The Box (4)

The Box was a Canadian New Wave group from Montreal in the 1980's. A new lineup of the band was introduced in 2003. Formed in 1981 by Jean-Marc Pisapia, an early member of Men Without Hats. He recruited guitarist Guy Florent and bassist Jean Pierre Brie for the band, who were originally known as Checkpoint Charlie before settling on the name 'The Box'. The band's first single attracted the attention of Montreal radio station CKOI, leading to a deal with Alert Records. Also that year, Pisapia's brother Guy Pisapia joined the band on keyboards. Their debut album, "The Box", was released in 1984 and contained the hit singles "Must I Always Remember" and "Walk Away". Drummer Sylvain Coutu joined the band for the supporting tour, but was replaced by Philippe Bernard before the band's next album. Florent also left the band, and was replaced by Claude Thibault. In 1985, The Box released "All The Time, All The Time, All The Time". This album, which included backing vocals by Sass Jordan and Marie Carmen, contained the hit singles "My Dreams Of You" and the band's most famous song "L'Affaire Dumoutier (Say To Me)". The band won the 1985 Félix Award for group of the year, and were nominated nominated for the Juno Award for most promising group. "Closer Together" (1987) was the band's most commercially successful album. Featuring the hit singles "Ordinary People", "Closer Together" and "Crying Out Loud For Love", the album was certified platinum. Backing vocals on the album were provided by Jordan and Martine St-Clair. After touring for more than eighteen months, the band took six months off to recover before returning with "The Pleasure And The Pain" (1990). This album was a commercial failure, and The Box disbanded in 1992 after releasing the greatest hits compilation "A Decade Of Box Music". Pisapia released a solo album, "John Of Mark", in 1995. He subsequently revived The Box with a new lineup, releasing a new hits compilation, "Always In Touch With You", in 2003. In 2005 the band released "Black Dog There", its first new album in 15 years. The Box also released a song exclusively for the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, simply titled "The Goal", that was played after a Canadiens goal while on home ice. Although popular with the fans, The Box never officially released this song to the public.