BoxFull of Groundhogs has come a long way from making dorm room demos.
After meeting just over a year ago, Avery Zingel, Micah Rakoff-Bellman and Alex Rochon-Terry formed the indie-rock band through living on the same fine arts and music floor at Lanark House, one of Carleton University’s residences.
“We’re all really weird and we just sort of gravitated towards each other,” says Zingel.
The band’s obscure name captures the fun energy of its band members as they playfully tease each other and embrace their quirks. Rakoff Bellman and Zingel created the name one night as they waited for Zingel’s car to be picked up by a tow-truck after it had broken down. Rakoff Bellman and Zingel noticed a group of groundhogs nearby and jokingly suggested it would be a good idea to capture them in a box.
After a long night of composing “Hold On Tight,” both agreed the concept made for a neat band name.
The trio performed shows on campus through open-mic nights. After playing a show the past summer in Toronto, they met Matt Couto and asked him to be the drummer of their band. “It was a leap of faith,” says Zingel. “He’s all about precisions . . . he’s a sweetheart.”
Thanks to Couto’s dad, a professional musician is giving the band some studio time during reading week to record an EP. Only three or four songs are expected to make the short album, and the band is looking forward to handing them out at shows and on the street.
Currently, the band practices in Couto and Zingel’s house in Couto’s large bedroom. Rochon-Terry and Rakoff Bellman live just around the corner from them.
“The three of us come up with our separate own ideas then come together,” says Rochon-Terry. “We work as a group. Avery is a great lyric writer.”
The band said they typically work on a collective song that each member contributes and adds to. “Sometimes it can be difficult . . . but we’re good at compromising,” Rakoff Bellman adds.
Because the songs are composed collectively, the song meanings are often, to quote Rochon-Terry, “ambiguous.”
“It’s the feeling of the music rather than the literal meaning of what is written,” he says.
Their song “Annabelle” tells an old man’s story of his wife who passed away.
At the end of the song, he commits suicide to be with his lover. The band says that when they play the song live, it often gets tears by the end. While the background story is tragic, the band’s catchy, upbeat melody makes it a song to dance to.
The band has played on the campus radio station CKCU in November and several shows around the Toronto area, including some performances on street corners. They do most of their promotion of upcoming shows through their Facebook page.
“We’re going to take it as far as we can,” says Zingel. “If that means going and playing everywhere, I’m in.”
While all four members of BoxFull of Groundhogs are juggling their music with their university career, they are determined to take their music far.
“It’s way beyond a hobby, it’s a big chunk of our life,” Rakoff Bellman says. “We’re very emotionally invested in this . . . It feels natural, it feels right . . . it feels important.”
The members of BoxFull of Groundhogs are doing something they love, but they hope to gain some more recognition for it.
“We try to make honest music that we enjoy, not to be cool,” says Rakoff Bellman. “But it would be nice to be cool.”
