Sandbox's new album was Murder to make


Sandbox near the top of the pile in 1995

TORONTO (CP) - Sandbox really dug 1995

December 7, 1995

Understandable when you consider the five members of the pop band from New Glasgow, N.S.:

  • Sold 30,000 copies of their debut album Bionic.
  • Scored two hit singles, Curious and Collide.
  • Released a video that made it into the Top 10 rotation on MuchMusic.
  • Stayed in campgrounds from Halifax to Victoria on their first national tour.
  • Saw Donny Osmond at the zoo.
  • Saw their single Curious nominated for favorite new song at the Casby Awards this weekend.
    Campgrounds? Donny Osmond?
    "The record company bought us a big tent and booked us the dates across the country and off we went," said guitarist Mike Smith, an intense 23-year-old with a spiky mop of yellow-white hair.
    That is after Smith and his bandmates hitched a U-Haul onto the back of a borrowed `79 Suburban last summer packed with camping gear.
    And then there was that brush with Osmond, the former heartthrob turned multi-colored raincoat-clad Joseph, while the band was in Toronto visiting the Metro Zoo.
    "We were too shy to go up and introduce ourselves, not that he would have had a clue who we were," said lead singer Paul Murray, 24, a sly smirk parting lips that would be the envy of anyone considering collagen implants.
    The year is also ending on a definite high note for the band.
    On Saturday, Sandbox performs at the cutting-edge Casbys (an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected by You), the only annual music awards based solely on votes from music fans across the country. The awards are sponsored by Toronto alternative radio station CFNY-FM.
    The tune Curious, a chart-topping hit that seemed to get endless airplay last summer, is nominated for favorite new song.
    "We were happy, but we got sick of hearing it," says Murray, nodding politely to a waitress offering a coffee refill.
    Murray isn't the first family member to achieve musical fame. His aunt is Canadian crooning superstar Anne Murray.
    "Yes, she's heard the album," he says. "She congratulated us on it but don't get me wrong. I doubt that she's into that style of music. We're not into her style of music either."
    After graduating from university two-and-a-half years ago, Murray and Smith formed Sandbox with guitarist Jason Archibald, bassist Scott MacFarlane and drummer Troy Shanks.
    They all went to the same high school and live within five minutes of eachother in New Glasgow, a pulp mill town of 12,000.
    "We didn't take it really serious at first," says Smith. They issued a six-song independent EP called Maskman with no expectations.
    But it caught on in the Maritimes and sat at No. 1 on the independent charts in Halifax for five months straight.
    That led to Bionic, released last April by Latitude Records under a joint deal with EMI Music Canada.
    It's a mix of songs ranging from guitar-oriented "heavier" stuff of Curious and Collide to the acoustic guitar and cello-driven Three Balloons and Trapdoor.
    "In relation to the expectations we had, we've already gone far, far beyond," says Smith, a big Beatles fan who shares songwriting duties with Archibald. The one exception is monetary. Despite selling 30,000 CDS, there's little money left once recording, touring and video costs are paid.
    Still, Murray isn't complaining.
    "If we stop right now we'll be happy. We accomplished something."

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