The Music of BOSH

1996 - 2000; The Cassette Years

Bosh formed when David (12), Amy (10) and Michael (9) went to a record a little tune David had come up with on the piano. This would happen in a recording studio housed in a garden shed in the suburbs of Bournemouth, it was the summer of '96. What were they doing there? Their Dad (Lloyd) and his band, Higher Ground, had converted the shed to record their own album a year before.

After the four-minute instrumental was mixed on to a tape, the children proudly played it to the anyone who'd listen. The tune was called 'Blabbermouth' and the cassette cover, hand drawn by David said the band was called BOSH.

This experience ignited a keen interest in recording, which was explored in the coming years by the two brothers (Amy didn't want to play) using bits of borrowed equipment from friends, like a tascam four-track (with only three of the tracks working). The results of the many evenings of after-school jamming were collected on to a TDK D90 which became 'Excuse Me, We're Starting'. The sound was almost an unlistenable blend of un-tuned guitars, ancient synth-voices, a dirty drum-kit and a beaten up piano. Later that year, a second collection 'High/Deep/Blue' was copied, tape to tape and given to anyone polite enough to accept one. The second tape featured the timid and rather awful singing of David. That was 1998.

The next two years found the fledgling band grow to include friends from school. The sonic sketches got more ambitious as the tastes of the various members mingled. There were more fully formed songs. Lots of Pink Floyd and Blur were being digested. The last cassette collection was 'Revolution', a culmination of two years of tinkering in different homes. The band was more of a collective that began to play live, with line-ups changing often.

2000 - 2004; The CDR Years

After most of the members had left school in the summer of 2000, the line-up settled down and became just three members, Dave and Mike and a guitarist called Mark Tompkins. Thanks to a job labouring for a local gardner, Dave could afford a digital 8-track and a good microphone. The recordings that BOSH were starting to do took a leap forward in sound-quality. The sound for the next two years kept the same course of crafting sound-scapes and textures alongside more traditional song formats. These resulted in the first CD's; 'Something More' in 2001 and 'Seeking Wonder' in 2002 (both were recorded throughout the previous years). Thematically, the lyrics were much more from a Christian world-view, talking about God and living life getting to know him.

In April 2003 the three members of Bosh went into a local studio and came out with 'Looking Up', a five track mini-album that hosted the most solid songs that band had written yet. The arrangements were ambitious and featured horn-sections, drum-solo's, and big guitar-solo's. Shortly after, James Grant joined the band on Bass and the band were able to play live more often and more easily (the role of bassist had been largely left open with David playing on recordings).

2004 - Present; Risen Records Years

In early 2004 Mark told the rest of the band that he was leaving. This was due to his increasing interest in art and the pressure of his course-work from Uni. Dave had become close to a student hailing from Taunton in Somerset who was studying at Bournemouth Uni and going along to Dave and Mike's church. Matt Gainsford had a really creative drive that clicked with Dave and the two had already made a home-recorded album for Matt's worship songs. Matt replaced Mark very quickly and learned and adapted many of the Mark's parts on the 'Looking Up' material that the band were still gigging. Very quickly lots of new songs came along and the four-piece began to gig very regularly. Where as since '99 the band had done 5 or 6 gigs a year, now they were doing the same number a month. The new material was being honed on the road and many hundreds of copies of Looking Up were being shifted at gigs. In the September of 2004, Grant Howard joined Bosh on Keys, making the band a five-piece with seven tracks ready to record again.

By this time the band had struck up a very tight friendship with brother john, a band based in Yeovil. Brother john had formed their own record label to support their releases but felt it was right to work with Bosh and so the recordings were undertaken by Matt Roe, part of the Risen Records team. 'VII' was recorded at various homes in Bournemouth and Somerset and released in July 2005 to good reviews. The band were notching up lots of gigs, mainly in the West country and beginning to grow an audience.

Building on the momentum gathered by constant gigging, Bosh decided to record a live album. The 'Middle of Somewhere' tour was planned for late 2006 and two dates were recorded. The Yeovil date was released as 'Middle of Somewhere - Bosh Live' at Nth Fest 2007 and sold out very quickly. The other recording, the rougher but more empassioned 'Live at the Portman' became an official bootleg, only a handful of copies were made, which were done outside of Risen Records.

Bosh knew that the next studio album they'd make would have to be the flagship of their career. Lots of money was put into making 'Sound the Alarms' which was recorded throughout the winter of 2007/08 and released to hugely encouraging reviews in April 2008. At last the band had a product that was up to the standard for wide-spread radio airplay. Bosh embarked on a promotional schedule that took in festivals, radio, TV, in-stores and many more gigs.

Still riding on 'Sound the Alarms' into 2009, Bosh took a break and decided to record some of the tracks that didn't make the StA sessions and some newer ones to form a complimentary EP.

Bosh have consistently presented emotive, passionate, anthemic songs to the world and over the second half of the '00's proven their worth as a popular and inspiring band in the both their locality in the South of England and in the wider Christian music scene.