“For a 3 piece band consisting of drums, keyboards and guitar….holy hell it sounded good. Guitarist Paul Waclawsky flat tore up his Fender and along w/ Jaylinn Davidson on keys thrown in made for the lack of a bass player of no concern to my ears. It would appear both these bandmates are in The Casual Strangers too. How Austin, haha. I like their self genre description of Psychedelic Ambient. Looks like they have some new material out produced by local Frenchie Smith by way of the “Big Hits” album which you can check out on Google Music or iTunes. Listening to it as I type this…it sounds as good right now as it did last night. A band that SOUNDS psychedelic instead of just throwing themselves in the way too trendy Psych band genre heap.” – Jerry Milton
SXSW is here. Friday 3/14 is our official Rocky Road Touring SXSW SHOWCASE at Swan Dive Patio – 7:30P! We are playing alongside some really awesome bands that are all on our booking roster. Badge admittance or $10/door while capacity permits.
The Boxing Lesson, touted by critics as “space rockers,” have finally broken orbit with a brilliantly shot video for their song “Health is the New Drug.” The psychedelic Austin trio’s cosmic journey was made possible by Mark Miks, who built Wayne Coyne’s spacecraft for the Flaming Lips’ Christmas on Mars.
The five-minute clip features guitarist Paul Waclawsky, keyboardist Jaylinn Davidson, and drummer Ben Redman, who’s since been subbed out for former Supersuckers timekeeper Dancing Eagle, on a galactic exploratory mission in which they examine Petri dish samples of earth matter, navigate the solar system using paper maps, and hold band practice wearing Hazmat suits in a glass chamber. Throughout, we see flashbacks to their civilian lives as well as copious footage of amateur female boxing and mental patients drooling in a cell.
The clip was the creative product of a reunion between director Miks and keyboardist Davidson – best friends growing up in Wichita Falls. They became estranged during high school and lost contact for many years until a mutual friend informed them that they were both living in Austin. Miks contributed B-roll footage from international shoots and built a custom spaceship for the project in his East Austin studio. The filming wasn’t without incident, either. When Waclawsky shatters the wall of glass with his guitar, his hand was filleted open, requiring an on-the-spot superglue first aid session.
The Boxing Lesson’s 2013 album Big Hits, which features “Health is the New Drug,” has been pressed on vinyl by Corpus Christie indie label Cliff House and will be available at the band’s record release party at the Mohawk on Saturday with Blackstone Rangers, the Baker Family, and Yum.
Video Credits:
Director: Mark Miks
Editor: Jason Stratton from Beast
Colorist: Brandon Chavez from Company 3
Big Hits! Vinyl Release: The 9 track vinyl album is officially being released by Cliff House Records, a new indie label out of Corpus Christi, on January 21, 2014.
We are pleased to announce the Health is the New Drug music video that is Directed by Mark Miks! This one has been in the works for some time and it’s a must see. It portrays the band in outer space reminiscing on the earthly existences they left behind.
Big Hits! is the first full-length album released by The Boxing Lesson in five years. It is not a concept album nor does it have political overtones, although it may offer solutions to some personal troubles. It’s more rock-oriented than The Boxing Lesson’s past albums. It is produced by Chris “Frenchie” Smith at The Bubble in Austin, TX, and contains a total of 11 songs. Big Hits! is not a jam-band album. Most tracks are under 4 minutes in length. There are lengthy guitar solos for cosmic relevance, but only in 3 songs. Synthesizers were used extensively but it’s neither new-age nor electronica music. Big Hits! is definitely psychedelic but not in a throw-back 60’s way. It’s recommended to listen to the songs in order, but if shuffled there will be no negative consequences. Multiple listens produce higher levels of understanding.
The Boxing Lesson 