Gracing the Madison and Milwaukee music scenes since their establishment in 2002, the Box Social have slowly established themselves as a nation-wide act. A slew of U.S. concerts this summer, notably a spot in the Vans Warped Tour, offered the band further deserved recognition. The four-piece band, including members Nick Junkunc (Guitar/Vocals), Dave Griesbach (Bass/Vocals), Nick Woods (Guitar/Vocals) and Brian Peoplis (Drums) met with The Daily Cardinal at the Plaza (suggestion attributed to Junkunc) to discuss their show tonight at the High Noon Saloon.
The Daily Cardinal: So you guys have made a name in the two biggest music Meccas in Wisconsin, Madison and Milwaukee. Where do you find yourself fitting the best and why?
Brian Peoplis: Black Earth, Wisc. (laughs)
Nick Woods: Madison. No question at this point ... We had a pretty good fan base [in Milwaukee] and a lot of friends and a lot of bands. Suddenly, all those bands broke up and the crowds dipped at our shows, and then we moved down to Madison ... We go back and we don't know half the people that are there now. It's almost like playing away from home. It's really strange. Madison has really become our new home.
Dave Griesbach: It's not that Milwaukee is a bad place for us to play, it's just that it's been going pretty sweet in Madison lately.
DC: Who writes the majority of the lyrics?
Nick Junkunc: I do.
DC: And as far as chord progressions and song structure, who writes that?
Junkunc: I do, too.
DC: And then everybody fills in their parts from there?
Junkunc: ...It's cake and frosting.
DC: Who's the cake?
Junkunc: I'm the cake, but cake is shitty without the frosting. I don't want to eat dry cake.
DC: Who's the flowers on the cake?
Griesbach: Flowers suck on cake.
DC: Do you guys have roles you fulfill in the band? Is there a leader, a screw-off... anything you're willing to admit to anyway?
Junkunc: Could we do like a Ninja Turtle analogy?
DC: Yes, please do a Ninja Turtle analogy.
Junkunc: Brian is Raphael because he has undeniable rage issues (laughs). I'm gonna say Griesbach is Michelangelo.
Griesbach: I'm glad you said that.
Junkunc: Woods is Leonardo, and I'm Donatello.
Peoplis: Well, how do you figure on all these?
Griesbach: Well, Michelangelo you know... he's everyone's secret favorite... he's not gonna kick a lot of ass but he's gonna keep everyone in a good mood. Like, you know, showtime he might go cold (laughs), but other than that he's pretty solid.
DC: Fair enough.
Woods: It usually works out that Junkunc writes all the songs, I take care of all the booking, Griesbach takes care of all the money and Brian takes care of all the travel.
DC: If someone checked out your Wikipedia account they'd notice a string of former bassists. Any comments on that?
Junkunc: Our bass player situation is similar to the drum situation in Spinal Tap. None of ours have died or...
Griesbach: ...or disappeared into green smoke.
Junkunc: ...yet.
DC: You guys seem to be marketing your band through MySpace, PureVolume, T-shirts, CDs, etc. Do you see this as an integral part of making it"" as musicians or is it necessary to make enough money?
Woods: None of us want to be in marketing, we want to be in playing music.
Junkunc: Yeah, marketing isn't fun, you just do it because you have to do it.
Woods: It seems to me that there are so many bands out now that don't give a shit about what the music is they are making, they're just concerned about the latest addition of ""FriendBot"" on Myspace and how many people they're adding every day. We played with a couple of bands in Illinois that discussed what money was going to be saved from their merch at the end of the night rather than what their set is going to be. The marketing is sort of a necessary evil, but it's not anything we focus on ... We do the bare minimum.
Peoplis: It used to be funny when we just started out playing and I would wake up on a Saturday morning after playing a show in some basement in Milwaukee, and my parents would ask me like, ""Oh, how much did you get paid last night,"" and I would say $50, and they would immediately go, ""Well, each that's pretty good,"" and like, they just didn't understand. I don't think we made $50. I think I lied to them (laughs).
DC: Can the crowd expect to see some stage antics Friday night? I know a few past shows have featured people dancing in their underwear on stage by the end of the night.
Junkunc: It only happens if everybody shows up and drinks enough. So if anybody wants to see people in their underwear on stage or just being silly, they should come out to the show and probably do it themselves.
- Interview conducted
by Charlie Berens
