The Box (band)

The Box is a Canadian pop rock band from Montreal, Quebec,<ref name=canenc>"The Box". The Canadian Encyclopedia, September 4, 2013.</ref> whose style evolved from synth-based new wave pop on their early albums toward prog-influenced guitar rock later in their careers.<ref>Chris Dafoe, "A mix of musical fun contained in The Box". The Globe and Mail, July 23, 1987.</ref> Founded in 1981, they achieved commercial success in Canada, recording four charting albums and 10 charting singles between 1984 and 1990.<ref name=canenc/>

The group broke up in 1992, but a new line-up was founded in 2004.<ref name=rgm>Raphaël Gendron-Martin, "«On brûlait la chandelle par les deux bouts»". Le Journal de Montréal, May 13, 2017.</ref> This iteration of the group has released two further albums.

Biography

The band was formed in 1981 by Jean-Marc Pisapia, an early member of Men Without Hats.<ref name=canenc/> He recruited guitarist Guy Florent and bassist Jean-Pierre Brie and, before they settled on calling themselves The Box, the group was known as Checkpoint Charlie.<ref name=rgm/>

The band's first single attracted the attention of Montreal radio station CKOI-FM, leading to a deal with Alert Records.<ref name=rgm/> Also that year, Jean-Marc's brother Guy Pisapia joined on keyboards.<ref name=canenc/>

Their debut album The Box was released in 1984, and produced the singles "Must I Always Remember" and "Walk Away".<ref name=canenc/> Drummer Sylvain Coutu joined the band for its supporting tour, but was replaced by Pierre Taillefer before the next album. Florent also left and was replaced by Claude Thibeault. Their shows to promote the album included some dates opening for British prog rock band Marillion on their Canadian tour.<ref>Matthew Fraser, "Band borrows liberally from Genesis". The Globe and Mail, June 15, 1984.</ref>

In 1985, The Box released All the Time, All the Time, All the Time.<ref>Craig MacInnis, "The Box patiently waits to stir up English passions". Toronto Star, March 16, 1986.</ref> That album, which included backing vocals by Sass Jordan and Marie Carmen, produced the singles "My Dreams of You" and "L'Affaire Dumoutier (Say to Me)". The latter song, in which Pisapia narrates, rather than singing, a tale of a murder committed by a man with multiple personality disorder, was opposed as a single by the record label due to its unconventional sound, strange subject matter, and bilingual lyric (which required English listeners to understand French if they wanted to understand the full story, including the climactic punchline) but the label relented due to the strength of its cinematic music video, which was constructed as a mid-century European crime thriller film with Pisapia playing the police detective.<ref name=belanger>Cédric Bélanger, "The Box au Festival d’été de Québec: «L’affaire Dumoutier» a été sauvée par son vidéoclip". Le Journal de Québec, July 12, 2024.</ref> Pisapia, who to this day considers it the best song he ever wrote,<ref name=belanger/> was vindicated when the song became the band's first Top 40 hit.<ref name=canenc/>

"L'Affaire Dumoutier", further, was one part of a trilogy of songs, with the album track "Evil in Me" and the non-album "For the First and Very Last" delving further into the murderer's story,<ref name=belanger/> although they were released as B-sides to "L'Affaire Dumoutier" rather than separate singles.

They won the 1985 Félix Award for group of the year,<ref>Martin Siberok, "Year of the Box as group tops in Quebec rock". Montreal Gazette, November 23, 1985.</ref> and were nominated for the Juno Award for Most Promising Group of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1985.<ref>Greg Quill, "Adams wins Juno's triple crown". Toronto Star, November 5, 1985.</ref>

1987's Closer Together was the band's most commercially and critically successful album.<ref>Howard Druckman, "The Box: a gust of fresh air with Closer Together". Music Scene, July/August 1987.</ref> Featuring the hit singles "Ordinary People", "Closer Together" and "Crying Out Loud for Love", the album was certified platinum. Backing vocals on the album were provided by Jordan and Martine St. Clair. The band's biggest hit, "Closer Together", was originally commissioned for a fundraiser for an anti-leukemia foundation.<ref>Craig MacInnis, "The Box singer skating to new tunes on video". Toronto Star, April 10, 1987.</ref>

The band received a Juno nomination for Group of the Year at the Juno Awards of 1987,<ref>Tim O'Connor, "Challengers nose to nose for 1987 Juno awards". Windsor Star, November 2, 1987.</ref> and won the Félix Awards for Anglophone Group of the Year, Anglophone Single of the Year and Video of the Year.<ref>John Griffin, "Marjo, The Box, Rivard top Felixes with 3 each". Montreal Gazette, October 26, 1987.</ref> In 1988, they won the Rock Express reader poll for Best Canadian Group and Best Canadian Album.<ref>"The Box named top Canadian band". Toronto Star, March 3, 1988.</ref>

After touring for more than eighteen months,<ref>"More goodies found in The Box". Toronto Star, June 23, 1988.</ref> the band took six months off to recover before returning with 1990's The Pleasure and the Pain, produced by Martin Rushent.<ref>Craig MacInnis, "The Box closes lid on Canada's two solitudes". Toronto Star, March 30, 1990.</ref> That album was a commercial disappointment; Pisapia attributed this in part to the band's position as francophones who were performing in English instead of French, causing their fans in Quebec to turn against them in the increasingly polarized climate of the Meech Lake era,<ref>Evelyn Erskine, "Rock band in the middle of Qubec language debate". Ottawa Citizen, May 12, 1990.</ref> and to the album having represented a compromise between his musical vision and label pressures to make a mainstream rock album that could break them into the United States.<ref name=sharp>Keith Sharp, "The Box". Music Express, 2017.</ref>

Pisapia also later asserted that the nearly two years of constant touring between Closer Together and The Pleasure and the Pain left the band burnt out and exhausted,<ref name=rgm/> and he was further annoyed when the label forced the band to appear as an opening act for Sinéad O'Connor's Canadian concert dates to promote I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got in 1990, even though they were already a headlining act in their own right.<ref>Philippe Renaud, "The Box au FEQ, à notre bon souvenir". Le Devoir, July 12, 2024.</ref>

The Box disbanded in 1992 after releasing the greatest hits compilation A Decade of Box Music.<ref name=sharp/>

Hiatus and revival

Pisapia released a solo album, John of Mark, in 1995, which was later reissued as a Box album in 2015.<ref name=sharp/> He subsequently supported himself principally as a writer of television advertising jingles.<ref name=jingles>Brendan Kelly, "Former Montreal pop star lives outside the box with TV jingles company". Canadian Press, November 4, 2002.</ref>

Pisapia revived The Box with a new lineup in 2002, issuing two new Box tracks (recorded in 1996 and 2002) on a new hits compilation, Always in Touch With You.<ref name=jingles/> This version of The Box was essentially Pisapia backed by session musicians,<ref name=sharp/> but the line-up soon coalesced into steady group that had a decidedly more prog-rock orientation than the original incarnation of the band.<ref name=jingles/>

In 2005, the band released Black Dog There, its first new album in 15 years.<ref name=reopens>Brendan Kelly, "Quebec singer reopens The Box". CanWest News Service, March 31, 2005.</ref> The album, a concept album about a young man from the Canadian Prairies who becomes an astronaut but gets caught between parallel universes when his spaceship explodes, was inspired by Pisapia's love of progressive rock bands such as Genesis, Pink Floyd and Gentle Giant.<ref name=reopens/>

This was followed up by the 2009 album D'Après le horla de Maupassant (or simply Le Horla for short), the first Box album sung entirely in French.<ref>Jean-Christophe Laurence, "The Box : Le Horla à la sauce rock". La Presse, November 4, 2009.</ref>

By the 2010s, the music industry had changed so much that Pisapia felt no need to create entire albums. "Back in the 80s, it was very simple... Today, even the most experienced executive in a record company doesn’t know where to start."<ref name=spill>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Pisapia had begun painting, but still had his own recording studio for when he got "the urge" to make music. The Box released several singles (in both English and French) and a four song EP, Take Me Home during this decade.<ref name=spill />

In 2024, the band performed at Quebec City's Festival d'été de Québec.<ref name=belanger/>

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions		Album
		CAN <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		QC
1984	"Walk Away"	48	46	The Box
	"Must I Always Remember"	82	—
	"Dancing on the Grave"	—	—
1985	"With All This Cash"	—	—	All the Time, All the Time, All the Time
	"L'Affaire Dumoutier (Say to Me)"	21	18
1986	"My Dreams of You"	51	30
1987	"Closer Together"	13	2	Closer Together
	"Ordinary People"	16	10
	"Crying Out Loud for Love"	40	8
1988	"I'm Back"	—	—
1990	"Carry On"	12	3	The Pleasure and the Pain
	"Temptation"	39	4
	"Inside My Heart"	20	7
2014	"Les plus belles années de ta vie"	—	—	(Single only)
2015	"Life is a Party"	—	—	(Single only)
2015	"Trop Loin"	—	—	(Single only)
2016	"Incredible Human Being"	—	—	(Single only)
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Albums

Original studio albums

Release date	Title	Chart positions
		Canada RPM Album charts
May 1984	The Box	95
January 1986	All the Time, All the Time, All the Time	73
March 1987	Closer Together	25
March 1990	The Pleasure and the Pain	31
June 1995	John of Mark†	-
March 2005	Black Dog There	-
November 2009	D'Après le horla de Maupassant	-
March 2018	Take Me Home (EP)	-

† Originally issued as by "John of Mark"; reissued by The Box in 2015.

Compilation albums

• A Decade of Box Music (1992)
• Always in Touch with You: The Best of the Box (2002)
• The Best of the Box (2007) CD + DVD

External links

• Template:Official