Mind.in.a.box

Did You Know?

• Stefan Poiss released the debut single from his side project THYX in March 2011.
• The second THYX album, Below The City, was released on May 14, 2013.
• The band's albums use monologues, audio logs, and conversations to tell a story spanning science fiction, fantasy, and noir fiction.

Band history

Stefan Poiss and Markus Hadwiger, childhood friends in Austria, collaborated on computer games before Poiss decided to create a music album in 2000. Poiss wrote the music and performed vocals, while Hadwiger provided lyrics, resulting in the debut album Lost Alone, completed in 2001. After approaching Dependent, the album was tweaked and marketed for a year before its 2002 release, where it reached number one on the Deutsche Alternative Charts for five consecutive weeks. The follow-up, Dreamweb, peaked at number two on the DAC and ranked seventh on the DAC Top Albums of 2005.

Live setup

By 2007, Poiss had started planning how to bring mind.in.a.box to the stage, putting together a band with himself on vocals, Roman Stift on bass, Gehard Höffler on drums, and Adam Wehsely-Swiczinsky on guitar. Their live shows rework the songs into a more classic rock format, supported by visuals that tell the story of Mr. Black. The group’s first concert happened in 2009 at Sweden’s Arvika Festivalen, with later shows in Montreal and at Oslo’s Elektrostat Festival.

R.E.T.R.O.

In 2010, the band put out R.E.T.R.O., a record that stands apart from the Lost Alone, Dreamweb, and Crossroads story arcs. It celebrates classic 8-bit computer gaming, including remixed game tunes and tracks inspired by that era, with synthesizer sounds modeled after the Commodore 64 and similar hardware. After the album was well received, the track "8 Bits" came out on a limited-edition EP.