize. Annett brought Bill Hill (born William Frank Hill), an acquaintance of his who had been in the music industry since the early 1960s, to one of their shows (possibly the above-mentioned concert at Whiskey’s Rock Bar). Hill had initially gained considerable fame with his band, J.B. and the Playboys, Canada’s answer to The Beatles, and he eventually became a studio guitarist, producer, and engineer. He also played in and performed with Peter and the Pipers, The Jaybees, The Carnival Connection, Jerry De Villiers, Freedom of Choice, Freedom North, Graham County, Hydro, Richard LePage, Denis LePage & Station Road, Martine St-Clair and Gemini. In the mid-1970s, Hill opened up his studio, Montreal Sound Studio, which rapidly became the most prominent recording location in the city. In the late 1980s, he sold Montreal Sound Studio and opened a music management firm with his friend, the noted studio technician Garfield “Gralf” Lamb. Bill Hill Productions, along with its music publishing imprint, Rohill Music Publishing, was headquartered in the Mount Royal Plateau district of Montreal (3955 Saint-Lawrence Boulevard) and was looking for new artists to represent.
Hill liked what he heard and signed Boize to a music production deal in late February 1991. He and Lamb immediately took Boize to Morris Apelbaum’s Silent Sound Studios in the Mount Royal Plateau district of Montreal (3880 Clark Street, less than a block away from Bill Hill Productions’ headquarters). The songs from the Cherry Production Studios recording session were brought in for extensive re-working and polishing. For the next few weeks, the production team attempted to re-mix some of the poorly recorded material and even re-recorded a few of the vocal tracks with Apelbaum himself engineering. Only four songs were selected to be improved and used as a promotional tape, with the hope of securing a major record deal for the band: “Out of Your Mind,” “I Need You,” “I’ll Still Love You,” and “Boize Boys (We Ought to No).” But everything they tried kept sounding worse. No one was able to get the guitars to sound the way that they wanted and the whole session started falling apart. So they decided to leave Silent Sound Studios and look elsewhere. At around the same time, Hill hired Diane Archambault to take a new photo shoot of the band on Mount Royal.
In March, Hill decided to give the Cherry Production Studios recordings a second chance at his friend Frank Marino’s brand-new, state-of-the-art studio. Marino had just finished building his private studio, Starbase Studio, in the Notre-Dame-de-Grace district of Montreal (2121 Hingston Avenue) and gave Hill the keys, telling him that he could use it any time he wanted. At Starbase Studio, Boize settled in with Lamb as a technician, Hill producing and mixing, and a young Trebas Institute student apprenticing under Hill as the engineer. Over the next month or so, Boize re-recorded some of the drum and guitar tracks and properly mixed the same four songs.
The band also recorded an additional song. Hill had heard Boize’s October 1989 demo tape and was disappointed that “Out Too Deep” hadn’t been re-recorded for Imagination Records’ planned LP. The band had deliberately dropped the song from their catalog because it no longer represented their musical direction. In addition, “Out Too Deep” had never been played live and most of the band members had grown to dislike the song. But Hill was convinced that this power ballad could easily be sold to a major record label and would make a successful radio single. With Bill Hill Productions’ plan to release a CD single and talks of filming a music video for “In Too Deep” (the song’s updated title), Boize reluctantly re-recorded a new version at Starbase Studio. And to make sure that it had an authentic mainstream appeal, Hill brought in Kim Sherwood and Dorian Sherwood, two brothers famous for providing gospel-styled backing chorus vocals on many major record label releases and hit singles.
By April, Boize was done at Starbase Studio, and Bill Hill Productions put together a five-song sampler compact cassette featuring the newly polished songs “Out of Your Mind,” “I Need You,” “In Too Deep,” “I’ll Still Love You,” and “Boize Boys (We Ought to No).” The songs were then registered through Boize’s brand-new music publishing company, Klink Publishing, split 50/50 with Hill’s own music publishing company, Rohill Music Publishing, both affiliated with SOCAN. This compact cassette sampler, packaged as a press kit with an introduction letter from Hill and photographs by Diane Archambault, was sent to all of the major record labels and radio stations in Montreal, hoping to land a big deal for Boize.
It was with this press package that the band members first officially used their nicknames. Fania’s moniker, Zany Shultz, came from his adoration of the television show Hogan’s Heroes, which was often described as a zany sitcom, and featured the character Oberfeldwebel Hans Georg Schultz, portrayed by John Banner. Kourie’s moniker, Floyd Harem, originated from his time playing in the band Alter-Ego and was given by the band’s front-man, Joseph Tunkendjian. At one of their concerts, Tunkendjian ad-libbed “Floyd Harem on guitar“, which he later explained came from a combination of the band Pink Floyd, and the fact that Kourie had a Middle Eastern family background, hence the “harem.”
Blainey’s moniker, Fyia Powers, was self-penned and reflected his love for The Doors, hinting at their song “Light My Fire.” But it also had a deeper meaning and acronym. MacDonald was originally given the moniker Siegfried by Fania because it sounded Teutonic and fit in with the Hogan’s Heroes theme. But by the end of the year, he stopped using the moniker because his name, Scott MacDonald, sounded cool enough on its own. The band’s music publishing imprint, Klink Publishing, was also named after a character in Hogan’s Heroes: Kommandant Oberst Wilhelm Klink, portrayed by Werner Klemperer. The band further played up the television show’s theme by including an inside joke intro to the beginning of the recorded song “I’ll Still Love You.” The band can be heard shouting “Klink! You iliot!”, which was the way that Kommandant Oberst Wilhelm Klink pronounced “You idiot!” when insulting Oberfeldwebel Hans Georg Schultz. A year later, the band named their record label U-Iliot Records after this same reference.
One of the recipients of this promotional tape was Hill’s old friend, CHOM-FM’s radio host, TooTall. As a favour to his old pal, TooTall offered to interview Boize on his hit radio program, Made in Canada. The interview aired on May 15, 1991. Between segments of an interview with Blainey and Fania, TooTall played three songs from the promotional tape: “Out of Your Mind,” “I Need You,” and “Boize Boys (We Ought to No).”
-The Classic Line-Up & Mainstream Appeal (May 1991 – September 1992)
During the first half of 1991, Boize played more local shows at Sam’s Rock Bar. They also played once at the Jailhouse Rock Cafe (30 Mount-Royal Avenue West) in the Mount Royal Plateau district of Montreal but were banned afterward for refusing to play cover songs, as per the venue’s regulation. So Boize continued to perform at select locations where they were allowed to play their original material. One of these locations was The Terminal Showbar (1635 Saint-Catherine Street West), in the Shaughnessy Village district of Montreal, on April 15th with the glam rock band Anxiety. Hill was pushing for the band to go on the road and tour the promotional tapes, posters, and t-shirts, but the band felt that they should first establish themselves in Montreal.
On May 18th, after a successful show at Sam’s Rock Bar with local hard rock band Sublime Fine, an avid fan approached Boize offering to fill the vacant rhythm guitarist position. It took Boize a few more practices and concerts before settling on the idea to bring in a new member under the now-legal partnership of Boize, Klink Publishing, and Bill Hill Productions’ umbrella. Steve Berger (aka Steve Bahr, or Minou) was originally from La Baie, Quebec, but had recently moved to Montreal. He started jamming with the band that summer and was officially welcomed as a member in July 1991.
Berger’s official moniker in Boize, Steve Bahr, was given by Fania as a play on the fact that he was the band’s rhythm guitarist, and was, therefore, mostly playing “bar chords.” His unofficial nickname, Minou, which meant “pussycat” in French, was first overheard by the band when they picked Berger up at his girlfriend’s apartment before a show. His girlfriend, who had come outside to see him off, amorously said something along the lines of “Don’t stay out too late, pussycat.”
Berger’s first show with Boize was at Salle L’Intro on August 7, 1991. By then, the band was already working on fresh material for an extended play which they hoped to release in early 1992. The new songs composed with dual guitarists were much heavier and darker than the ones that had been written throughout the first two years of the band’s existence. Before Berger joined, Boize had already written four new songs: “Bright Lights A’Bound,” “Stalag 13,” “The Riot Inside (The Rioting Side),” and “Rebel to Rules.”
“Stalag 13” was purposely composed as an instrumental to give Blainey’s voice a break mid-way through their concerts. But Blainey later wrote lyrics for the song in August of 1991, entitled “Ever Get the Feeling?” These lyrics, however, were never used outside of band practices, and “Stalag 13” remained an instrumental. The song’s title, “Stalag 13,” was another reference to Hogan’s Heroes, as the name of the prisoners of war camp in which the series was set. With Berger, two more songs were quickly composed in the late summer and fall of 1991: “Tired of Liars” (written in August and September), and “Get a Life” (written in September and October).
Finding it hard to secure shows at new venues on their own, Boize was forced to approach C.R. Productions, a major concert booking agency that controlled most of the independent club circuit and concert venues’ bookings in Greater Montreal. C.R. Productions’ first booking for Boize was at La Brique (32 Saint-Catherine Street West) in the Ville Marie district of Montreal, on September 20th, with bands Foreplay and Stone Valley. It was customary for the venues to pay the bands directly, holding back a certain percentage for C.R. Productions, which was then picked up by one of the company’s agents. However, Boize’s assigned agent, David Byrne, was notoriously ripping off the hard rock and heavy metal bands with which he worked (including the aforementioned Cinema V, which he managed). Byrne demanded a cut from the bands’ payments, claiming that it was C.R. Productions’ share that the venue had forgotten to hold for the company. The skimmed-off cash went undeclared and right into Byrne’s pocket. Fania, who was the band’s treasurer, was aware that La Brique had already kept a percentage for C.R. Productions and he initially refused to give Byrne a cut from the band’s income. Because of this, Byrne blacklisted Boize from performing at any concert venue that booked shows through C.R. Productions.
In October 1991, after hearing pre-production demos, Hill agreed to finance Boize’s new extended play. These demo recordings were made at the band’s rehearsal space in the basement of Sam’s Rock Bar and featured all five songs planned for the extended play: “Get a Life,” “Rebel to Rules,”, “Tired of Liars,” “The Riot Inside (The Rioting Side),” and “Everytime You Come Home.” The band planned to work on the extended play throughout the winter of 1991-1992 and release it in the spring of 1992.
But Hill had a condition: “In Too Deep” had to be re-recorded and included in the extended play. He was an avid believer that this song would finally give the band mainstream popularity, even though the Starbase Studio version, recorded earlier that year, had failed to achieve that. The band initially argued; “In Too Deep” was an old song, with roots dating back to before Boize was even formed. They much preferred re-recording the then-unreleased “Everytime You Come Home” as the extended play’s power ballad, and had already reworked the song to include Berger’s rhythm guitar style. But the band eventually compromised and “Everytime You Come Home” was dropped in favor of “In Too Deep.” With the plan for new music to be recorded and released, the unreleased Imagination Records full-length was shelved permanently and remained unheard for years (its master tapes are presumed lost).
Forced to reconcile with Byrne, head of all heavy metal and hard rock bookings at C.R. Productions, Boize reluctantly coughed up the money and was quickly scheduled to headline two nights at the Backstreet (382 Mayor Street, in the Ville Marie district of Montreal), one of the city’s top heavy metal venues. After performing on Thursday, November 28th, and Sunday, December 1st, Fania struck up a friendship with the Backstreet’s manager and concert booker, Louis Adams. Adams became a huge fan of Boize and told Fania that he could book Boize directly through him instead of passing through C.R. Productions. This collaboration gave way for fans to nickname them the “Backstreet Boize” as they wound up playing the venue more often than any other band. Boize was also one of the few independent bands that were able to sell out the venue and put money in their pocket from performing there. This private deal with the Backstreet alienated C.R. Productions’ Byrne once again. While Byrne was originally a strong supporter of Boize playing their original songs at their shows, he was suddenly bothered by this fact and used that as an excuse not to book them anywhere. He told them that until they were willing to play covers, he wasn’t willing to secure their shows.
The promotional package for Boize’s new extended play was to include compact discs, compact cassettes, posters, t-shirts, caps, stickers, a music video, and a photo shoot. For the music video, Hill provided the band with a portable camera for them to film their own “behind the scenes” footage; a cheap alternative to hiring a full film crew. Trading places behind the camera, the band filmed some basic jams in the basement of Sam’s Rock Bar, some home footage (such as members meeting up at Fania’s parents’ house for an authentic Italian meal), and finally the making of the photo shoot on January 10th. Blainey’s well-connected friend, Annett, had asked a couple of his friends, Judith Cezar and Keith Marshall, to take new pictures of Boize for the press kits and album booklet. One of these pictures was reserved to create the band’s third poster. With it, Judith designed a papier-mâché background onto which she superimposed the cut-out band members and their iconic trunk and chains, which represented the band’s “mainstream period.” The original poster designed by Judith Cezar was in sepia tones but the ones that the band autographed and sold at their shows were photocopied in black and white.
A week later, Boize entered Mot-Tel Records’ recording studio in the Saint-Henri district of Montreal (4863 Notre-Dame Street West) to track the five songs selected for the extended play. Sound engineer Joseph Vieira was there to track “Get a Life,” “Rebel to Rules,” “In-Two Deep” (yet another update on the song’s title), “Tired of Liars,” and “The Riot Inside (The Rioting Side).” Although Hill supervised the production, Boize was entirely responsible for the mixing and final sound of the record. Everything was mixed to their liking. Once again, the Sherwood brothers were brought in to do their backing vocals magic on “In-Two Deep.” The songs were finally mixed down to a Digital Audio Tape and sent to Disques S.N.B. in the Town of Saint-Lawrence district of Montreal (8400 Chemin De La Côte De Liesse) to be mastered by Jean-Francois Chicoine.
At some point, however, Hill got into an argument with one of the recording studio’s two owners, Lucio Tomaro or Roberto Telaro. This resulted in Bill Hill Productions refusing to pay off the balance owed for the studio recording session. In turn, Mot-Tel Records kept the two-inch master reels and the band was never able to get a hold of them again. It is presumed that the studio re-used the tapes for another band’s session.
While Fania initially designed a new logo and sketched some artwork ideas for the extended play, his cousin, Riccardo Fania, suggested that they reach out to his friend, Francois Da Fonseca, who was a noted illustrator in Montreal’s biker gang community. Da Fonseca first came up with the idea of a skull, which evolved into a head, chained down to a brick wall. This was eventually developed into an arm breaking out of a chained trunk, referring back to the band’s photo shoot from January. The “fist” illustration would be imitated by Metallica on their album St. Anger eleven years later. Da Fonseca also designed a new band logo which was used on the cover artwork, posters, t-shirts, caps, and stickers.
After the recording session, it was decided that a full film crew should be hired to shoot a better-quality music video for the chosen single, “Get a Life.” Martin Tanguay and his film company, Plouk Productions, were hired to film the band performing live, but unplugged, at the Backstreet. The Backstreet’s manager, Adams, being a huge fan of the band, allowed them to fill the club to maximum capacity on a usually closed Tuesday night in February to film the music video. Tanguay’s original idea altered between the band playing live and some additional footage filmed before and after the show of the band hanging out. However, when he checked the footage at the end of the night, he realized that the majority of the material was blurry and over-developed, which rendered most of it unusable.
Tanguay headed to Cinéfilm & Vidéo to see a friend-of-a-friend, Andre Lavoie (aka Andy Mollition) and asked him if there was any way he could piece the footage together into an acceptable music video. Lavoie agreed to do it for free, working overnight as a favor to a friend-of-a-friend, in just eight hours. He ended up needing to use digital psychedelic effects (reminiscent of the 1960s and far from a novelty at the time), to fill the missing footage from the song’s guitar solo section. When the band saw the finished music video, they were understandably angry about the result. But by then, the damage was done, the film footage had been edited permanently, and they had to live with it.
On April 21st, the eponymous Boize extended play was released. That evening, the band held a sold-out release party at Sam’s Rock Bar where the music video premiered before being sent to Canadian music television stations, Musique Plus and MuchMusic. The release package included a pressing of 500 compact discs, 5000 compact cassettes, 5000 posters, and several hundred (the exact number having been forgotten with age) t-shirts, caps, and stickers. As part of Bill Hill Productions’ agreement, the band was allowed to self-release their extended play under their brand-new record label, U-Iliot Records, with their songs being published and copyrighted through Klink Publishing once again.
The day after the release party, Boize was invited back on CHOM-FM’s Made in Canada radio show for their second interview with TooTall. In between discussing the new release with Blainey and Fania, TooTall played four of the five songs from the extended play: “Get a Life,” “Rebel to Rules,” “In-Two Deep,” and “Tired of Liars.” CHOM-FM continued playing the songs on the station, and the extended play was also picked up by other radio stations, including CKRK-FM and CIBL-FM.
Boize started booking shows extensively to promote their new release and finally conceded to playing cover songs, a compromise they had to make to play more venues. Some of the covers shuffled in their sets included Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and “I Don’t Know,” Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave,” “Paranoid,” and “War Pigs,” Judas Priest’s “The Hellion,” “Electric Eye,” and “Breaking the Law,” Led Zeppelin’s “Communication Breakdown,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” “Sad But True,” “Seek and Destroy,” and “Wherever I May Roam,” and The Cult’s “Fire Woman.”
With covers in their sets, Boize managed to reconcile once again with Byrne at C.R. Productions. But Byrne wasn’t forgiving; he knew he would not be making money whenever the band played at the Backstreet. And so, he refused to give the band decent shows, booking them instead at small, remote venues on weekdays. The first of these was on Thursday, April 30th at Club Mystique (730 90th Avenue), a strip club in the LaSalle district of Montreal. As the first show performed after the release of their new extended play, Boize was disappointed by the poor turnout, even though they had announced the show during their interview on CHOM-FM. The next day, on May 1st, they were allowed back at the Jailhouse Rock Cafe (playing some cover songs) and successfully packed the place.
After their show at the Jailhouse Rock Cafe, MacDonald was approached by Mick Cody (pen name of Mick Côté) of Ace Rock Magazine for an exclusive interview. Boize’s interview appeared in the magazine’s June 1992 issue, along with an album review. Additionally, the May 28, 1992 issue of the Montreal Mirror alternative weekly newspaper featured a write-up on the band’s new extended play and a show listing, written by none other than the noted underground reporter Jenny Ross in her column Notes From Underground.
One of Fania’s family friends owned a ceramic store on Metropolitan Boulevard East in Saint-Leonard. The upstairs lot, located at 5980 Metropolitan Boulevard East, was vacant and it was offered to Boize for rent at a very small fee until the owner could find a suitable tenant. The band moved out of Sam’s Rock Bar’s basement and spent the next seven months in this comfortable location where Fania set up a mini recording studio to track the progress of their new songs. It also gave the band room to store its growing gear and merchandise.
On May 30th, Boize played one of their most anticipated shows. They opened for National Velvet at the Backstreet. The massive success of this concert gave them direct exposure to major record labels and garnered interest in the national distribution of their extended play. Boize was becoming a notable band in the local Montreal heavy metal scene and the band’s name was even graffitied on the Côte-Vertu Boulevard overpass of Autoroute 15 in the Town of Saint-Lawrence (some have hinted that it was Blainey who spray-painted it). Hill felt it was time to get a major record label in the picture. Hill’s early 1970s psychedelic rock band, Freedom North, had been signed to Aquarius Records. He then went on to produce the label’s next two hard rock acts, April Wine and Soma, and remained close friends with the owner, Donald K. Tarlton (who also owned Donald K. Donald). Hill knew that Aquarius Records had done very well with the Canadian heavy metal band Sword a few years prior, and he was convinced that Boize would fit perfectly on the label’s roster.
Meanwhile, Boize continued to promote their new extended play at local clubs, such as Le Flirt (460 Saint-Charles Street West) in Longueuil (south of Montreal island) and Club Sensation (316 Saint-Catherine Street West) in the Ville Marie district of Montreal, both of them week-day C.R. Productions bookings. Le Flirt was played on Thursday, June 14th, and Club Sensation on Wednesday, June 20th. The two shows had poor turnouts and the Club Sensation gig was even cut short. After performing an average first set that evening, the band left on their break to check out another nearby show, either at La Brique or the Backstreet. When Boize returned to Club Sensation to perform their second set, the owner told them that he was cancelling it and paid them $65 for the night.
A month later, their morale was regained when the Jailhouse Rock Cafe was packed for a double bill with hard rock act Adam’s Apples (formerly known as D.D.T., a popular heavy metal band). That month, the band also played at La Brique and, of course, at the Backstreet. Then, on Thursday, August 13th, and Friday, August 14th, they headlined the Exposition Regionale de Montmagny (a.k.a. the Montmagny Festival, now known as the Exposition Provincial de Montmagny, a major attraction in the Quebec City region), performing evening shows at 9 P.M. at the end of the week-long ceremony. This was a huge deal and an opportunity for the band to play in front of thousands of heavy metal fans from the Quebec City area (the band’s first time playing outside the greater Montreal area).
The five members drove eastward on Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by Paolo Gattola, their lighting technician and video documenter, and Jacques Dionne, their soundman who played guitar in the thrash metal band Outrage and who famously only ate hot dogs for his meals. Once there, they stayed with Blainey’s cousin, Gaston, who had a house and a recreational vehicle to accommodate the seven visitors. When they all went to the local diner for breakfast on Thursday morning, they were ecstatically surprised to see their band picture and show times printed on the placemats and menus! The turnout for both shows was incredible. That year, the exposition welcomed over 50,000 people and Boize was the only band to perform for all of those ears. During Boize’s performance, the local authorities had to rush to the scene and simmer down the audience who were moshing and slamming around so intensely that it was damaging the tent’s structure, which had been constructed to house the concert.
By the time they left Montmagny at the end of the weekend, they had sold out of every bit of merchandise they had brought over. Save for a couple of boxes of compact cassettes left at their rehearsal space, Boize had sold roughly 500 compact discs, 4500 tapes, 5000 posters, and several hundred stickers, t-shirts, and caps, all in under four months since Boize’s extended play was released in April.
In late August, Fania’s family friend who was leasing Boize their rehearsal space on Metropolitan Boulevard, found a new business willing to rent out the entire second floor of the building. Boize then relocated to the basement of 5676 Jarry Street East in Saint-Leonard, where another friend of Fania’s let them rent it out for practically nothing.
After headlining the Montmagny festival, Aquarius Records was more willing than ever to sign Boize to a contract and they set up a meeting to discuss options in late September. C.R. Productions then booked them at Bar Chez Swann (57 Prince Arthur Street East) in the Milton Park district of Montreal, with bands Groovy Aardvark and Anxiety on September 12th, followed by more shows in October at Pub Fuzzy’s in Duvernay, Laval (only minutes from where the band first practiced at Kourie’s parent’s house) and a three-night headliner at Bar-Spectacle L’Enfer in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Through Fania’s own booking, Sam’s Rock Bar had Boize set to play two weekends in a row in September, one of which was a four-night headliner. Another Saint-Leonard venue, Jackie’s Cafe (5292 Jean-Talon Street East), also booked them. And of course, Adams had booked them at the Backstreet for early October. Boize was finally earning a steady income, with bookings secured months ahead of time.
But just as things were finally going their way, Boize was to lose one of its founding members. The show at Bar Chez Swann, a venue in the Francophone quarters of Montreal, was lackluster and Blainey’s heart hadn’t been into it. Two days later, he called a band meeting at his girlfriend’s apartment and announced to Fania, Kourie, Berger, and MacDonald that he wanted out.
The reason behind Blainey’s departure was announced as “spiritual” in press releases. but it was in fact due to the band’s heavy partying habits. As a recovering alcoholic, Blainey often found himself struggling alone while the other four members partied all night after their gigs. The band frequently asked for free pitchers of beer as part of its payment, and many venues, like the Backstreet, were happy to oblige, knowing that they were bringing in a large crowd. This caused a void within the line-up and ultimately, just as the band was finally in full momentum, Blainey realized that he could not take it anymore. He did, however, agree to stay with the band until all of their previously booked shows were fulfilled, or until a new vocalist was secured. This included the four-night headliner at Sam’s Rock Bar from September 16th to the 19th.
-Charly, Boize’s Second Vocalist (September 1992 – December 1992)
Hoping to keep the momentum they had built, Fania once again placed an ad in Montreal’s The Gazette newspaper, this time looking for a new frontman. The ad ran for one week, from September 16th to the 23rd, 1992, and read: “Singer wanted for signed hard rock metal band with E.P. and gigs. Immediate. 374-1916.”
Luckily, Carlos “Charly” Lopez (a Bruce Dickinson-style singer) had moved to Montreal from Uruguay in February 1992 and was looking for a band. Back in South America, Lopez was a rock star, famous as the vocalist in Alvacast, South America’s answer to Iron Maiden. When Lopez went to meet Boize at their new jam space on Jarry Street, everyone felt an immediate connection.
Lopez learned Boize’s songs and the required covers extremely fast and a week later he was ready. Boize opened September 26th’s show at Sam’s Rock Bar with Blainey on vocals, as if nothing had changed. But after finishing their first set, Blainey announced to the fans that he was retiring from the band and handed over the microphone to Lopez, in a symbolical passing of the torch to the new band member. The band started their second set with an Iron Maiden cover, engaging Boize fans into immediate approval of Lopez. With Lopez in the band, a few more cover songs were added to the set list, including Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills,” “Flight of Icarus,” and “The Number of the Beast,” AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” “Hell’s Bells,” and “Highway to Hell,” and Faith No More’s “Epic.”
The very next night, they headed over to the Rockpile club (4740 Jarry Street East) in Saint-Leonard, only a few blocks away from their new jam space, to play an impromptu cover of Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills.” Again, the fans went crazy for them, some even claiming that when they closed their eyes, they could have sworn that it was Dickinson himself on stage. When Lopez later played in Iron Maiden cover bands, reviewers noted the same thing. The shows at the Backstreet on October 3rd and at Pub Fuzzy’s (1600 Saint-Martin Boulevard East) in Duvernay, Laval on the 6th, with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne tribute band Crazy Babies, were equally successful.
C.R. Productions then called Fania on a whim one afternoon, asking if Boize would play a show at Les Retrouvailles (1709 Saint-Denis Street) in the Ville Marie district of Montreal later that night because another band had dropped out. Fania then called every member of the band to tell them the news, but when he got around to MacDonald, he found out that he had food poisoning and wouldn’t be able to drum for the show. Fania immediately called up an old acquaintance, Joseph Morrone. Morrone had grown up with Fania in Saint-Leonard and had been a member of Sublime Fine and Ruff Edge, two bands that had played shows with Boize during their early days. Morrone was versatile enough to jump right into the position as a filler for the one-night event.
C.R. Productions’ most important booking for Boize was the three-night headliner at Bar-Spectacle L’Enfer (154 Wellington Street South) in Sherbrooke, Quebec, from Thursday, October 15th to Saturday, October 17th. The first two nights turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, with only an average turnout due to the bar’s promoter failing to advertise the concerts. But after word-of-mouth got around that this great metal band was playing in town, everything was redeemed on Saturday night when Boize played three full sets during the evening and night. During each set, the crowd doubled in size, and by the end of their third set, the bar was packed to maximum capacity. The crowd refused to stop cheering for them and demanded an encore, so the owner couldn’t help but ask them to play a fourth set until the bar’s closing time, just to keep the crowd happy.
To start their final set, the band began performing a cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” When the drums kicked in, Lopez swung the microphone stand in the air and accidentally hit a spotlight, causing an explosion of sparks and a temporary blackout. Needless to say, the crowd loved it and the party carried on well into the night.
Having fulfilled all of their booked shows, Boize was ready to regroup and start writing new material with Lopez. Hill and Lamb also wanted to get them back in the studio as soon as possible, hoping to finalize the Aquarius Records deal with new material. Fania had already set up a mini studio at the new Jarry Street jam space and they began recording rehearsals. They even set up the drum kit behind a Plexiglas box to isolate the sound and get near-studio quality. Lopez’s voice was lower in tone than Blainey’s, so Fania, Kourie, and Berger decided to tune their guitars down a whole step, from standard E to D. This made the new material a lot heavier and even darker than the previous extended play. Kourie also took over as backing vocalist because his voice was lower than Fania’s. In November, Boize provided Hill a live rehearsal compact cassette featuring a few songs from the extended play re-recorded with Lopez, along with two new songs: “Far Away” (a new power ballad) and “Right Now” (their new moshing and slamming anthem).
Suddenly, Boize’s rhythm guitarist, Berger, announced that he was moving to the Gaspé Peninsula to get married. He left on the morning of December 5th, the remaining members of the band helping him pack his car with his gear. Berger later played in the bands Slobber Pryd and Road House Band.
A few days later, Hill and Lamb brought Lopez and a couple of the band members back to Starbase Studio to demo new material. Using the February 1991 DAT of “In Too Deep” (since they no longer had access to the 1992 reels kept by Mot-Tel Records), Hill had Lopez sing over the original power ballad, still pushing to sell this single to Aquarius Records. But Lopez had a heavy Spanish accent which became apparent on the new recordings. The new version of “In Too Deep” was therefore shelved indefinitely and Lopez was encouraged to work on his accent.
Looking to fill the vacant rhythm guitarist role, Fania and Kourie asked their old friend Paolo Gattola. Gattola already knew all of the songs from jamming around, sitting in on rehearsals, and travelling with the band over the years, and he eagerly agreed to become an official band member. Gattola brought his electric guitar to a luthier and had it set up with the band’s new tuning a whole step down, ready to jam with Boize and looking forward to playing their upcoming shows. This included C.R. Productions’ booking of a two-night headliner at Bar Le Repaire (297 Cure-Labelle Boulevard) in Sainte-Rose, Laval on December 16th and 17th. But on the night of December 15th, just a day before what would have been Gattola’s first show with Boize, Fania called him to let him know that the band had instead decided to continue as a four-piece. Although disappointed, Gattola remained a close friend and supporter of the band and its members.
At Boize’s second headlining night at Bar Le Repaire, a certain Gabriel “Gabby” came to see them play, by recommendation of a mutual friend. Gabby announced that was starting a new management firm and told the band that he was blown away by their music. He started negotiations to become their new manager. A couple of meetings were set up at his office but his offers didn’t reflect where the band wanted to go and Boize remained with Bill Hill Productions.
Before the end of the year, Lopez announced that he was quitting Boize to focus on his other band, Alvacast. Lopez’s dedication to Alvacast was understandably stronger than his loyalty to Boize, as the former band was a major name in South America and he had been with them since its inception. Although Alvacast had dissolved in 1991, when a couple of its members decided to leave Uruguay for Canada, by mid-1992, all of its members had relocated to Montreal. The band reformed in the new city but was only active sporadically and did not interfere with Lopez’s joining Boize a few months later. Disappointed by Hill and some of the members’ reaction to his thick Spanish accent on studio recordings, Lopez began to shift his focus towards Alvacast again. His recent live success (with Boize) could only help Alvacast thrive in the new city, and his Spanish accent would no longer be an issue since the band sang principally in that language (with select songs in English). Lopez departed in late December, and without a singer, the Aquarius Records deal fell between the cracks and was never spoken of again. Lopez later went on to play in such bands as Up the Irons, Tears for the Dead Gods, and The Carlos Lopez Rock Band.
-Planning a Mini-Tour with a Third Vocalist (January 1993 – May 1993)
Fania, Kourie, and MacDonald decided to try once more at regrouping the band and they held vocalist auditions at their jam space. In January 1993, they selected Ian ([last name still missing, please get in touch if you know him!], a Robert Plant-turned-metal-style singer) who also played the twelve-string acoustic guitar. Fresh in Montreal from Vancouver, British Columbia, Ian seemed a perfect fit to complete the band, filling both the vacant vocalist slot and the empty rhythm guitarist section.
Boize spent the next two months reworking their entire set list, as Ian was adamant not to sing lyrics written by previous vocalists. Every song that was kept had to be completely re-arranged musically and Ian wrote brand new lyrics for them. Thus, songs like “Far Away” became “Alone,” “Right Now” became “Mental Cesspool,” and “Everytime You Come Home” was revamped into an even more melodic tune that included a twelve-string acoustic guitar accompaniment by Ian. A Led Zeppelin cover was added to their set and no less than two brand new songs were composed: “Eyes of Love” and “A Friend.” Most of the songs were demoed extensively throughout the winter and spring, using the band’s recording equipment set up at the Jarry Street jam space.
With its new line-up, Boize’s sound changed considerably and Ian proposed a new band name. He was particularly interested in using the name Mormentum, but the core members didn’t want to completely give up the name they had worked so hard to build up over the previous four years. So with a compromise, the band briefly became known as Boize-Mormentum, hinting that the band had a second wind, a new energy, and new momentum. The new name, however, only officially lasted a single show, after which it reverted to Boize.
The single show played under the name Boize-Mormentum, showcasing its new line-up, took place on March 20, 1993, headlining a benefit concert for Claude Messier, a playwright, poet, and novelist fighting against the rare disease of muscular dystonia. The benefit show was held at Place Bert, inside the Grand Prairie Flea Market (Marché aux Puces des Grandes-Prairies) in Saint-Leonard, and was entirely organized by Ian. Although the band managed to sell almost a hundred tickets in advance, a massive snowstorm took the city by surprise on the night of the show and the turnout was poor. Thankfully, the event was filmed by Marcel Beaudoin for preservation.
By then, Fania had already booked dates for Boize’s first mini-tour. The fans in Montmagny wanted to see Boize again, since their headlining festival performance in August 1992, and Fania was in touch with ex-guitarist Steve Berger, who had joined another heavy metal band in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Slobber Pryd. With the help of C.R. Productions, Fania booked a series of shows in mid-April that took Boize to eastern Quebec and back. Unfortunately, some of the tour dates have been lost with time. But of what could be found, April 9th and 10th were to be played at the Sainte-Anne-des-Monts High School Auditorium with Berger’s band Slobber Pryd. On April 12th, Boize was booked at the Lavironde Amphitheatre at the Louis-Jacques-Casault High School Auditorium in Montmagny. C.R. Productions had also booked the band to play at Quebec City’s most prominent rock and metal venue, Chez Dagobert.
Boize played its last local show before leaving for the road trip at the Backstreet on April 2nd. This was only Ian’s second show with the band and his leading man skills and style were completely different from what Blainey or Lopez had offered the metalheads that frequented the Backstreet. The differences became all too apparent during the show and there was a negative vibe coming from the audience. After their first set, Fania, Kourie, and MacDonald asked Lopez, who was in the audience with fellow Alvacast bandmates, to join them on stage and perform an Iron Maiden cover. The crowd went absolutely wild and, for reasons still unrevealed, Ian refused to return on stage for the band’s second set and ultimately stormed out of the venue. Stuck without a vocalist, Lopez gladly agreed to finish the rest of the set, which was improvised to include some of the songs from the Boize extended play, some of the new songs composed with Lopez on vocals in late 1992, and a few more covers.
The Backstreet show caused serious tensions within the band. MacDonald and Ian’s personal differences became irreparable and MacDonald ultimately quit the band. The tour was less than a week away but the band had no way of finding a new drummer in time, one who would not only learn the songs extremely fast but also be ready to hit the road at a moment’s notice. So the tour was cancelled.
Fania, Kourie, and Ian continued jamming together as a three-piece for the next few weeks but in May, Kourie gave Fania an ultimatum; either Ian had to go or he, too, was quitting. It was brought to Fania’s attention that Ian had made improper advances towards Kourie’s girlfriend. This was an easy decision for Fania; after more than seven years of co-writing and performing with Kourie, Ian had to be the one to leave. One afternoon that month, Fania made his way to Ian’s apartment on Saint-Urban Street and told him that he was out of the band.
[The previous chapter was written without any input from Ian, whom we would love to find and interview, in the hopes of getting a fuller view of his time in the band and give proper credit where credit is due.]
-The Decline of Boize and Changing Name to “Emissary” (May 1993 – June 1993)
Determined to continue as Boize, Fania and Kourie recruited drummer André Chan, who was at the time also playing in Cinema V, the same band that had won the Homegrown Music Search contest in 1989 and was managed by David Byrne. This trio had a few rehearsals but the vibe wasn’t right and Chan soon left. He later went on to play in Défense D’afficher and Likwid (featuring the majority of his bandmates from Cinema V). After auditioning a few more drummers, Fania asked Morrone to come jam with them again. Morrone wound up sticking around as a sort of permanent but unofficial drummer, as he preferred to never commit himself to a band.
In early June, Fania, Kourie, and Morrone recruited Rejean Xavier Briand (aka Rjeen, an Elvis Presley-style vocalist). Briand had earlier finished a successful run as the vocalist of Sarok Saroya, a local hard rock band that had played most of the same club circuit as Boize. Briand had also recently released some solo material. Briand’s moniker, Rjeen (pronounced R-Gene) was self-penned and a play on his first name’s difficulty to be pronounced in English. Briand later legally changed his name to Xavier Briand.
With Briand’s wide vocal range, the material written earlier that year was slowly revamped into blues-rock/Black Sabbath-influenced songs, more fitting of the mid-1990s. Before June was over, the new line-up decided to abandon the Boize moniker, since their sound had changed so drastically. But it wasn’t until July 2nd that they settled on a new name, Emissary, needing one to perform their first concert. The final traces of Boize material ended up on Emissary’s first demo entitled Reach In, which was recorded in late August 1993. Emissary would remain active until February 1996, at which time they changed their name to Breaking Violet, during the recording of their full-length album, Digging UP Old Bones. Breaking Violet continued until the early months of 1999.
-The Boize Legacy (December 2010 – Present)
To be written very soon!
In the mid-2010’s, U-Iliot Records resurfaced to offer digital reissues of all the Boize material; the original 1989 demo, the unreleased 1990 album, the 1992 self-titled extended play and a collection of b-sides and rehearsal demos. A commemorative music video was also put together for the song “I’ll Still Love You.” To date, none of the post-Lopez material has surfaced. If you dig Boize, like them on Facebook. If you have any pictures or memorabilia of theirs that isn’t in this article, please get in touch! We’d like to add it to the collection!
-Complete Show Listing and Flyer Archive
(work-in-progress)
1989-12-?? Salle L’Intro (Villeray, Montreal, QC)- 1990-04-02 Salle L’Intro (Villeray, Montreal, QC)
- 1990-05-26 Salle L’Intro (Villeray, Montreal, QC)
- 1990-12-23 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) Barfly
- 1990-12-30 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) Barfly
- 1990-12-31 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) Red Tape
- 1991-02-16 Whiskey’s Rock Bar (Saint-Michel, Montreal, QC) Ruff Edge, Barbarella
- 1991-04-15 The Terminal Showbar (Shaughnessy Village, Montreal, QC) Anxiety
- 1991-05-18 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) Sublime Fine
- 1991-05-24 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1991-08-07 Salle L’Intro (Villeray, Montreal, QC)
- 1991-09-20 La Brique (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC) Foreplay, Stone Valley
- 1991-11-28 Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1991-12-01 Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-04-21 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) Boize EP release party
- 1992-04-30 Club Mystique (LaSalle, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-05-01 Jailhouse Rock Cafe (Mount Royal Plateau, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-05-30 Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC) National Velvet
- 1992-06-14 Le Flirt (Longueuil, QC)
- 1992-06-20 Club Sensation (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-07-24 Jailhouse Rock Cafe (Mount Royal Plateau, Montreal, QC) Adam’s Apples
- 1992-07-31 Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-08-13 Exposition Regionale de Montmagny (Montmagny, QC)
- 1992-08-14 Exposition Regionale de Montmagny (Montmagny, QC)
- 1992-09-12 Bar Chez Swann (Milton Park, Montreal, QC) Anxiety, Groovy Aardvark
- 1992-09-17 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-09-18 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-09-19 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-09-20 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-09-26 Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-09-27 Rockpile (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-10-03 Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-10-06 Pub Fuzzy’s (Duvernay, Laval, QC) Crazy Babies
- 1992-10-?? Les Retrouvailles (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1992-10-15 Bar-Spectacle L’Enfer (Sherbrooke, QC)
- 1992-10-16 Bar-Spectacle L’Enfer (Sherbrooke, QC)
- 1992-10-17 Bar-Spectacle L’Enfer (Sherbrooke, QC)
- 1992-12-16 Bar Le Repaire (Sainte-Rose, Laval, QC)
- 1992-12-17 Bar Le Repaire (Sainte-Rose, Laval, QC)
- 1993-03-20 Place Bert, Marche aux Puces des Grandes Prairies (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC)
- 1993-04-02 Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
1993-04-09 Auditorium de la Polyvalente de Sainte-Anne-des-Monts (Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC) Slobber Pryd1993-04-10 Auditorium de la Polyvalente de Sainte-Anne-des-Monts (Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC) Slobber Pryd1993-04-12 Lavironde Amphitheatre, Polyvalente Louis-Jacques-Casault (Montmagny, QC)1993-04-?? Chez Dagobert (Quebec, QC)
-Unconfirmed Shows
- 1990-06-?? Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC)
- 1990-??-?? La Brique (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC) (unconfirmed source)
- 1991-??-?? Whiskey’s Rock Bar (Saint-Michel, Montreal, QC) Sublime Fine (from memory)
- 1991-??-?? Sam’s Rock Bar (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) (played there so many times)
- 1991-??-?? Jailhouse Rock Cafe (Mount Royal Plateau, Montreal, QC) (late 1991, mentioned at photo shoot and on CHOM interview)
- 1992-01-08 unknown venue
- 1992-03-21 unknown venue
- 1992-07-?? La Brique (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC) (from memory of playing after seeing National Velvet there a week prior)
- 1992-??-?? Jackie’s Cafe (Saint-Leonard, Montreal, QC) (from memory, possibly twice, after the extension, so May 1992 at the earliest)
- 1992-??-?? Backstreet (Ville Marie, Montreal, QC) (Perry thinks they played after Montmagny)