British band

Claude says:The Boxer Rebellion formed in London in 2001 around Tennessee native Nathan Nicholson, who'd moved to the UK after his mother's death, and a rotating cast that eventually solidified with drummer Piers Hewitt and bassist Adam Harrison. They started as Slippermen, rebranded after modest results, and built a following through last-minute support slots for A Perfect Circle and Lenny Kravitz before signing with Alan McGee's Poptones. You gave them a few scattered listens in 2010 and 2011, but they didn't truly click until late 2011 — then you spent the better part of a decade treating Union and The Cold Still like essential rotation, with a serious spike in 2012 and 2013 that's never fully gone away.