Van Norris - lead and backing vocals, keyboards, drums and percussion and most of the other weird stuff that isn't a guitar or a bass (except the very odd bits of acoustic that is).
Geoff Webb - everything that involves guitars and basses, some keyboards, synths and the odd vocal here and there.
Contact: The Boris Flats, PO Box 223, Southsea, Portsmouth, Hants, PO5 1YB
You'd be more than welcome to join Van's network of friends here
Sounds Like
Todd Rundgren, XTC, Ben Folds, Ennio Morricone, The Flaming Lips, John Barry, Jellyfish, The Tubes, Michael Nesmith, Wondermints, Squeeze, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Chemical Brothers, The Smithereens, Cheap Trick, Big Star, The Monkees, Bob Mould, John Shuttleworth, ELO, Super Furry Animals, The Grays, Underworld, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Jason Falkner, Teenage Fanclub, The Pearlfishers, Ed Harcourt, Lionheart Brothers, Byrds, The Posies, Divine Comedy, Ben Folds (Five), The High Llamas, Burt Bacharach, The Smithereens, Martin Newell, Superstar, Harry Nillsson, Love, Goldfrapp, Jon Brion, Stereolab, Van Dyke Parks, Roger Nichols & His Circle of Friends, Paul Williams, 5th Dimension, Herb Alpert, Squeeze
Please feel free to download our new songs, 'Hasslein's Theory' and 'You Can Tell Me Anything'
The Boris Flats are a pop act that have been in existence since 1999 with two albums out on Boris-Tones Multimedia: 'Dinlo - The Original Soundtrack' and 'The Sunshine Imperative', both of which are still available.
We have just finished off two new songs that we started back in December 2006, (these were meant to be a 'bit of fun' to be knocked out over a week...!) What can you say....things move pretty slow for us! More to come in 2009! Feel free to drop us a line at any point.
You can buy our albums at:.
At the mighty ‘Not Lame’ Records: www.notlame.com
...or from the excellent ‘Power Pop Academy’ distribution arm in Japan:
http://www.powerpopacademy.com/home.html.
or conversely.
send a payment for £6.00 ($12.50 US dollars) to Paypal registering the payment to: van.norris@btinternet.com and we can send you a copy. This amount includes postage and packing costs..
Whilst listening to the new tracks on this site and some songs from our lbums, remind yourselves about what 'The Boris Flats' are all about with these reviews:.
"Zeitgeist - March 2004 – on 2nd album: The Sunshine Imperative.
There really isn't another band quite like the Boris Flats. Many hundreds of years ago we waxed lyrical about their debut "dinlo - The Original Soundtrack". .
We said;
"Purveyors of sunny, melodic music combined with a hefty John Barry / 60's soundtrack influence all mixed up with a superb handle on the art of song-writing, This really is an eclectic delight and something you really should own..." - and we were right. But now "The Sunshine Imperative" is upon us. Could it live up to the debut with its audacious salute to the majesty of Sir Todd Rundgren crossbred with John Barry? Well, yes. For this is quite superb. Never standing still for more than a minute, this rampages all over the musical landscape, albeit staying rooted in a fairly traditional songwriting style. "Gumball," the opening track is an out and out classic, one that will be written about in the Mojo of 2024 as a 'lost masterpiece'. "It's you and me, you put me in a world of sun and harmony, I'm refusing to get real because we all know how that feels, and I'm never going back." Even this sad old cynic was won over. Please by this CD and keep them in copies of "A Wizard, A True Star" for years to come".
Gary Glauber – October 2003 - "CD OF THE WEEK: THE BORIS FLATS- The Sunshine Imperative .
The Boris Flats are back and dishing up a healthy serving of musical variety (it really is the spice of life) that will mesmerize, confound and at times, amaze. They - the Boris Flats basically being the overtly talented multi-instrumentalist songwriter/performers Van Norris-Jones and Geoff Webb - manage the difficult feat of being both derivative and eclectically original, often within even the short space of a single song. ‘The Sunshine Imperative’ is as essential as the CD's demanding title implies, for sheer breadth of accomplishment alone. .
The music here spans an incredible range, and listing all possible references could take up an entire afternoon. These musical chameleons have a penchant for taking disparate elements, mixing them into something new and infectious and pop (of various shades and tones), then topping it off with a song title that's never predictable and sometimes downright mysterious. The good thing is that, even if you hate a certain track, you may love the next one. And vice versa. There's that kind of range, the size of which no major record label would likely allow on one CD. So go for the gusto before some major discovers these Hampshire lads and pigeonholes them stylistically. Right now, it's all here for the adventurous listener to explore - humor and melancholy, sunshine and darkness, an expansive mélange..
When all is said and done, you'll find traces of XTC, Wondermints, Guided by Voices, Flaming Lips, Captain Beefheart and many more. As I mentioned earlier, you could compile quite a list. The thing is, the end product is good, a truly breathtaking mix of so much from what is essentially a two-man musical circus. This is admirable and intelligent adult pop that achieves its own identity amid all the obvious influences, where similar efforts by others usually fall short. The songs of ‘The Sunshine Imperative’ are memorable, their variety breath taking. Ultimately, if you invest the time to unleash the eclectic wonders of’ The Sunshine Imperative’, you'll be well rewarded. This unusually wide-ranging collection definitely is a big aural wow.".
"Popmatters - Mike Bennet 2001 - The Boris Flats – 'Dinlo' The Original Soundtrack (Boris-Tones).
This has been out for a while, but deserves some attention. A British band who combines a talent for lush arrangements akin to High Llamas with an occasional yen for dance music styles like Pulp circa 1995, grounded in strong melodies that fans of Squeeze, Dodgy and other pop classicists will dig. Add to this musical mix sharp lyrics ("You can say what you like/I will hear just what I need" from "My Little Ways", for example) and the strong vocals and instrumental talents of auteur Van Norris-Jones – well, this disc will take you on a splendid journey. When the steel drums kick in on "Rubber Arthur" and Norris-Jones distorts his voice Chipmunks-style, it's silly and audacious and captures the overall fizziness. "Little Ways" is simply a classic – a pumping dance track that sounds like a Nick Heyward/Madonna collaboration, the song moves your ass, but has more than enough melody. Other songs hearken back to either ‘60s Britpop, or the ‘80s version, when bands like Aztec Camera and The Housemartins thrived. And sprinkled throughout are Wilsonian moments of loveliness. A veritable pop banquet..
"Popmatters (2000) - Jason Damas on 1st album: ‘dinlo’ – The Original Soundtrack.
"....they’re a difficult-to-pin-down mix of XTC, Ben Folds, the Boo Radleys, and the Super Furry Animals...while the aforementioned mix sounds . . . odd . . . to say the least, the final product is nothing short of fantastic. Frontman Van Norris, whose vocals sound alternately like Sice from the Boo Radleys, Ben Folds, or even Jon Brion (when he uses a vocoder-like voice synthesizer), is about the only constant here as the album hops all around the musical map. Do you like straightforward mid-’90s style Britpop? Try “Lazenby” (a reference to one-time James Bond actor George Lazenby) or “Onion Milk”. Or, how about baroque piano pop? That’s all over the Ben Folds-ian “Self Made Men”. Or better yet, how about a purely weird, decidedly Super Furry Animals-inspired mix of angular guitars and cheap electronic beats in the form of a dance single?.
‘dinlo’ is a true bohemian rhapsody, able to wildly shift genres and styles at the Boris Flats’ whim. But as alienating as this concept sounds, it’s not at all. And what keeps the album friendly and inviting is both Van Norris’s smooth vocals and the accessible songwriting. “Lazenby”, for example, is a pop single in the first order, tossing off a great chorus laden with “Ba ba baas” throughout its entire five minutes. The same goes for “Onion Milk” and “Rubber Arthur” and more than half of the actual songs here sound very similar to the best pop moments on the Boo Radleys’ albums from Giant Steps on. That means that it does take some time to discover many of ‘dinlo’‘s virtues, but those who are willing to invest the time and effort will almost certainly see their effort pay off in spades. And although the disc was nearly two years old by the time it reached American shores, it qualifies as one of the more overlooked, idiosyncratic, and compelling albums of 2000".
Power of Pop - Essential Purchase (2000) -"THE BORIS FLATS 'Dinlo" The Original Soundtrack.
This English duo of Van Norris-Jones & Geoff Webb certainly have hyperactive musical creative talents that recall the fanatical pop smarts of folk like Todd Rundgren, Andrew Gold, Andy Partridge and 10cc coupled with the melodic inventiveness of Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Brian Wilson. Sure, there's an element of piss-take in this borderline concept album but the sheer range of styles, arrangements and instrumentations utilized here is quite often breathtaking. Good vibrations, indeed. (A)".
Hey Flats, Thought i'd let you know that we've finally managed to post the new track 'unknown' complete with roaring Webb solo after last weeks Tuesday studio mixdown. Hope 09 progressing well.
Got to hear 'Hasslein' at last. Seems to have been a problem with the player. Nice work. Liking the driving drums for the Flats and has Geoff had his powerchord manual out? After we re visit the Dugout over the next month will definately get a couple of our new tracks up after that. Hope 09 has left the blocks at speed...
Liking the new track. Interesting start (is that distorted typewriter?), the kind of top melody we expect from the Boris Flats and a Geoff guitar solo for good measure. What more could we possibly want?!
