Boiled in Lead is a folk-punk/worldbeat band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded in 1983. Tim Walters of MusicHound Folk called the group "the most important folk-rock band to appear since the 1970s."[5] Influential record producer and musician Steve Albini called the band's self-titled first album "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year."[6] Their style, sometimes called "rock 'n' reel,"[1] is heavily influenced by both traditional folk music and punk rock, and has drawn them praise as one of the few American bands of the 1980s and 1990s to expand on Fairport Convention's rocked-up take on traditional folk.[7][8]Folk Roots magazine noted that Boiled in Lead's "folk-punk" approach synthesized the idealistic and archival approach of 1960s folk music with the burgeoning American alternative-rock scene of the early 1980s typified by Hüsker Dü and R.E.M.[4] The band also incorporates a plethora of international musical traditions, including Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Scottish, Vietnamese, Hungarian, African, klezmer, and Romani music.[1][2][3][9] Boiled in Lead has been hailed as a pioneering bridge between American rock and international music,[1] and a precursor to Gogol Bordello and other gypsy-punk bands.[10] While most heavily active in the 1980s and 1990s, the group is still performing today, including annual St. Patrick's Day concerts in Minneapolis.[1][11] Over the course of its career, Boiled in Lead has released nearly a dozen albums and EPs, most recently 2012's The Well Below.
Although the band recorded Scottish writer John Leyden's ballad "Lord Soulis" under the title "The Man Who Was Boiled in Lead" on their first album,[2] the band's name is actually taken from the murder ballad "The Two Sisters" as performed by folk group Clannad on their album Dúlamán, as well as the New Year's tradition in Nordic countries of molybdomancy, or casting molten lead into snow to foretell the future.[12]
History
Boiled in Lead has gone through several significant lineup changes over the years, including three different lead singers. Bassist Drew Miller is the only original member who has played with the band in all incarnations. Miller, who grew up in Washington, D.C., was inspired by that city's hardcore punk scene to merge the energy and aggression of rock music with traditional folk.[13] The band was also inspired by British folk-rock groups like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.[14] The first lineup, formed in 1983, included Miller, vocalist/guitarist Jane Dauphin, fiddle player Brian Fox, and a drum machine dubbed "Amos Box." Second fiddler David Stenshoel and drummer Mitch Griffin joined in time for the band's first concert on St. Patrick's Day 1983 at the now-closed Goofy's Upper Deck in Minneapolis. The band's first release was a 45-minute live cassette-only album, Boiled Alive, in 1984,[14] which Simon Jones of Folk Roots described as "mean, nasty, and hugely enjoyable."[4] After Fox left the band, the remaining lineup recorded the band's debut studio album, BOiLeD iN lEaD, released in 1985. Dauphin sang most of the lead vocals, with Miller performing on a few including "Byker Hill"; after this album he would stay strictly an instrumentalist.[15]
A new singer/guitarist, Todd Menton, joined for the band's second album, Hotheads, which saw the band expanding beyond its Celtic-rock roots into both punkier and more eclectic world-music sounds. Flute player Laura MacKenzie joined as an official member briefly in 1986, and played as a guest on several subsequent albums.[4] Dauphin and Griffin left in 1988, and percussionist Robin Adnan Anders joined, bringing an even more diverse range of world-music elements into play for the band's third album From the Ladle to the Grave. Stenshoel departed before the band recorded 1990's Orb, though he is a guest musician on several tracks. Orb found Boiled in Lead exploring a wider range of traditional music styles than ever before, moving beyond Fairport Convention-influenced Celtic rock and adding material from Albania, Romania, Macedonia, Sweden, Appalachia, and Thailand. The album's title reflects this, suggesting an embrace of a truly global musical perspective.[13] Bassist Drew Miller attributed the widening of the band's sound to the eye-opening realization that their European audiences were just as comfortable with American musical styles as with any European forms. "We came to the decision that since we're Americans, there's no reason we have to play all Irish material. So we don't." Besides the many world-music influences, Orb also delves into punk rock and psychobilly with guitarist/vocalist Todd Menton's "Tape Decks All Over Hell."[16] In 1991, the band released Old Lead, a compilation of BOiLeD iN lEaD and Hotheads with two previously unreleased tracks recorded during the Hotheads sessions.
Menton left in 1992 and was replaced by Adam Stemple of Cats Laughing, leading the band in a harder-rocking direction on 1994's Antler Dance. The band's 1995 album Songs from the Gypsy was a song cycle written by Stemple and his Cats Laughing bandmate Steven Brust several years before Stemple joined Boiled in Lead. The songs also inspired Brust and Megan Lindholm's novel The Gypsy.[17]
For the band's 15th anniversary in 1998, it released a best-of compilation, Alloy, as well as a double-disc set of live songs and rarities, Alloy2. Further lineup changes included the return of Stenshoel in 1997, the departure of Stemple and return of Menton as well as the addition of guitarist Dean Magraw in 2005, Anders' departure in 2008 and new drummer Marc Anderson in 2009. Magraw and Anderson left in 2016 and were replaced by percussionist Michael Bissonnette.
After a long absence from recording, the band returned for a 25th-anniversary album titled Silver.[11][18] The album again featured a strong Celtic flavor but also included Middle Eastern and Algerian influences on songs like "Berber" and "Menfi."
In 2012, Boiled in Lead recorded a four-song EP, The Well Below, which included a cover of Appalachian folk singer Roscoe Holcomb's "Wedding Dress" as well as the band's take on Irish songwriter Christy Moore's murder ballad "The Well Below the Valley."[19][20]
Michael Bissonnette left the band in 2020, and was replaced in 2023 by drummer Mo Engel, who also plays in Miller's other group Kinda Fonda Wanda and in rockabilly group The Vibro Champs.[21]
David Stenshoel died on September 16, 2021, from squamous cell carcinoma of the gingiva, at age 71.[22][23] The band played a memorial concert in his honor the following month, with a lineup including both current and former members of the group.[24]
A live album, 40 Years of Rock 'n' Reel, recorded at the band's March 2023 show at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis, was released in 2024. Miller told the Star Tribune in 2024 that the band was working on a new studio album.[26]
In popular culture
The band has had a cross-pollinating creative relationship with a number of writers in the Twin Cities fantasy scene, most obviously in the interplay between the band's 1995 album Songs from the Gypsy and Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm's novel The Gypsy.[17] Additionally, the character Aibynn in Brust's novel Phoenix is based on Anders, who was Brust's drum teacher.[27]
Both Boiled in Lead and the Hotheads album appear in Emma Bull's 1987 urban fantasy novel War for the Oaks; the band itself has a cameo as the opening act for the protagonists' climactic performance at Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, while the album appears during a quieter moment earlier in the book, when the main character plays the record while having a conversation.[28]
Boiled in Lead's star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue
Boiled in Lead has won multiple Minnesota Music Awards: Hotheads won for Best Celtic/Bluegrass/Folk Album in 1987, and From the Ladle to the Grave won Album/CD of the Year in 1989.[1]
The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue,[29] recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue.[30] Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh.[31]
Old Lead (Omnium, 1991)—a collection of BOiLeD iN lEaD and Hotheads
Boiled Alive '92 (The Crack, 1992, cassette release)
Alloy: A Fifteen-Year Collection (Omnium, 1998)
Alloy2 (Omnium, 1998)
40 Years of Rock 'n' Reel (Omnium, 2024)
Singles
"Fück The Circus" (Susstones/Omnium, 1994)
Solo projects and associated bands
Besides the band's connection to Cats Laughing and Steven Brust, several members of Boiled in Lead have also released solo projects and work with other bands:
Miller formed the group Felonious Bosch in 2003 with members of other Twin Cities bands including drummer Renee Bracchi of The Blue Up? and Machinery Hill, blending European medieval music with rock on a 2003 self-titled EP and the albums New Dark Ages (2006), Toybox (2010), and 2012's The Bent Slinky Session and Phenomena. The band also performed on the audio book of the 2011 urban fantasy anthology Welcome To Bordertown, part of the Borderland series by Terry Windling, backing author Steven Brust on a reading of his poem "Run Back Across The Border". Miller also produced five additional tracks oin the audio book, creating backing music with Stenshoel and Bosch singer Kari Tauring for poems by Jane Yolen and Neil Gaiman, among others. The group disbanded in 2012.[32][33] Miller is also part of Paris 1919, an avant-garde musical collective led by Chris Strouth.[34] Miller formed Kinda Fonda Wanda, a rockabilly group inspired by Wanda Jackson, in 2018; the group has released one album, Aces, in 2022.[21]
Menton has released four solo albums: 2003's Punts, 2004's Where Will You Land?, 2008's The Dolmen Field, and 2015's "Rosie in the Stars".[35]
Anders has recorded three solo albums under his own name, 1995's Blue Buddha, 1998's Omaiyo, and 2003's Cantar Tambor Bailar: To Sing to Drum to Dance[36] as well as three with the group Darbuki Kings, 2006's Doumtekastan, 2008's Lawrence of Suburbia, and 2009's Been Laden You Too Long.[37] He has also performed with Iowa folk musician Greg Brown on the albums Dream Cafe and The Poet Game, and played on the 1989 3 Mustaphas 3 album Heart of Uncle.
Marc Anderson has recorded as a sideman on dozens of other artists' albums including Steve Tibbetts and Peter Ostroushko, and released two albums of his own work, 1993's Timefish and 2002's Ruby.[38]
Stemple released a solo album, 3 Solid Blows To the Head, in 2006.
Magraw performed in a duo for many years with Peter Ostroushko and has also performed with Tim Sparks, John Gorka and many other artists.[39] He has released seven solo albums.
Related Research Articles
Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include The Incrementalists (2013) and its sequel The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with co-author Skyler White.
Hedningarna is a Swedish, and for some years partly Finnish, folk music band that mixes electronics and rock with elements from old Scandinavian folk music. Their music features yoik or juoiggus, a traditional Sami form of song.
War for the Oaks (1987) is a fantasy novel by American writer Emma Bull. The book tells the story of Eddi McCandry, a rock musician who finds herself unwillingly pulled into the supernatural faerie conflict between good and evil. War for the Oaks is one of the first works in the subgenre of urban fantasy: although it involves supernatural characters, the setting (Minneapolis) is decidedly real-world. The novel is considered one of the first examples of the subgenre known as romantasy.
Adam Stemple is a Celtic-influenced American folk rock musician, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also the author of several fantasy short stories and novels, including two series of novels co-written with his mother, writer Jane Yolen.
Gypsy punk is a hybrid musical genre that combines traditional Romani and Eastern European folk music with punk rock, and is considered a subgenre of the wider label of folk punk. One of the first rock groups to incorporate elements of punk and Roma music was Boiled in Lead, which was founded in 1983 and is still active today. A broader audience became aware of the genre after the band Gogol Bordello released the album Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, with front man Eugene Hütz describing their performance as a "Gypsy Punk Cabaret".
Cats Laughing is a folk rock band, founded in the late 1980s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and revived in 2015. Several of its members, including Emma Bull and best-selling author Steven Brust, are better known as writers of fantasy and science fiction.
The Reptile Palace Orchestra is an eclectic worldbeat band based in Madison, Wisconsin which specializes in lounge, klezmer and other Eastern European music. It began in 1994 with a gig at the Club de Wash, and since that time has become a notable fixture in the Madison music scene. Membership has varied, but the current line-up consists of Maggie Weiser, Biff Blumfumgagnge, Seth Blair, Kia Karlen, Bill Feeny, Robert Schoville, Greg Smith and Ed Feeny, and included Sigtryggur Baldursson of Sugarcubes/Björk fame on their first 2 Omnium releases, Iguana iguana and HWY X
The Gypsy is a 1992 urban fantasy novel written by Megan Lindholm and Steven Brust. It blends elements of Hungarian folk tales with a modern-day detective story. The book contains many lyrics to songs that were later recorded by Minnesota Celtic-punk band Boiled in Lead for their album Songs from The Gypsy.
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BOiLeD iN lEaD, sometimes referred to as BOLD NED, is the first album by Twin Cities-based folk-punk band Boiled in Lead, self-released on its own label, The Crack. It received widespread critical praise after its release; record producer and musician Steve Albini called it "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year." It is more strongly centered on a blend of alt-rock and traditional Anglo-Celtic folk than the band's subsequent albums, though the Hungarian dance tune "Arpad's Guz" gives a hint of the band's later eclecticism. Boiled in Lead's first vocalist, Jane Dauphin, plays a larger role here than on Hotheads, her second and final album with the band, singing lead on most of BOiLeD iN lEaD's songs and helping anchor its sound in traditional folk. Bassist Drew Miller also performs lead vocal on a few songs, including "Byker Hill", but after this album would stay strictly an instrumentalist.
Hotheads is the second album by Twin Cities-based alt-rock/world-music band Boiled in Lead. Like its predecessor BOiLeD iN lEaD, it is strongly centered on a blend of alt-rock and traditional Celtic folk, and has been called its "most roundly Celtic" album.
Old Lead is an album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It collects the band's first two studio albums, 1985's BOiLeD iN lEaD and 1987's Hotheads, along with two tracks recorded during the Hotheads sessions.
From the Ladle to the Grave is the third album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It was the band's first recording with drummer Robin Adnan Anders, whose influence helped push the band further beyond Celtic rock into explorations of other world traditions. These included Bulgarian, Russian-Jewish, and Turkish music, as well as their version of The Hollies’ “Stop! Stop! Stop!” which interpolated a traditional Egyptian melody. The song "Cuz Mapfumo" simultaneously paid tribute to Chicago-based Irish musician Cuz Teahan and Zimbabwean Thomas Mapfumo.
Orb is the fourth album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It was produced by Hijaz Mustapha of British worldbeat band 3 Mustaphas 3. Orb found Boiled in Lead exploring a wider range of traditional music styles than ever before, moving beyond the confines of the Fairport Convention-influenced Celtic rock of previous albums and adding material from Albania, Romania, Macedonia, Sweden, Appalachia, and Thailand. The album's title reflects this, suggesting an embrace of a truly global musical perspective. Bassist Drew Miller attributed the widening of the band's sound to the eye-opening realization that their European audiences were just as comfortable with American musical styles as with any European forms. "We came to the decision that since we're Americans, there's no reason we have to play all Irish material. So we don't." Brett Durand Atwood of Gavin Report praised the album's eclecticism, calling it "a one-world sonic showcase for the tunes of our brothers, sisters, and ancestors." Besides the many world-music influences, Orb also delves into punk rock and psychobilly with guitarist/vocalist Todd Menton's "Tape Decks All Over Hell."
Antler Dance is the fourth album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It was the band's first recording with vocalist/guitarist Adam Stemple, who replaced Todd Menton after his departure in 1992. Founding bassist Drew Miller has called this personnel change the most significant shift in the band's history. Fiddler Josef Kessler also replaced the departed David Stenshoel. Stemple's addition to the band led to a heavier, more heavy metal-influenced sound, as well as a strengthening of the band's ties to the science fiction and fantasy community. Two songs on Antler Dance were co-written by fantasy novelist and Stemple's Cats Laughing bandmate Steven Brust, and "Robin's Complaint" was written by Stemple's mother, novelist Jane Yolen. The album also includes covers of Boney M.'s "Rasputin" and Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper", originally from his album Nebraska.
Songs From the Gypsy is the sixth album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead, and its second with lead singer/guitarist Adam Stemple. It is a song cycle based on a Hungarian folk tale, written largely by Stemple and his Cats Laughing bandmate Steven Brust several years prior to Boiled in Lead's recording. Brust, who is best known as a fantasy novelist, collaborated with writer Megan Lindholm on a novel, The Gypsy, based on the songs. Boiled in Lead's album is considered the soundtrack to the novel. Brust had previously co-written two songs on Boiled in Lead's 1994 album Antler Dance, and had released a 1993 solo album, A Rose for Iconoclastes.
A Rose for Iconoclastes is a folk album by drummer Steven Brust, an author of fantasy and science fiction novels and a member of the Minneapolis-based band Cats Laughing.
Silver is the seventh album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. The band's first studio album in 13 years, Silver also marked Boiled in Lead's 25th anniversary. The album also reflected a number of significant lineup changes. It was the band's first studio recording after the return of longtime lead singer Todd Menton, and the addition of guitarist Dean Magraw. Longtime drummer Robin Anders played on Silver and at the album's live release show, but would leave the group later that year.
David Rockne Stenshoel was an American musician and visual artist, most well known as a longtime member of Celtic-rock and world-music group Boiled in Lead.
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