Boas

by Karen E. GravesIn addition to solid musicianship, the Boas are blessed with the sort of creation story that makes even the most hardened music hacks feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside. The gist of the tale is that Chicagoans (transplants, really) Graeme Gibson, Jonathan Van Herik, and Gabe McDonough had been trying to form a band together, but thought that what they really needed was a frontman with a back catalog for them to draw from and a keyboard player to fill out the sound. Gibson and McDonough attended a Califone gig and spotted a guy in the audience who looked like he'd be a good addition to their band. A few choice beverages later, Gibson persuaded McDonough to approach the stranger and, sure enough, he (Jonathan Klos) was an able frontman with a back catalog who just happened to know a keyboard player who was about to move to town. The rest, as they say, is history. Or at least it will be once the unsuspecting ears of the rock & roll community are privy to the Boas' grand racket. Signed to Overcoat Records almost as soon as they formed, they released an EP under the name Mansion. Their 2002 debut LP found the boys changing their name to the Boas and naming the album Mansion.