Buzzin Music Blog

Dark Side Of The Moog by The Boxing Lesson

Back in May I had the pleasure of reviewing the album Wild Streaks & Windy Days by The Boxing Lesson, an enormous album from the Texas three piece and one that I am still playing now.

The opening track of the album is Dark Side Of The Moog and the band have now released a wonderful animated video to accompany the song. The video is directed by Eric Power and is reminiscent of The Beatles Yellow Submarine style animation, where the band are seen as cartoon characters on a psychedelic journey to the back drop of the track.

The opening bars bring to mind Echo & The Bunnymen, before the song takes off into a trip of psychedelia and ultimately a fantastic noise that sets the tone for the rest of this excellent album.

The Boxing Lesson - Dark Side of the Moog from Eric Power on Vimeo.

Drummer Jake Mitchell Jailed

The Boxing Lesson’s drummer Jake Mitchell was arrested after the album was recorded, for growing marijuana, but has been jailed and branded by the US government as a Terrorist.

Jake Mitchell, drummer for The Boxing Lesson and most importantly, a
dear friend, will be put in Federal jail at the beginning of Sept
for some marijuana growing charges.  What makes this story unique and
what has enraged every single one of our close friends, is that Jake
has been branded by our government as a Terrorist under the Patriot
Act.   In fact, they have thrown the Narco-Terrorist tag on him.
What this does legally for a defendant is mind blowing in terms of the
new laws waged against them.   If you are branded a terrorist, your
wife doesn’t get spousal protections and will go to jail.  If you are
branded a terrorist, each party involved in the crime gets full
responsibility for the scope of the crime.  Then there are strict sentencing
minimums.  And remember we are talking about Marijuana here.
It is obvious from anyone who has ever met, hung out with and gotten to know
Jake Mitchell that he is anything but a terrorist.  This incorrect and unfair
branding on our own US citizen and friend, Jake Mitchell, is a disgrace
and this has caused untypical hardships on his life.  He has sold his house,
lost his cars, and his freedom.  We are  asking our friends in the media,
in bands, in t-shirt screen shops and really, anyone who can help, to send
the message of his story to the public eye.  We know there was a crime
involved but branding him a terrorist has set unfair sentencing guidelines on
a person who is anything but a terrorist.

The latest news is that Jake is currently waiting for an appeal date to be set.

You can keep up to date on The Boxing Lesson and Jake at their MySpace page.