Box Set Authentic is a loosely-knit group of eight friends and longtime musical collaborators who really like one another’s songwriting. We record whenever enough of us get together in the same place. When we can’t, we record at home and share our work digitally. Our roots are in Chicago, but we have branches that span from Los Angeles to Canada to London.

Most of us played in and around Chicago in the bands Shovel Choir, Tart, and the Velmas. By 1999, all three had split and their members had relocated across the U.S. Sick of wishing we could be in a band together every time we heard one of the others’ new songs, Guy Crundwell announced that we were together in a band, geography be damned. In 2001, the collective met at Chicago’s late Stroppy Studio to start recording tracks for Peace In The Middle West.

Many years, moves (foreign and domestic), and family changes later, the collective is still writing, recording, and releasing new material. At times, some members meet in one of our home studios; more often, we’re sharing ideas, parts, and songs remotely and contributing in the same fashion. Always with the aim of surprising and delighting one another, and hopefully entertaining others along the way.