They have released three full length CDs, one EP and one single. They are most widely known for the song "Duvet", which was used as the theme song for the anime series Serial Experiments Lain. As a result, they are fairly popular among anime fans worldwide; in particular, they performed in a live concert at the anime convention Otakon in 2000.
Their first full-length album was released in Japan in 1998 and titled "The Race Of A Thousand Camels." In 2001, the album was released in North America under the name "Twilight." It contained extra songs not found in the initial Japanese release.
After long delays by Pioneer's record label, bôa set up their own record label, "Boa Recordings", in 2003 and began recording their new album, "Get There", released in February of 2005.
The band is currently on hiatus until further notice.
(Note that bôa is not to be confused with the Korean pop artist BoA.)
bôa was formed in 1993 by original drummer, Ed Herten. Ed had played in several bands including "Delirious Groove", from whom he recruited Paul Turrell (keyboards) and "Draggin' Bones", from whom he recruited Alex Caird (bass). Ed had also been to school with Steve Rodgers, who soon joined bôa on guitar and vocals.
"Fran", an early song penned by Ed and Paul, had a chorus which lent itself to a female vocal. Steve's sister, Jasmine Rodgers, then just 16 years old, was persuaded to record a vocal on an early recording. This happened a number of times until Jasmine was eventually persuaded to become a full member of the group.
bôa actually started out as a funk band and soon recruited Ben Henderson, who had played in the band "Doctor Sky" with Alex, on saxophone.
1994
After several months of intensive songwriting and practicing, bôa played their first gig at "The Forum" in London. The gig was the first of many great live successes (and a few early disasters!)
In summer 1994, Ed left the band to concentrate on his studies, but remains a good friend of the rest of bôa to this day. After a couple of drummers were tried out but, for one reason or another, didn't work out, bôa found themselves with a gig to play and no drummer. Alex persuaded the drummer of yet another ex-band, "Chapter 6", Lee Sullivan, to help out. Lee's debut was a great success and he soon became bôa's permanent drummer.
Ed's laid back feel had worked perfectly with bôa's early funk songs. However, Lee brought a more powerful, rocky feel to the band and the songs naturally followed suit. Consequently, saxophone became somewhat surplus to requirement and Ben switched to guitar.
1995
This was a good year for bôa - they played many successful gigs including a short tour of the South of England which ended in two performances at the Glastonbury festival, where they were chosen as the focus of a TV documentary about the festival that was shown on the London art/music magazine show, "Shift".
The members of bôa were so pleased with the way the band was going that Jasmine delayed studying for a degree, Alex dropped out of his and Paul quit his full time job as a computer salesman (he didn't like it much anyway!) and moved to the spiritual home of bôa, the incredible town of New Malden.
1996
A relatively quiet year for bôa in which they received considerable interest from British record companies but no actual offers of deals. Salvation came in the unlikely form of an offer of a deal from Japanese company, Polystar Records, which bôa signed.
In December, bôa went into Red Bus Studios, London with producer Darren Allison (who has also worked with Skunk Anansie and The Divine Comedy) and recorded three songs: "Twilight", "Deeply" and "Elephant".
1997
Production of the bôa album was delayed by Polystar but the remainder was recorded in September at "Monnow Valley Studios" with producer Neil Walsh. It was mixed at PWL studios (Manchester) in November by Neil Walsh and Jason Barren.
1998
The bôa album was finally released by Polystar in the second half of the year under the dubious title "Race of a Thousand Camels" (inspired by a dream of Jasmine and a computer game written by Paul). Jasmine and Steve went to Japan to promote the release with some TV and radio appearances though the rest of the band were not invited by Polystar. Polystar also failed to fulfil contractual obligations to release the album in America and Europe. The song "Duvet" was released as a single.
1999
Despite to this day owing money to bôa, Polystar finally did something to help rather than hinder the band when they secured the use of the song "Duvet" as the theme tune to Serial Experiments' anime "Lain". This led to DJ Wasei remixing "Duvet". The show won several awards in Japan and has become hugely popular with anime fans around the world, most notably the USA. This web site suddenly became inundated with notes of appreciation for the song "Duvet". Paul and Alex wrote to Pioneer-USA, distributors of Lain, and discovered they too had received many enquiries about bôa.
Meanwhile, bôa were working with producer Stuart Epps and recorded some new material including an acoustic version of "Duvet" and the song "Drinking". The "Tall Snake E.P." was released in Japan featuring all three versions of "Duvet" and two songs ("Little Miss" and "Two Steps") than had been intended as B-sides of further promotional singles in Japan that Polystar had failed to release.
2000
Ben left bôa to concentrate on his other band, "Moth", in which he plays with his wife, Tina.
2001
bôa's debut US album "Twilight" was released on March 27th 2001. bôa played a mini-tour of Los Angeles in April and hope soon to perform a promotional tour. They are well on the way to completing a second album. The future looks bright....
Paul Turrell
Sadly, after much soul-searching, Paul has deciced to leave the band in order to pursue other interests. We wish him all the best and ask you all to wish him congratulations for his wedding to Jai-un and further congratulations for their forthcoming little one!
In August, bôa were tempted away from songwriting for a moment when they were invited to play at the Animefest in Dallas, Texas where they were treated to a fantastic audience and good Texan Beer, all in all a good one.
2002
bôa were scheduled to record their second album for Pioneer but due to a series of re-shufflings in the record company the album has been delayed for the moment. bôa, however have enjoyed writing more and more songs, only stopping for a break in June when Alex went to Australia for a couple of months travelling and Jasmine went to the Far East.
In September bôa supported Bad Company on their UK tour playing in Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Birmingham,Sheffield, Nottingham and York. The tour was brilliant and bôa are back in gigging mode and planning many for the next year!
2003
BOA record the new album in Southampton, England. The album is entirely self-funded and the band set up a record label, Boa Recordings.
2004
The album is then mixed and mastered and finally titled Get There!
2005
Boa have finally accomplished what they set out to achieve.
Originally, this was just a simple wish like all bands to record the next set of songs that all musicians feel compelled to write. However, like all bands again, Boa met with a series of delays and eventually decided that doing it on their own would be the best course of action.
As a result, a record label, Boa Recordings was set up and Get There was recorded, mastered and is out on the 1st. We wish to thank all of you for waiting so patiently and supporting us so marvellously.
Twilight
bôa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tomorrow, today and yesterday
But it's a necessary evil
And you will find your way there
Your feelings and mine are all holy and
You give me an inner sanctity
You feel the same way that I do for you, about her
Your word and my word and her word is
Yesterday, today and tomorrow
And twilight gives me
An inner sanctity
And you're feeling
And you're hungry for her
And you don't understand it
But you know you haven't planned it
Your feelings and mine are all lonely
And dawn comes you're there lying with me
And you reach out to touch me
But I am in the twilight
Your feelings and mine are all holy but,
You know and I know it's untrue because
When day dawns you're there lying with me
And the dawn can fly away
And you know I love you but you know that
There's nothing you can do about it
Because you love her,
And you still want me
If I could be her...
But I'm not her and she's not me
And you're somewhere different
On a different planet
And you still want it
The inner sanctity
And it's an evil
But the evil is necessary
And you're still hungry for her
And you still want her loving
But she doesn't love you
Boa's "Twilight" is an introspective ballad that explores the complexity of love triangles and the emotional turmoil that arises from such situations. The lyrics are a conversation between the singer and her lover, as they both lament over their conflicting feelings for each other and a third person. The use of the word "twilight" serves as a metaphor for the state of uncertainty and confusion that the characters find themselves in, as they struggle to reconcile their conflicting desires.
The first verse establishes the cyclical nature of their relationship, as their words and feelings span over time, from yesterday to today to tomorrow. There is a sense that they are caught in a cycle of longing and denying their feelings, an "evil" that is nevertheless "necessary". Despite their attraction, they both acknowledge that the other person's feelings for the third party are real and meaningful, as evidenced by the lines "you feel the same way that I do for you, about her". It is a bittersweet realization that their love may never fully materialize, yet they find solace in the "inner sanctity" that they share.
The second verse delves deeper into the emotional complexities of the situation. The characters' feelings are intense and almost spiritual in nature, evoking religious undertones with the reference to "holy" and "sanctity". Yet, they also know that their yearning is tinged with loneliness and a sense of incompleteness. The dawn serves as a reminder of the harsh reality of their situation, with the singer pointing out that "you know and I know it's untrue" that their feelings for each other are pure. The final lines reinforce the tragic nature of the love triangle, as the singer acknowledges that her lover's heart still belongs to the other person, even as he continues to crave her love.
Line by Line Meaning
Your word and my word and your word is
Tomorrow, today and yesterday
But it's a necessary evil
And you will find your way there
Our promises and agreements apply to the past, present, and future, but sometimes it's necessary to do things we don't like and we'll find a way through it.
Your feelings and mine are all holy and
You give me an inner sanctity
You feel the same way that I do for you, about her
Our emotions are pure and special, and you make me feel at peace. You love someone else just as deeply as I love you.
Your word and my word and her word is
Yesterday, today and tomorrow
And twilight gives me
An inner sanctity
We have all said things that apply to the past, present, and future. The twilight gives me comfort and peace.
And you're feeling
And you're hungry for her
And you don't understand it
But you know you haven't planned it
You crave her affection, and you don't know why, but it wasn't intentional.
Your feelings and mine are all lonely
And dawn comes you're there lying with me
And you reach out to touch me
But I am in the twilight
Even though we both feel alone, when morning comes, you're there with me. You reach out for me, but I'm lost in a state of confusion.
Your feelings and mine are all holy but,
You know and I know it's untrue because
When day dawns you're there lying with me
And the dawn can fly away
Our love seems pure and good, but we both know it's not real because in the morning, reality sets in and any illusion of happiness disappears.
And you know I love you but you know that
There's nothing you can do about it
Because you love her,
And you still want me
You understand that I care for you deeply, but there's nothing you can do because you love her, yet you still desire me.
If I could be her...
But I'm not her and she's not me
And you're somewhere different
On a different planet
If only I could be the one you truly want, but we are who we are, and you're in a completely different place emotionally.
And you still want it
The inner sanctity
And it's an evil
But the evil is necessary
You still crave the feeling of peace and comfort, even though it feels wrong. You know it's a necessary evil.
And you're still hungry for her
And you still want her loving
But she doesn't love you
You still yearn for her affection, and you want her love, but she doesn't feel the same way.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Pablo Manavello, Ricardo Montaner
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Aly
i love this song sm
@v3xing216
The background isn't giving the same mood the song is giving and it bothers me
@exo-man
i just imagine the blue filter of the first twilight movie idk why
@hafsabakhakhe
Frr 😔
@snachmyweave4806
Same thought it was just me
@24O325
You'll live
@safinhh8312
i can imagine an anime sunset scene with this song in some finale episode tbh
@iraloitre
me when boa's music isn't blasting loud enough to the point it's blowing my brains out 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
@snsjjshwhwuwus
real
@DakotaDoesStuff
Real