The origins of Bosse-De-Nage are a little unclear, even to most participants. By most accounts, Bosse-De-Nage was originally a French band sometime in the early-to-mid 90's. Most likely they were influenced by another French band, Brown Cow. Brown Cow is generally considered to be the creators of grind-poot, a fusion of sludgy grindcore and classic poot rock (a little known genre inspired by Devo and video game music). Bosse-De-Nage took this already innovative sound and fused it with the primal noise-punk sound typified by The Boredoms. Early shows were entertaining spectacles of elaborate costumes and ungodly noise, and they went over well with the art-rock crowd.

Soon, Bosse-De-Nage was invited to play a handful of shows in the United States. Unfortunately, they were financially unable to make the commitment, so came up with the idea of allowing a different group of musicians to perform under the name "Bosse-De-Nage." Given the fact that Bosse-De-Nage performed masked, no one would know who the original band members were.

Guillaume DuGrenier, Bosse-De-Nage's manager, contacted a group of musicians in Southern California and offered them the opportunity to play shows under the Bosse-De-Nage name. The musicians leapt at the chance and were booked to play shows with a number of well-known experimental bands, including Solid Eye, ASY, and Spastic Colon.

No one questioned that these musicians were, in fact, Bosse-De-Nage, so DuGrenier hatched a new scheme. Bosse-De-Nage was going to become the world's first franchise rock band! Anyone who registers with the home office can dress up and perform as Bosse-De-Nage. DuGrenier contacted Chucklehound Records to become the official hub of the franchise operation and to make available the works of the various Bosse-De-Nage units.

We at Chucklehound encourage you to listen to some of the released Bosse-De-Nage material and to start your own franchise!

For those of you not familiar with poot rock, you may want to read the Poot Rock FAQ.