Gitbox!

The Gitbox! story starts on a backporch in Minneapolis,MN in 1994 where worldtraveller and lyricist Roeland van Niele (formerly of protopunk and noisepop outfits The Moonies and The Shanks) was urged by twin cities resident Phil Harder (ex. Big Trouble House) to : ". get out that Gitbox! and let's play some songs."

Van Niele didn't need much urging on and quickly rediscovered his love for the rich heritage of American storytelling to subsequently cook up some unique originals under those starry Mid Western skies. The ghosts must have been friendly that fateful evening as was later documented on the 10 inch "Last night I dreamed of Gary, Indiana" which contains startling cover-versions of the Meat Puppets' " Lake Of Fire " and The Urinals' " Hologram " along with powerful originals like " Cold Dead Fingers " and the collage-style meanderings of " Invader (for Sun Ra) " the story continues in the Netherlands where van Niele teams up with former bandmate Maarten Verdwaald and Wilf Plum (ex-Dog Faced Hermans) to record the official debut "Our lady of the highway" . Highly favorable international press was followed by tours through their homecountry, Germany and the United States. Notable performances include the Lowlands Festival, the Crossing Border music and literature festival, Noorderslag, Heinz Karmer's Tanzcafe in Hamburg and Tokyo Rose in Charlottesville.

1998's follow-up "Soulsharks" shows the band - with drummer Peter Palermo a trio by this time - expanding into unchartered territories with an all star cast of contributors that includes Carol van Dyk and Herman Bunskoeke (both Bettie Serveert), Simon Lenski (DAAU), Pascal Deweze (Metal Molly, Suki Love) and Mauro Pawlowski (ex-Evil Superstars, MAURO). sombre and meditative observations like "a nice walk home" and "collecting scars" mingle with sounds of waves breaking on the shore and a couple of nice dance tunes like "gyrex girl" and "palmlight serenade".

Two and a half years later Gitbox! is ready to continue the story with the addition of Camille Courbois(on bass, guitars and back-up vocals) the band emerges as a quartet with a rich and fully developed sound.

Now Gitbox! is back with a brand new album on Munich Records. "Steering by the stars" was recorded under the supervision of Allan Muller of Metal Molly and is yet another notch in the yardstick of this prolific outfit a unique and compelling blend of everything that's good about popmusic and strong-willed songwriting, "Steering by the stars" contains all the familiar elements of previous efforts but at the same time shows the band at it's most accessible yet.



Keywords:



pure pop firmly rooted in the American folk and blues tradition



warm and heartfelt storytelling



lush and cocky arrangements w/ strings, keys, trumpets



Now!-psychedelia with a strong lemon twist that's the lowdown.



Now please enjoy it or; as one sensible scribe once remarked : ".sadness is universal and good music is the cure."