Boiled In Lead

Boiled in Lead emerged as pioneers of a sound alternately labeled Celtopunk and rock & reel, starting out with bassist Drew Miller, guitarist/vocalist Jane Dauphin, fiddler Brian Fox, and the drum machine Amos Box. Early performances by this configuration remained confined to scattered appearances throughout the Minneapolis vicinity. By St. Patrick's Day 1983 the roster had grown to incorporate drummer Mitch Griffin alongside fiddler Dave Stenshoel. That configuration laid down the energetic 1985 BOiLeD iN lEaD, a self-produced and self-released LP whose impact reverberated through the Celtic folk marketplace. Traditional tunes appeared within the group's material, yet the arrangements and overall presentation departed entirely from customary practice.

Todd Menton came aboard as second guitarist in 1985 following an encounter with Miller during an Irish session that prompted him to join several performances. The meeting also prompted Menton to switch from saxophone, his prior instrument. The expanded lineup commenced tracking its second album, Hotheads, during summer 1986, yet both Griffin and Dauphin had departed by the time the record appeared in early 1987. Hotheads earned a Minnesota Music Award as Best Celtic/Bluegrass/Folk Album of the Year. Old Lead gathers the two albums onto one CD.

Griffin’s replacement, drummer Robin "Adnan" Anders, brought a range of approaches that encompassed straight-ahead rock as well as intricate Middle Eastern rhythms, thereby shaping the band’s subsequent path. BiL devoted much of 1987 to touring before entering the studio late that year to capture From the Ladle to the Grave, an album that broadened beyond loud Celtic textures to embrace Eastern European, Russian, and African pieces. Cooking Vinyl subsequently secured European distribution rights for BiL. Issued in April 1989, the album garnered another Minnesota Music Award, this time for Album/CD of the Year.

The band returned to the studio in early 1990 to record Orb in collaboration with Hijaz "Hank" Mustapha of the stylistically kindred 3 Mustaphas 3, who later signed to BiL’s Omnium Records label for the Friends, Fiends & Fronds album. Fiddler Stenshoel had by then formally left the group, though he contributed a guest appearance on the record. Once more BiL explored new territory, favoring a more acoustic palette while retaining the capacity for loud, electric moments exemplified by “Tape Decks All Over Hell.” Through the close of 1991, Michael Ravaz filled Stenshoel’s role on fiddle and bouzouki for live dates. Josef Kessler assumed the fiddle position in 1992, making his initial recorded appearances on the limited-release live cassette Boiled Alive ’92. Live activity remained sporadic throughout 1992, and in November Todd Menton exited, succeeded by Adam Stemple, previously of Cats Laughing, a Minnesota ensemble closely linked to the science fiction fandom community—an association that would later influence the band’s output.

Stemple’s debut recording with the group was the forceful Antler Dance, tracked in summer 1993 under producer Frank London. The album forcefully reinstated hard-rock components, delivering a gruff reading of Bruce Springsteen’s “State Trooper” that evoked Neil Young’s sensibility. Additional tracks sustained the Celtic and world-music strands, while a raucous take on Boney M.’s “Rasputin” targeted broad audience appeal. BiL also issued the single “Fück the Circus,” backed with “Raca (Bunny Hop),” a release assured of no radio exposure. The band then embarked on two years of electric, acoustic, and house concerts, recording performances along the way. In 1995 the group partnered with Steven Brust on Songs from the Gypsy, an album of Miller-Brust compositions drawn from the Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm novel The Gypsy, whose text was integrated into a CD-ROM portion of the disc. The music again shifted, with Hungarian elements predominating, yet the prevailing character blended hard rock and heavy folk in a manner aligned with Brust’s own aesthetic. Ties to Minnesota’s vibrant science-fiction community had thereby completed a circle.

Thereafter BiL maintained a steady touring calendar even as members pursued separate endeavors: Drew Miller joined East Side Digital and guided NorthSide Records’ efforts to establish Scandinavian music in the U.S. market after Omnium’s release of Garmarna’s Vittrad, while Robin Anders issued solo recordings and instructional percussion videos. The 1998 compilation Alloy reaffirmed the band’s commitment to avoiding stylistic stagnation, mixing tracks lifted directly from earlier albums with alternate mixes, demos, outtakes, and live recordings, among them Brust’s tribute to Scottish excess, “Puking in the Heather.” The collection offered a sometimes raw, sometimes abrasive, sometimes polished portrait of a band that had consistently refused to rest on past achievements or a fixed repertoire of traditional material. A second compilation, Alloy 2, appeared as a two-CD set distributed exclusively through the band’s fan club.

Throughout the late ’90s and well into the 2000s the group sustained live performances, including annual St. Patrick’s Day concerts, while experiencing multiple personnel shifts: Dave Stenshoel returned in 1997 and Todd Menton rejoined in 2005; new members Dean Magraw and Marc Anderson arrived in 2005 and 2009 respectively; and Robin Anders departed in 2008, the same year BiL issued Silver, its first studio album since the late ’90s. Boiled in Lead may ultimately be recognized as a significant conduit linking world music and rock, its reach extending well beyond actual record sales. ~ Steven McDonald