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.
In December, Boize was booked to play all the holiday shows at Sam’s Rock Bar. Starting with December 23rd 1990 for the Christmas show, with Barfly and then the 30th and 31st, the first again with Barfly and the second with Red Tape, for the new year celebration. In January of 1991, Boize asked Pascal to become a permanent member of the band, but he was already working on his own new band, Les Diables a Quatre, which he was beginning to do full time. Now as a four piece, Boize found a new rehearsal room in Sam’s Rock Bar’s basement, which had recently been divided into jam spaces. Boize were the first band to practice there and would really make a home of the venue for the next year and a half. The new year proved to be filled with good luck as they were quickly picked up by Bill Hill Productions in mid January and he immediately took them to Morris Apelbaum's Silent Sound Studio to rework the Cherry Studio material. There they did some vocal re-dubs and attempted to re-mix some of the poorly recorded material but it wasn't happening. In February Bill decided to try at a different studio so they went to Frank Marino's Starbase Studio. There they re-recorded some of the drums and guitars and also recorded a tenth song, "In Too Deep", featuring Kim and Dorian Sherwood. Bill insisted that Boize record this new song because he intended for it to be their first single, with a plan to press it on maxi CD singles, make a video for it and ship it off to the TV and radio stations. With some newly recorded and polished up material, the immediate plan to release the full-length was dropped and instead, four songs were selected to be used on a promo tape, titled "I'll Still Love You", to send to the majors. When the promo tape came out in March 1991, a lot of promotion started for Boize and they were invited to be interviewed by Tootall on CHOM.FM's hit show "Made in Canada" on May 15th 1991. During the interview, Tootall played three of the four songs from the promo tape. In April 1991, Boize founded their own publishing company, Klink Publishing.
Boize would play their next show on May 18th at Sam's Rock Bar where they met a new fan, Steve Bahr (Steve Berger aka Minou), who would show immediate interest in becoming their new rhythm guitar player. It would take the band a few more shows and practices before being convinced that a second guitar player was the way to go. Steve officially joined in the late summer of 1991. With dual guitarists, Boize started writing heavier material and quickly gained a reputation as a local attraction in the clubs and their following was growing steadily. In October 1991 Bill Hill and his assistant Garfield Lamb offered Boize a recording deal for an EP which would come to life the 1991-1992 winter. In January 1992, Boize entered Mot-tel Studio to record for the fifth time. The self-titled Boize EP was released on their own record label, U-Iliot Records, published through Klink Publishing and was their first nationally distributed release. The promotional package included 5000 cassette tapes, 500 CDs, 5000 posters and several hundred t-shirts, hats and stickers. Boize also filmed a music video for “Get a Life” at the Backstreet, one of their most frequently played venue. For this, the club was opened on a usually closed tuesday night and filled to maximum capacity. They hired Martin Tanguay and Andy Molition to direct and edit the short film. Additionally, they hired Judith Cezar and Keith Marshall for a full shooting of promotional pictures, some would be used in the EP booklet, another for their poster and some for press kits.
The EP was released on April 21st 1992 with a huge party at Sam's Rock Bar where the video aired for the first time. It was then sent to Musique Plus and MuchMusic where it would play countless times during the year. The day after the release party, Boize were invited again by Tootall on CHOM-FM's "Made in Canada" to talk about their new release and four of the five songs from the EP were aired during the show. CHOM continued playing Boize and they were picked up by CKRK and CIBL as well. In early May of 1992, Scott gave an exclusive interview to Mick Cody for his June 1992 publication of Ace Magazine, which also featured an album review. The May 28th 1992 issue of Montreal Mirror magazine had a writeup on the band’s new EP, written by none other than Jenny Ross in her column “Notes From Underground”. With all this hype, the band needed more space and moved their jam room to 5980 Metropolitain East, above a ceramic store. This new rehearsal space allowed the band to set up a mini recording studio where they could track their progress. On May 30th Boize played with National Velvet at the Backstreet and from then on national distribution deals started being offered (including a serious offer from Aquarius Records. Boize was becoming a staple name in Canadian heavy metal and were booked almost constantly all around Montreal clubs. On August 15th and 16th 1992, Boize was invited to headline the Montmagny Festival (Festival Des Oies) on its last two dates of the week long festival. To promote the band’s coming, some of the local restaurants printed their menus with the band’s picture and the show dates. Whatever was left of the merchandise pressed for the EP was sold out during those two shows.
After headlining the festival, Aquarius Records was even more anxious to sign the band and attempted to set up a meeting in late September. During September, the band would again move their jamming space to 5678 Jarry East, this time in a strip mall where they would remain until the end. Boize would book a handful of shows through September and October, starting with Bar Chez Swann on September 12th, a three day headline at Sam’s Rock Bar from the 17th to the 19th, plus another on the 26th, the Backstreet again on October 3rd and more offers coming in. Unfortunately, Perry announced his desire to leave the band after the show at Bar Chez Swann which led to most of the Sam’s Rock Bar shows being cancelled. The band was not ready to give up and, not wanting to cancel more of the shows that were booked, placed an ad in the Gazette looking for a new vocalist. They quickly found Carlos "Charly" Lopez (a Bruce Dickinson[/artists] type), who had recently moved to Montreal from Uruguay. Back home, Charly was famous as the vocalist for the band Alvacast , who were the South American equivalent to Iron Maiden.
On September 27th 1992, to celebrate the new addition to the band, Boize went to play a cover of Iron Maiden’s "Run to the Hills" at local club Rockpile. The fans approved right away. The five shows that were booked for that October, including the Backstreet, Fuzzy's and a 3-night stint at bar L’Enfer in Sherbrooke, were a huge success. Their last night in Sherbrooke, the crowd cheered so loud that they were asked toplay their entire set a second time as an encore until 3 a.m. when the bar closed. Bill Hill and Gralf Lamb were interested in getting the band back in studio, in hope to finalize the Aquarius Records deal. Steph had already set up their new jam space on Jarry with their mini studio and began recording their rehearsals. In they provided Bill with a tape of two new songs they had written along with the songs from the self-titled EP re-recorded with Charly on vocals, all recorded live in the rehearsal. On December 5th, Steve left the band to go live in Gaspesie and get married, but the four other members were brought back to Starbase Studio to do overdubs. Bill and Gralf used the February 1991 DATs of "In Too Deep" and had Charly sing his version over it. Before anything could be done, Alvacast decided to get back together, with the other members now living in Montreal as well. Charly left Boize before the years’ end.
Steph, Bob and Scott decided to try once more and held vocalist auditions to find Ian (a Robert Plant type who also happened to play 12-string acoustic guitar). He seemed a perfect match to complete the band for the new year, and they spent the next two months reworking the two new songs that were written Charly and wrote new ones. To showcase the new line-up, Boize was invited to play a benefit concert for Claude Messier on March 20th 1993 in support for his fight against muscular dystonia. Immediately after this they booked half a dozen shows for their first tour, which would have taken them through eastern Quebec during mid-April. Ian's leading man skills were completely different from Perry's or Charly's and the difference became apparent at their next concert at the Backstreet on April 2nd. To start off their second set, Boize asked Charly, who was in the audience with fellow Alvacast bandmates, to join them on stage for an Iron Maiden cover. The crowd went wild and for a reason or another Ian didn’t come back on stage and left the venue, leaving Charly to finish the rest of show. This caused serious tension within the band and resulted in Scott quitting during the second week of April 1993. The tour was so close to happening that the tickets had already been printed, but it had to be canceled. The trio continued jamming together for the next few weeks but by May, Ian's inflated ego was getting to be too much and he was kicked out of the band.
Determined to continue the Boize name, Steph and Bob recruited André Chan who was at the time also playing drums for Cinema Five/Likwid. This trio had a few rehearsals, but things weren't the same and Andre left. They then recruited Joe Morrone to play drums, a local musician who had grown up in the same area of Montreal as Steph. Boize were still booked for a show in May 1993 at Les Retrouvailles and asked Charly to fill in again for that night, as he had received such success at the last Backstreet show. Following this show, Steph, Bob and Joe found ex-Sarok Saroya singer Rjeen (Xavier Briand, an Elvis Presley type) in June 1993. The last Boize songs were rehashed with completely new lyrics that fitted Rjeen’s wide vocal range and before the month was over, they decided to abandon the “Boize” moniker and go under "Emissary". The songs written in 1993 as Boize were released on the Emissary EP in August 1993 and the band lasted until February 1996, at which point they changed name to "Breaking Violet" and stay active until early 1999.
I'll Still Love You
Boize Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's gonna be some questions asked
Where? When? Who? Why? What? About our lives! ?
We work so hard at achieving
Some recognition that at times
Seems to me the efforts are a crime
No matter the direction
For poorer or richer or sicker as you like,
I'll still love you
I mean it, believe it, do me as you like,
I'll still love you
So starve me, abuse me, music that I like,
I'll still love you
I mean it, believe it,
Do what you want, do what you like
Do what you will, what you want, what you like
We keep looking for connections
We keep looking up though we feel down
Born survivors fighting from underground
There's got to be a reason
There's got to be I don't know why
I'll still love you, love you 'til I die
As long as there's some action
No matter the direction
For poorer or richer or sicker as you like,
I'll still love you
Believe it, I mean it, do me as you like,
I'll still love you
So starve me, abuse me, music that I like,
I'll still love you
I mean it, believe it,
Do what you want, do what you like
Do what you will, what you want, what you like
Is it the way you shake me, which ever way you like
Is it the way you move me, and break me down to cry
Perhaps there is no reason, it's just a way of life
We come to learn to live to, struggle along
Playing the song, rocking and struggling and rocking about
I'll still love you
I'll love you, love you, love you, love you 'til I die
I'll still love you
I mean it, believe it
Do what you want, do what you like
Do what you will, what you want, what you like
Ohh I'm gonna love you sweet little baby 'til the day I die
Die!
The opening lines of Boize’s ‘I’ll Still Love You’ seem to be addressing an unknown character or characters, calling for answers to questions pertaining to their lives. The singer then shifts gears to reflect on the struggle of achieving recognition in life and how sometimes, the effort seems like a ‘crime.’ Despite the difficulties of life, the singer affirms that as long as there is some action, in any direction, they will continue to love the object of their affection, be it in good or bad times, regardless of the latter’s treatment of them. The chorus repeats the message of unconditional love, even if the other person starves or abuses them, plays music they dislike or acts in any other way.
‘I’ll Still Love You’ is also a song about resilience in the face of adversity. The singer describes looking for connections and hope even in dark times when they feel down, trying to survive as a ‘born survivor’ and fighting from underground. The ultimate message, however, is that no matter what happens, they will still stand by their loved one until they die, addressing them as their sweet little baby.
Line by Line Meaning
Their better be some answers
We will be questioned about our lives and we need to have some answers regarding it.
There's gonna be some questions asked
We will definitely be asked some questions about our lives.
Where? When? Who? Why? What? About our lives! ?
The questions asked will be about the details of our lives like- where, when, who, why, and what happened.
We work so hard at achieving
We put a lot of effort into achieving something.
Some recognition that at times
Sometimes, the recognition we receive is not enough.
Seems to me the efforts are a crime
It feels like our efforts are going to waste.
As long as there's some action
As long as there is some kind of movement or progress.
No matter the direction
Regardless of the direction the progress is heading in.
For poorer or richer or sicker as you like,
Whether we are poor, rich or sick, I will still love you.
I'll still love you
My love for you will never fade.
I mean it, believe it, do me as you like,
I am serious and you can do whatever you want with me, and I will still love you.
So starve me, abuse me, music that I like,
Even if you starve me, abuse me, or play the music that I do not like, I will continue to love you.
Do what you want, do what you like
You can do whatever you want, and I will still love you.
We keep looking for connections
We keep searching for relationships and meaningful connections with people.
We keep looking up though we feel down
Even if we feel depressed, we keep looking forward to a better life.
Born survivors fighting from underground
We are survivors and keep fighting to reach the top of the world.
There's got to be a reason
There has to be some explanation or logic behind something.
There's got to be I don't know why
There is an unknown reason behind something.
Is it the way you shake me, which ever way you like
Maybe it is the way you shake me, or anything you do, I will still love you.
Is it the way you move me, and break me down to cry
You move me in a way that makes me emotional and sometimes cry, but I will still love you.
Perhaps there is no reason, it's just a way of life
Maybe there is no reason for some things, it's just a part of life.
We come to learn to live to, struggle along
We learn to live while struggling through life's challenges.
Playing the song, rocking and struggling and rocking about
We play music and keep struggling through life.
I'll love you, love you, love you, love you 'til I die
I will love you unconditionally and until the end of my life.
Ohh I'm gonna love you sweet little baby 'til the day I die
I promise to love you always, my dear young love, till the end of my life.
Die!
This is an exclamation or a show of excitement.
Contributed by Callie K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.