Boize

Boize (Bottled Ordeal Insane Zany Experience) were a heavy metal band from Montreal, Canada founded by Floyd Harem (Robert Kourie) on guitar and Zany Shultz (Stephane Fania) on bass. They had been making music together since 1986, including the band Unmarked/Alter-Ego from the summer of 1987 to September 1988 and Leading Edge/Strike Anywhere from late 1988 to March 1989. Some of the material written with Suzanne Madden in Leading Edge/Strike Anywhere would become the earliest Boize material when Fyia Powers (Perry Blainey, an Ozzy Osbourne type) joined in April 1989 as the vocalist. They recorded their first "rehearsal demo" in June 1989 and later in the year, re-recorded the same five songs at Studio Works for their original demo. "The Bug" was released in October 1989 and as they had no drummer, Steph also programmed a drum machine while recording the keyboard parts. After shopping around the demo, they landed their first TV interview in November 1989 on the late night talk show Zone Rouge. That December, Boize were scheduled to play their first show at L’Intro but it had to be cancelled because they couldn’t find a drummer in time.

In January 1990, Boize posted an add in The Gazette to find a drummer. After some auditions, Siegfried (Scott MacDonald) was chosen to replace the drum machine. A month later Zorba (Victor Ananian), a high school friend of Steph joined as keyboardist. The band then moved it’s jam space from Bob’s basement to a rehearsal room at 750 Cremazie Ouest, right above Trophy’s Sports Bar. It wasn't long before they played their first show with this line-up at L’Intro on April 2nd 1990. However Zorba couldn't stay in the band and left later that month. But they did expand to a second guitarist with Pascal Trahan after Perry suggested the guitarist from his previous band. With a rhythm guitarist for their concerts, this line-up played their second show, also at L'IntroL'Intro, on May 26th 1990, with nearly an hour and a half’s worth of original material. From its early inception, the band refused to play covers and stuck to only playing their own songs. During this second show, they announced that they were raising money in order to record their first full-length album. In June 1990, they played a five song set for a label showcase at the Backstreet, but things didn’t turn out in their favor. Instead the band signed with Imagination Records for an album releasing contract. That fall Boize began recording at Cherry Studio with the Stocola brothers for their planned first album. Meanwhile, they played a couple more shows, one at Jackie’s Cafe, another at Whiskey’s and several at Sam’s Rock Bar. In September they moved out of their rehearsal space on Cremazie because the noise level was so bad and temporarily jammed back in Bob’s basement. By November they had recorded nine songs, but the label's plans had changed and Boize were forced to legally break their contract with them.

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