Boxcar (band)

History

Boxcar was an Australian electronic dance pop band that came together in Brisbane in 1986. The founding members were Carol Rohde, who handled vocals and keyboards after leaving Ironing Music, and David Smith, who sang and played guitar and keyboards. Keyboardist Brett Mitchell joined soon after, with drummer-percussionist Crispin Trist coming on board a bit later. The group initially put out cassette-only releases independently, including an album called P.C.M..

Early on, their sound drew comparisons to Cabaret Voltaire and Severed Heads. Musicologist Ian McFarlane said the band aimed to mix noise with a beat and technology with a solid song. Michael Sutton of AllMusic noted that any resemblance to New Order came mainly from Smith’s tired-sounding vocals, which reminded him of Bernard Sumner’s melancholy style. At live shows in Brisbane and other cities, Boxcar performed wearing gas masks.

Playing electronic music live was tough in a scene that favored guitar-driven pub rock, and they sometimes faced jeers from the crowd. McFarlane commented that they didn’t get far, mostly because of a general lack of interest in electronic dance pop within the rock world, not because they lacked talent. In November 1988, they signed with Volition Records/BMG Arista/Ariola and released the single “Freemason (You Broke the Promise).” When it came out in the United States the next year on Arista Records/Nettwerk Records, it hit number 8 on the Billboard dance chart.

Although local critics initially called them derivative of New Order, they still built a following despite getting little commercial radio play for electronic music. Two more singles also made the Billboard dance chart: “Insect,” remixed by Arthur Baker, reached number 20, and “Gas Stop (Who Do You Think You Are?),” remixed by Francois Kevorkian, hit number 8. In Australia, “Gas Stop” peaked at number 82 on the ARIA singles chart. Their first Volition album, Vertigo, came out in November 1990.

The lineup for that record featured Mitchell on additional programming, Rohde on keyboards and programming, Smith on vocals, guitars, and keyboards, and Trist on drums and programming. Robert Racic, known for work with Severed Heads and Single Gun Theory, produced it, and it was recorded at Sun Studios, CBS Studios, and Albert Studios in Sydney.