spring + summer show schedule (so far).

thanks to everyone who came to our last pair of shows—gear still exploded but we pressed on as usual. i believe we raised around $400 at lowther for palestinian youth movement's toronto chapter, and saoirse dream ruled. this world is cursed, but life ain't so bad sometimes.

excerpt from the march 2025 issue of shapeshifter.

boxxy @ 84 lowther avenue by prim.

boxxy @ 84 lowther avenue by prim.

boxxy @ 84 lowther avenue by prim.

no real information or flyers yet, but here's a look at our next 4 months or so:

• may 17th @ t.b.a. (tkaronto) w/ treehouse of horror & underwater basket weaving (details t.b.a.)
• may 21st @ t.b.a. (tkaronto) w/ imy3 (details t.b.a.)
• june 7th @ the arcade (tkaronto) w/ paperhats & computer (details t.b.a.)
• june 28th @ t.b.a. (kitchener) (details t.b.a.)
• july 19th @ the baby g (tkaronto) (details t.b.a.)
• july 31st @ t.b.a. (tkaronto) (details t.b.a.)
  

most of these aren't set in stone yet, but hopefully everything works out. kai will be gone on vacation for most of april & may so we're on ice until the trees have leaves again. still writing, still recording—we'll keep you posted.

 

love,

boxxy

first shows of 2025.

hi! it's been so long.

flyer by kai.

flyer by ben gomes.

flyer by kai.

we've been hibernating through the winter but we have a couple of shows coming up in the next few weeks—maybe even some new songs if we get ourselves in order. we promise our gear won't explode this time around. our schedule right now is as follows:

• february 28th @ 84 lowther ave. (tkaronto) w/ fool's blood (first show), we could go on tour, eric spinelli (MTL) & goond (7 p.m./all ages/$10/p.w.y.c.)
• benefit for palestine relief funds, details t.b.a.—this place is small, show up on time if you want a good spot
• march 4th @ expo vintage (tkaronto) w/ saoirse dream (PDX) & 666.pastel (8 p.m./$20/p.w.y.c./n.o.t.a.f.l.o.f./19+)
• buy advance tickets here
• june 7th @ t.b.a. (tkaronto) w/ eudaemon (MN) & computer (details t.b.a.)

most of our energy has been put towards writing. we hope you'll all get to hear the results sooner rather than later. for now, we've still got tapes & 7"s for sale here & here in addition to sonic boom & emissions.

 

more updates when we have them.

 

FREE PALESTINE.

 

love,

boxxy

farewell to ryan + last show of 2024.

ya know, i thought blogging was gonna be easier than this, but i've made it much more difficult than it needs to be. lots happened over the last month. let's talk about it!

emissions with bloom dream.

our 7" as a staff pick at emissions!

some of our releases spotlighted at emissions!

new ho king with bloom dream.

new neon.

post-gig dinner at owl! <3

thee WEEKEND OF VALOUR with bloom dream was real sweet—you better pray they come back again soon. we love our new best pals! 305 x 416 forever. <3

we played the respire release show the other night at the church and it was (predictably) tremendous. thanks to everyone who came through, we'll post photos if/when we get them. we played a couple of new songs that we have saved for something longer next year and we're very excited about them. as well, it was our last show for the foreseeable future with our beloved cellist, banjo ryan! ;_; they're moving out to ottawa at the end of the month, but not before one last dionaea spouse gig:

ryan's playing a farewell set of sorts alongside parallel play at st. luke's united church this friday to raise funds for the international coalition for human rights in the philippines. please consider attending if you can.

flyer by kai.

aaaaand finally—we've got one last gig for the year coming up in a few weeks. we return to everyone's favourite worst nightmare prison on the 7th with a frankly absurd roster of bands—body nest's proper debut (members of please don't crash & blood wraith), mauling (london powerviolence), heavenscoldhands (montréal metalcore), lice (brampton bully music) & the almighty REALITY DENIED (niagara's finest). hardcore! thanks to gonz for putting this together; we better see ya there.

that's all for now. 'til next time...

love,

boxxy

~

p.s.

 

soybomb is getting evicted at the end of november—there will be one last show on the 30th. animal faces, big brave (drone set), they grieve & piper maru will be playing. $25/p.w.y.c., all ages, doors at 7. you need to be there: don't fuck it up.

last shows of 2024 + loose notes.

october really snuck up on us.

art by michael deforge.

not really in the mood to promote but some updates: recording has been postponed to november. bloom dream shows are this weekend and we are stoked. as well, the respire show is back on! same sweet bill, same sweet venue, brand new date. here's what we've got for the rest of 2024:

• october 12th @ the union (kitchener) w/ bloom dream (FL) & underwater basket weaving (all ages/p.w.y.c./more details t.b.a.)
  
• october 13th @ low bar w/ bloom dream (FL) & we could go on tour ($15 or p.w.y.c./19+)
• low bar has a crazy small cap (35-ish), get in early
• november 17th @ church of saint stephen-in-the-fields w/ respire & sunnsetter ($20 or p.w.y.c./all ages)
  
• december 7th @ toronto style, a.k.a. "gonz's christmas party" (details t.b.a.)

every show's gonna be a banger—come say hi.

flyers below:

flyer by kai.

flyer by willa coward.

alternate flyer by kai.

flyer by kai.

flyer by kai.

a french blog wrote some very nice things about our 7" and we appreciated it very, very much. an approximation of their words (via firefox translator) are as follows:

"Boxcutter has been very active for two years (EP, splits and demo), Boxcutter comes out nine minutes of his particularly successful for those who enjoy screamo when it is raw and clad with accelerations emoviolence with underlying sensitivity. Variant of its harmonies as its speed, the trio passes from a furious fury shipped (“can’t have shit”) to more moderate rhythms such as “fuck the 29” or the superb conclusion “reckoning (kumapit se patalim)”, mid-tempo hypnotic terminating beautifully. Short but so catchy. Hurry up a sequel."

we also passed some copies of the 7" to no funeral last month; they're not up on the site last we checked, but if you happen to be ordering something from him and wanted to cop that in addition, send a message and he'll probably be able to sort you out.

nothing much else to report! hope all's well with y'all.

FREE PALESTINE!
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA!

love,
boxxy

bloom dream weekend.

hey y'all! it's been quiet for us post-fest. you probably already know but respire had to cancel their tour due to visa bullshit so the church show that was set for the 22nd is off, unfortunately. fuck borders!

some good news, though—we have a weekend coming up with the incredible bloom dream, trekking from florida in support of their amazing new album (out now on zegema beach). flyers coming soon, but in the meantime:

• october 12th @ the union (kitchener) w/ bloom dream (FL) & ??? (all ages/p.w.y.c./more details t.b.a.)
  
• october 13th @ low bar w/ bloom dream (FL) & we could go on tour ($15 or p.w.y.c./19+)
• low bar has a crazy small cap (35-ish), get in early

other fun things of note: we just signed first & last on a monthly practice space! we're sharing the room with terry (among other bands), so hopefully some of their greatness will rub off on us as we start to write for an LP. separately, we also have studio time booked later this month... hopefully you'll hear the results sooner rather than later.

what else? we sent some copies of the ruthless criticism of all that exists to our buddy steve in newfoundland for distro if any of you happen to be out there; otherwise, you can still find the 7" at sonic boom, emissions, or any of our shows. we just re-stocked our demo at both shops too if you haven't managed to get one of those yet (how)?

from earlier this summer.

more news when we have some. <3

FREE PALESTINE!
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA!

love,
boxxy

post-fest.

now that we've had a little over a week to take it in, everything's finally hitting us now: that was the best weekend ever.

our sincere thanks goes out to everyone who came to see us at fest. it was beautiful playing to so many familiar faces, and even better to show the new ones how we do it in tkaronto. thanks to banjo ryan as always for the cello (<3 <3 <3) + jazz & willa for the much-needed vocal support. shouts to treehouse, terry & basque for helping us prove why our scene is worth paying attention to, we love y'all more than we can express. thank you to all the far-away friends that took time to catch us at 4:30 on a saturday. thanks to the merch buyers for dignifying our continued efforts to be a "real band". many, many thanks to the new friends staff, volunteers, sound techs, harm reduction team & bartenders for making the whole thing such a frictionless experience. molte grazie to radura, not only for being the sweetest people, but also for playing what was very arguably the best set of a weekend brimming with amazing bands. furthermore, getting to see/play the same night as raein was legitimately life-changing for us as a band and as people—truly a performance we'll forever hold dear to our hearts.

our deepest gratitudes are reserved for all those who help make what we do in this city so special. there's a reason tom schlatter told us that he thinks tkaronto is "the screamo capital of the world", and it's not just about the music itself. for 3 days it felt like we were at the centre of the universe, and that wouldn't have been possible without the love, drive & passion that we all put into this community year-round. thank you, thank you, thank you. we are indebted.

you can read about how much fun we all had in this handy exclaim! article. you should definitely read the whole thing, but here's what they had to say about us:

"Boxcutter started day two by playing a noisy, energetic and politically charged set that saw lead vocalist and guitarist Toast Wong step off the stage and play amongst the crowd. The inclusive pit saw bodies of all shapes, sizes and proclivities slamming and headbanging. When members of the thrashing attendees fell to the ground, they were instantly helped back up and checked in on, a punktastic practice that should be present at every show (I'm looking at you, meathead hardcore bros… you know who you are). Their set was raw and passionate, a group of young, talented musicians making some truly harrowing noise that whipped the crowd into an early frenzy. Near the end of their set, they were joined on stage by Jazz Cook of Keening and Willa Coward, who added a chaotic, confrontational energy to the proceedings. But it wasn't all crashing, tremolo'd guitars and pounding rhythms (although there was plenty of that, courtesy of drummer Kai Lumbang and bassist Starlight): a cello, courtesy of Ryan Greenlaw, added a droning, pulsating element, one that is often missing from screamo."

thanks marko! <3

the ruthless criticism of all that exists has been out for exactly 1 month & we finally have our 7"s in hand! locals can grab copies at emissions or sonic boom in addition to gigs; international folks, go here or here (sorry about the shipping prices, we're gonna try and work on some distro options). kai handles all the mail order by themselves, so please be patient.

here's some photos of us from the weekend taken by aidan & dove (<3):

photo by aidan.

photo by aidan.

photo by aidan.

photo by aidan.

photo by aidan.

photo by aidan.

photo by aidan.

photo by dove.

photo by dove.

photo by dove.

now, on to housekeeping... we're gonna be taking the rest of the summer pretty easy. most of us are still recovering from COVID and everyone needed the break anyway; please keep masking, testing & taking as much precaution as possible, utilize resources like donatemask.ca if you need to, and remember that we keep us safe when no one else will.

all that being said, we have recording dates coming up pretty quick & 2 gigs on the horizon before the season's out. those are as follows:

• august 18th @ doors pub (hamilton) w/ klunk, pavel stroke (NS) & bubble gun powder (7 p.m./$10 or p.w.y.c./19+)
• september 22nd @ church of saint stephen-in-the-fields w/ respire & sunnsetter ($20 or p.w.y.c./all ages)
  

flyer by luther.

flyer by egin.

finally, a nice memory: we started our first day of recording for it's more like embracing 2 years ago today. visiting hours turns 10 on thursday, LP turns 7 on the 25th. time just gets away from us.

feels like that's everything for now. stay safe, take care of each other, tell your friends you love them.

FREE PALESTINE.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE FUCKING SEA.

love,

boxxy <3

pre-fest.

holy fuck what a wild few days it's been.

 

 

kai filled in for policeman at the officially unofficial pre-show they co-booked for dogs with hobbies on thursday. aeryn got sick and this place is actually the worst had to drop, meaning massa nera's surprise set was down a member. andrew stepped up to do a solo set (that ruled) at our behest instead, but not before we volunteered to fill in if the other bands were feeling it. we settled on doing both sets, but also keeping the secret 2-song set (from an as-of-yet untitled band) that immediately followed early heaven. kai forgot to tell the bar any of this, who signed up for 4 bands done before 11, and then we went 15 minutes past that. now they're reaaaaally mad at us. sorry! faith's bass went missing by the end of the night too, 'cause fuck us, i guess! there was a block-wide power outage this afternoon that took out the entirety of the lithuanian house for a while, which knocked back every set by a half hour. we were skeletons had to drop fest (also due to illness) and we are fucking gutted. indisposed dropped too because nothing can ever be easy. in traditional fashion for us, we have been faced with another set of obstacles to overcome—we will once again test our resilience.

 

we open for raein in 12 hours. see you there.