bôa is a British alternative rock band formed in London in 1993 by drummer Ed Herten. They are most widely known for the song "Duvet", which was used as the theme song for the anime series Serial Experiments Lain. Because of this, they are fairly popular among anime fans around the world; in particular, they performed in a live concert at the anime convention Otakon in 2000.

After a long time waiting for bôa fans, their new CD, "Get There", came out on the 1 February, 2005. It took bôa in a new direction, with more structure in lyrics and melody, as well as a mellower and more indie-rock tune. It was also more acoustic than the first album.

Biography

bôa was originally a funk band of formed in 1993 by drummer Ed Herten, who invited to the band keyboardist Paul Turrell, bassist Alex Caird and his school friend Steve Rodgers on guitar and vocals.
Steve's younger sister, Jasmine Rodgers, was invited to sing the chorus part of one of their first songs called "Fran", and she soon became the lead singer of the group. Ben Henderson was recruited shortly afterwards to play saxophone.

Their first live performance was in 1994 at London venue "The Forum", and they were well received by the audience. In the summer of the same year, Ed Herten decided to leave the band to concentrate on his studies, and they recruited a new drummer, Lee Sullivan. He brought a rockier feel to the group's sound which complemented a natural progression away from funk by the band and a migration from saxophone to guitar by Ben Henderson.

bôa honed their live performances with many gigs in across the South of England and, in 1996, they accepted a recording contract with a Japanese Company, Polystar. Although the album was recorded and produced in England, Jasmine and Steve traveled to Japan in 1998 to promote their debut album "Race of a Thousand Camels", which was released only in that country.

The first single, called "Duvet", was used as the opening theme of a new anime series of that time called Serial Experiments Lain. The international popularity of Lain introduced anime fans all around the globe to bôa.

In 2000, Ben Henderson left the band to concentrate on his other band Moth with his wife, the singer songwriter Tina. Then, bôa signed to Pioneer-USA, US distributors of Lain, and went to perform a live concert at the anime convention Otakon in the same year, being well-received.

In 2001, bôa released their U.S. album called "Twilight", with songs from their original Japanese album plus other new tracks, and made their first mini-tour in Los Angeles to promote the album. But in that year they had another loss: Paul Turrell left the band to pursue other interests.

The band started to record their third album in 2003 but was released in 2005, called "Get There", and is on sale through bôas official site.

As of April 2006, bôa is on hiatus.

Members

*Jasmine Rodgers (Vocals, Occasional Guitar)
*Steve Rodgers (Guitar, Occasional Vocals)
(Although they make no effort either to capitalize on or hide it, Jasmine and Steve are the children of British classic rock singer Paul Rodgers, of Free, Bad Co. and currently Queen.
*Alex Caird (Bass Guitar)
*Lee Sullivan (Drums, Keyboards, Percussion)

Former members:

*Paul Turrell (Keyboards, Guitar, Strings Arrangements, Percussion)+
*Ben Henderson (Guitar, Saxophone, Percussion)+

Additional musicians on 'Race Of A Thousand Camels' and 'Twilight':

*Sue Baker (1st Violin)
*Jude Gonella (2nd Violin)
*Kate Wills (Viola)
*Hannah Birch (Cello)

Discography

*Duvet (1997)+
*Race of a Thousand Camels (1998)+
*Tall Snake E.P. (1999)+
*Twilight (2001)+
*Get There (2005)

External links

* Official Website
* Paul Turrell Dot Com
* BumpandThumper Ben Henderson's Bump and Thumper Group featuring his band Moth and links to his film music.

Category:English musical groups
Category:Music from London