This was a few hours before they turned up the volume with enthralling live renditions of the classics from legends they grew up admiring.
Unlike global giants Coldplay, The Boxtones don't regularly get to play at packed stadiums, but their CV is dotted with glittering opening acts. This band of Scottish-Canadian musicians have also performed on the same stage as big names like Bryan Adams, Pharrell Williams, Liam Gallagher, The Who, Def Leppard and the iconic band from the 1980s, Europe.
Now when you add the Rolling Stone 'Street to Stage' competition award and their album Home - produced by Universal Music Mena - to their list of gigs, it's easy to see why Gary (singer, songwriter and composer), Louise (lead vocalist), Gill (drummer) and Will (pianist) look so cheerful.
They have done all this and more as a family with their musical journey in Dubai helping fund the education of Gary and Louise's 19-year-old daughter, Rosie, at a British university.
“When we left the UK, their (Gary and Louise) daughter was crawling, she was tiny, and she just turned 19 now. She has gone to university now in the UK. So she is travelling a lot now, but she was always with us here in Dubai all her life,” Gill recalled.
The Boxtones are not the only band in the UAE, but it's their tactical acumen coupled with their passion for music which separated them from the rest.
Louise credits her partner, Gary, for founding an event management company, The Boxtones FZE, in 2013 which proved to be a game-changer.
“It's technically an entertainment consultancy company. It looks after the corporate side of the business. So we are a family, we run it together. It's all in the family, we can't fire anybody,” Gary laughed.
The irony was not lost on Will, the only Canadian in the group who came to Dubai on a visit visa only to become a permanent member of this musical family.
“I was supposed to go back to Canada. But I had something else written in my destiny, you know, I met Gill here, fell in love and became a part of this band and the family,” he said.
Photo by Shihab/KT
“So it's quite amazing when I think of my life in Dubai now. I am doing music, whereas my old friends in Canada had all given up their dreams of doing music many, many years ago. So I feel blessed.”
From Scotland to the Middle East
The decision to leave their native Scotland for the Middle East was not a hard one for the band.
“The scene was oversaturated in the UK where they had too many bands,” Louise reflected on their life-changing decision.
Gary says choosing Dubai was a no-brainer.
“We had also done shows in Bahrain, but it was a good choice to come here (Dubai), it's a bigger market, many more opportunities and we knew that Dubai had record labels like Sony and Universal. So we came here and found a lot of work, in terms of performing at cafes and private events,” he said.
“And then we launched our company in August 2013. There was no work initially, we had to wait. But once it started, we were fully booked every year and the gigs were getting bigger and bigger.”
Those gigs became so big that when they opened for Def Leppard at the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix, there were 45,000 people rocking the venue.
“I think it's great to be able to do what we love and get paid for it. And we are doing it as a family, travelling together as best friends. When we look back, it's pretty crazy all the things we have achieved,” Gill said.
“We had opportunities in this part of the world that we probably would not have got anywhere else. The huge stages that we played on, at Formula One GP, Dubai Expo 2020, and these huge artists that we opened for, we have been lucky but we have also worked extremely hard. So if you don't keep that up, it's very easy to fall by the wayside.”
An unforgettable selfie
Among all the big shows they have opened, their favourite remains one featuring Jason Derulo in Abu Dhabi.
“It was a free concert, so it was absolutely packed. There were like 30,000 people and we were doing our original music in front of 30,000 people and we knew the majority of them never heard our music before, so we didn't know what to expect,” Louise said.
“But once we did the first couple of songs, everyone started singing and waving their hands. It was a great show and we asked the audience to do a selfie with us, so we had the selfie with a crowd of 30,000 people!”
Now looking ahead, performing in Saudi Arabia, which hosted a historic Soundstorm festival in 2023 featuring Metallica, remains a big goal.
“Around five years ago, we performed in Beirut (Lebanon) for three months, we used to take the flight every Tuesday. It's a beautiful city, we loved it. And now if we get an opportunity, it would be amazing to perform in Saudi Arabia. We would love to be part of that change (in Saudi),” Gary said.
Finally, the 48-year-old doffed his hat to Dubai for turning their musical fortunes around.
“Dubai gave us opportunities to change their life. We worked very hard, of course, there is competition, and there are some amazing musicians here, but for some reason, the four of us managed to build a career in this city,” he said.
“It has given us the freedom to do what we wanted to do, we could walk into the Universal Music Studios to sign a contract for a record and having people call us to do radio interviews and television interviews and step on the stage where some of the biggest bands in the world have played.”