Many bands tout the label of “Indie,” but few bands capture the spirit and musicianship as well as The Boxing Lesson. Originally hailing from Los Angeles, primary songwriter and guitarist Paul Waclawsky took his act from the L.A. grind to the wide open spaces (and open minds) of the musical oasis of Austin, Texas. There, joining forces with Jake Mitchell (Drums, Samples) and Jaylinn Davidson (Vocals, Synths), they have formed a musical chemistry evoking the beautiful psychedelic soundscapes of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, while unabashedly rooting themselves in the modern rock n’ roll in the vein of groups like Catherine Wheel, Hum, and the Silversun Pickups.

On their latest release “Wild Streaks and Windy Days” the trio takes the spacey rock sensibilities of Brian Eno and uses them to create lush synth backdrops with classic guitar and drum work taking the reigns. The rich lyrical offerings and strong musicianship quickly draw listeners in, while Paul Waclawsky’s voice alludes to the rich tones of Matthew Bellamy (Muse) and Rob Dickinson (Catherine Wheel). Listeners looking for a new, easily accessible Indie sound would be well advised to visit the Boxing Lesson on MySpace or purchase their music on CD Baby or iTunes.

The Boxing Lesson has undertaken a West Coast tour, that will land them in the heart of Los Angeles at famed Spaceland in Silverlake for a May 6th live show sure to thrill fans. The band plays loud and proud with the help of classic Fender guitars and roaring Moog synthesizers – “keepin’ it real” to say the least.

Although they work within the intimate Austin music scene, the trio maintains a “big city” attitude, and a “shoot from the hip” quick wit that proves both musically introspective and sardonically humorous at the same time. The Boxing Lesson was kind enough to take the time and sit down with LA.CityZine to discuss topics as diverse as their songs, their tour, and mall shopping.

Let’s be annoyingly obvious where did “The Boxing Lesson” come from?

PAUL: It was a gift from a friend. The name just instantly clicked with me. It evokes vivid imagery and I think it’s very fitting to our sound.

What’s your favorite place(s) to play in LA?

PAUL: Spaceland, Troubadour, Knitting Factory

Did Austin turn out to be the Shangri-la of Music you hoped for? Are things easier out there creatively or personally?

PAUL: Yes, it totally did. Personally, I’m not the same person as I was when I lived in LA. Austin is a hippie cocoon that shielded me from the harsh winds of my life when I moved down there. There is a lot of good energy in Austin. The music scene is amazing and inspiring. It’s definitely easier financially, which leads to enhanced creativity. I haven’t second guessed the move once. Austin kinda saved my life in a way.

What part of LA did you live in when you were here?

PAUL: The first apartment I moved into was across the street from Spaceland. That was the summer of ‘96. I saw so many great bands that summer. I remember being blown away by Brainiac shortly before Tim Taylor died. That summer really set the tone for my music pursuits. I moved out of the neighborhood shortly after that and lived in several areas of the city over the course of my 8 years living in LA.

Did you enjoy living in LA? Any interesting stories?

PAUL: I didn’t have the usual complaints about LA; my friends weren’t fake, my girlfriend didn’t have fake boobs and my band got good shows. Here’s an LA story for you: I had all my gear stolen out of my apartment in Hollywood, which triggered my move to Austin in a way. I found my amp on Ebay and called up the LAPD detective and gave him the info. The ad said, “Amp of your dreams.” I’m like, “No shit!” There was even a picture of this thieving douche-bag with my amp on the auction page. It took the detective about a month but he got 80% of my gear back and it was shipped down to me in Texas. Who would have thought the LAPD would be so responsive to something like this?

What was your favorite part of town?

PAUL: Was? My drug dealer’s house and True Tone Music in Santa Monica.

What’s your favorite city when you guys are on tour?

PAUL: On this tour we are really excited about Fresno.

JAYLINN: They say, “Fres-no,” we say, “Fres-yes!”

PAUL: Of course, it’s always great to come back to Los Angeles and play in front of so many friends and family. It’s a sort of homecoming each and every time. Isn’t that why you are printing this?

Do any venues hold a certain magic for you as performer?

PAUL: The Parish in Austin is magic for us. It has one of the best sound systems ever and some of the greatest employees ever. It feels like home to The Boxing Lesson. It is full of good Austin vibes and has a killer “green” room.

Indeed, it’s all about the “green room!” Seeing your passion for exotic synths and wild sounds, is your house just a mass of vintage equipment?

JAYLINN: The washer and drier are from 1974 and I think the toilet is early 80s but recently some expert burst my bubble and told me it was not all original.

PAUL: Apparently, it’s a “refin.”

Well
 1974 is “vintage,” no doubt. Do any of you actually have furniture at your places or is it just gear everywhere?

JAKE: Well, I was sitting on my toilet playing with my Putney the other night (EMS VCS 3). It makes the release so much more enjoyable with those analog warbles. Did you see Eno play the Putney on Roxy Music’s “Ladytron” live video? Youtube that shit.

PAUL: There’s not much living space but we do have furniture. Yeah dude, you can’t sleep on a 1964 Fender Super Reverb. You can sleep with one; you just can’t sleep on one.

Do you have any room to sleep with all that gear?

PAUL: You’d be surprised. Wait a minute… I’m starting to pick up on something. Do you sleep with your gear?

JAKE: I try and make sweet love to all my gear. You know kinda mark it with my scent!

Ah, but clearly you are “gearheads” with classic taste. Would you ever go to Pottery Barn or “canned” stores of the like?

PAUL: Not unless they start selling guitar strings.

Do you ever shop at the mall?

PAUL: Yeah, I go to the mall quarterly for black Chucks — size 12.

JAYLINN: And it’s the only place in town with a MAC counter.

Are you into soft-synths (software synthesizers)? Or do you prefer the “old fashioned” way of getting your sounds?

PAUL: We prefer our synths the old-fashioned way.

JAYILNN: The only “soft” things I like are “Soft Effects.” Ask Spoon about that.

JAKE: Again with the synths and sex. Soft or hard? Man, I think you may have a problem. I hate to be the one to tell you. It’s a sick disease called “Two Fists Deep.”

You seem to love soundscapes, is that inspired by any particular artists?

PAUL: I have always been a huge fan of soundscapes. The Cure’s Disintegration was on constant rotation during my teens as well as a lot of Pink Floyd. We revisited it all in a major way as we were making the move to Texas along with a lot of Brian Eno thrown in for good measure. The textures, the pads, the mood, the vertigo inducing psychedelia; I get off on this shit. We would crank Animals at like 4 a.m., with our fists raised in the air, singing along at the top of our lungs. I really love the Shine on You Crazy Diamond sections on Wish You Were Here along with the Moog-heavy synth on Welcome to the Machine.

I wanted to recreate this in our own way and I think we successfully did that thanks to Jaylinn and her multitasking synthesizing abilities. Jaylinn is like having three additional people in the band sometimes. Once we were in Austin, we pulled out some old Brian Eno records and we really sunk our teeth into Another Green World and Here Come the Warm Jets. The former is a diamond the later a blowtorch. Both are mind-blowing recordings. I just adore the way Eno pulls it all off and makes it sound effortless and changes his identity on each recording.

Are these open musical sections drawn out jams or a sort of ambient, mood evoking device?

JAYLINN: It’s more organic than that…. it’s just the way the song goes.

What’s your take on the concept of “synthesizer exploration”? Give us a little on the process.

JAYLINN: In our bio, by “synthesizer,” I think we meant “drugs.” As for the process, that differs for everyone. It depends on what you’re into, and who you know. Seriously, though, this is one of my favorite subjects. Recently, the process has become a little more expansive since the discovery that Saturn (yes, the planet) emits these amazing radio waves that sound exactly like a Moog. This puts everything in a glaring perspective. The frequencies and sounds are like lush layers of filo dough that are properly tweaked and buttered to make the perfect receptacle for a rock and roll baklava. Then we make love to it.

Do the guitar and drums come into play?

PAUL: Oh yeah. It’s all built around the guitar and drums. I write songs on guitar mainly. Jake plays drums like a lead singer.

Sometimes I look back during a show and he is singing word for word with me. His drum parts are totally in relationship with the lyrics which makes things really powerful. It’s all about collaboration during the songwriting process even though I come in with skeleton songs of chords and melody. That’s why we are all invested in this. “Synthesizer exploration” is a full-band endeavor.

All three of us are mesmerized and intrigued by vintage analog sounds.

Who is the primary songwriter in the group? Give us some of your inspirations.

PAUL: I am definitely the primary songwriter. I’ve been working on the craft for quite a few years now. My inspiration is my life and my perspective on things. My experiences with friends, money, dreams, drugs, sex, and the music industry all come into play.

Take us a through “The Boxing Lesson” and your songwriting? Do you jam it out in rehearsals, or does someone come in with skeleton ideas or fully written songs?

PAUL: I usually bring in a skeleton idea that has a particular vibe, chords and a melody and working name. We jam these ideas out and let the song evolve naturally. You know what to add and what to take away by just listening to the song and making it happy and complete. Jaylinn is great with lyrics and is a great editor. She can twist little things around and make ideas pop.

Are any of you like the Roger Waters [famed leader/bassist of Pink Floyd] of the group?

PAUL: I would say that’s me, even though Jaylinn plays the bass and synthesizer stuff these days. She is more of the David Gilmour [Guitarist, Pink Floyd] to my Roger Waters even though I rip the guitar solos.

Does any one of you crack the whip on the others to keep things moving? Like the drill Sergeant? Or is it highly chill?

PAUL: We are not in the military. This is a fucking rock band. I hear stories about bands acting this way and it sounds horrible. Music is about fun and expression and love. The military is not about those ideals. I remember when I lived in LA, there was this band we were friends with who would give band members demerits if they were late to practice or messed up during a song. Then the person with the most demerits would have to buy the rest of the band dinner after the next show. Shit. I don’t understand why everyone just didn’t quit.

Is one of you more the “lyricist” or the “musician”? Do any of you hold a specific area of the fort down better?

PAUL: We are all musicians for sure. Most of the lyrics on Wild Streaks & Windy Days were written by me and Jaylinn but get Jake talking and you will soon find out that he is a lyricist too albeit a fecalphiliac. He just talks about poop all the time. There is not much outlet for that in The Boxing Lesson right now. He has a solo project called “Fecal Shock” but I don’t advise going to the shows because he makes brownies with corn in them and flings them at the crowd.

That’s just wrong. Tell me… what’s “Back from the Dead” about?

PAUL: It’s about Los Angeles and a transitional period of my life where I felt like I had a chance for a new beginning in Austin, TX.

“Hangin’ With The Wrong” and “Back From The Dead” are examples of uptempo tunes for The Boxing Lesson. Are you going for a rock feel, or is this your version of being happy?

PAUL: The song Hopscotch & Sodapop off the new record is about as close as I’ve come to being happy. As ethereal as we get, we are rockers at heart. That riff in Hangin’ is classic rock all the way and with a little “synthesizer exploration” sprinkled over it, and a killer synth bass line, I think it has a really fresh sounding vibe.

JAYLINN: Bjork said it best when she said “Joy is the most difficult emotion to convey in music.” Pain, Frustration, Loss, Trouble - these are easy to write about. But here’s the dichotomy: No matter what emotion you are writing about, you feel joy while you are writing and as the song is coming along, and as it changes and as you play it together, and when it’s over. So the whole process in itself IS joyous.

JAKE: I just think that each song is its own entity. They make themselves fast or slow, happy or sad. I don’t feel that we set out to make a particular song happy or sad. The songs come from experiences in our lives; some good, some bad. I personally approach each song from the perspective of how it is making me feel when we are creating it and build from there.

Do you prefer the darker more ethereal feel that tracks like “Muerta” possess?

PAUL: I lean that way. Muerta is one of my favorite songs on the album. I died while writing it and came back to tell the tale.

JAYLINN: Yeah, that was pretty dark.

JAKE: I just love to play. I love to play everything. I feel all music should be about being in that moment right then. So if it is a rocker of a song or the more ethereal song, I am all about it. I don’t think there is a song we have that I don’t love to play!

PAUL: This guy really loves to play the drums. Can you tell?

Indeed! Any particular favorites, specific songs, on the album?

PAUL: It’s hard to say. The Art of Pushing Me Away and Wild Streaks & Windy Days are the songs that I’d mostly likely want to listen to if the album were put on right now. Other days, I like the harder stuff. I enjoy listening to the synth bass lines throughout. It’s got some serious fat tone. Listen to Brighter.

JAKE: I have always had a special place in my heart for The Art of Pushing Me Away, especially the version on the album. I also like Dark Side as well. The guitar line is just so infectious.

JAYLINN: I’m really into the way Wild Streaks (track 12) goes right on into Dark Side of the Moog (track 1). I like the wrap around. Jake, well, he prefers the reach around. But that’s totally off-topic.

What are “The Art of Pushing Me Away” and “Wild Streaks & Windy Day” about?

PAUL: They are about “you”, in any way that the song relates to your individual life and perspective. It’s our bond as songwriter and listener. It’s a beautiful relationship we have, isn’t it?

JAYLINN: What are they about? About 5 - 7 minutes. Seriously, they are pretty universal. Of course, they have specific meaning to me, but hopefully, every song is about something and not just words that go together on paper. I just heard this band called Flobots on the radio and my jaw literally dropped: “Me and my friend saw a platypus / Me and my friend made a comic book / And guess how long it took / I can do anything that I want cuz, look / I can keep rhythm with no metronome.” That’s about the worst “words that go together on paper” ever. I mean, what the fuck is this song about? We take an entirely different approach when writing our songs…

Any Boxing Lesson songs that your fans seem to crave the most?

PAUL: Dark Side of the Moog, Lower, and Muerta get mentioned to me often. A few of my close friends really seem to lean towards our space-ballad, Scoundrel. Hanging with the Wrong Crowd goes over very well live because people love to scream, “She’s such a whore!” at the end of the song. Who doesn’t? She’s a whore. For sure.

JAYLINN: She IS a dirty whore. We have this friend who said she didn’t like that song because she thought it was about her. I was like, “Well, are you a whore?” She said, “NO! Of course not!” I said, “It’s not about you, then.” Basically, if you think it’s about you, it is…. This one, however, is about cocaine. Sorry, Ladies. She’s the biggest whore of them all….

It seems like you take some cues from 70s Prog Rock and Glam from Bowie to Floyd? Maybe some Crimson?

PAUL: We totally did take those cues but it wasn’t intentional. These artists and 70’s Prog Rock thrive in our subconscious. We grew up on it. Robert Fripp is amazing. Simply put. That guy has his own identity on the guitar
and what a career. One of his career highlights is the 3-minute shredder solo in “Baby’s on Fire” on Brian Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets. You wanna talk Bowie? You wanna talk Floyd? How many pages do we have here?

Paul, you have an intense vocal style, where you hit those big open notes and falsettos. Clearly a pure and classic vocalist. Given that, I have to ask what are you feelings about Auto Tune?

PAUL: When I hear Cher sing, “Do you believe in life after love?” I want to shove a screwdriver in my ear.

JAYLINN: He actually did. That’s when he came back to life and wrote Muerta.

Ever played Spaceland before?

PAUL: Yes, many times.

Any fond memories there?

PAUL: From an audience perspective: seeing Spoon play on the Girls Can Tell tour with The White Stripes is still ringing in my ears. From a playing perspective: I had a magical night there opening for Calla years ago with the early incarnation of The Boxing Lesson. On the Songs in the Key of C tour, I passed out trashed in the backstage gear area with my head on a keyboard stand. They tried to wake me up to load out and I threw a Space Echo at Jake our drummer. Ahhhhh, the memories.

JAYLINN: That about sums up Songs in the Key of C tour 2006.

This is a good time to plug your upcoming shows that I haven’t mentioned. Don’t worry, it’s not a shameless plug because I did ask – so don’t be ashamed.

PAUL: We are on a really quick tour this time. We wanted to come out to California and run up the coast to SF and hang with some friends, get out of the Texas heat, and spread our new album. Since Wild Streaks & Windy Days came out, there are a lot of things on our plate. We are very busy these days behind the scenes. It’s all very exciting. We have already booked another date in LA at the end of June at the Viper Room on one of those Monday Indie-103 nights and we plan on coming back through a couple more time after that before the end of the year. I can’t believe I’m saying it but, “I miss LA.”

Thanks to The Boxing Lesson for their time! Be sure to check them out at any of the following events!

• 5/6 - Spaceland, Los Angeles
• 5/7 - Beauty Bar, San Diego
• 5/8 - Tokyo Garden, Fresno
• 5/9 - Indie Interview / Bionic Ear Podcast, Los Angeles

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