It’s not every day that a band gets rediscovered by an entirely new generation nearly three decades after their debut. But that’s exactly what’s happened to Bôa. Formed in London in the early ‘90s, the band became cult favourites with their dreamy alt-rock sound, mixing lush instrumentals with introspective lyrics. Their track Duvet, originally the opening theme to the anime Serial Experiments Lain has exploded on TikTok, introducing millions of new fans to their music. Now, with a revived following, new material on the way, and a busy tour schedule, Bôa are proving that their music isn’t just timeless, it’s having a renaissance.We sat down with Lee Sullivan (drums) and Jasmine Rodgers (vocals, guitar) to talk about going viral, keeping a band alive in the digital age, and what it feels like to be back on stage with fans old and new.

REPLAY: Recently, a few of your songs have been going viral on TikTok  Duvet especially. How does it feel to see your music suddenly connect with a whole new audience on a platform that didn’t even exist back in the day?

Lee: It’s amazing. I’ll be honest, I was very dubious about digital when it first came around and I still think it has its faults, but it’s incredible how easily music can reach people now. Back then, you had to constantly play gigs or hand out flyers to get noticed. Now your song just pops up on people’s phones. It’s a whole new world, really.

REPLAY: Speaking of the digital age, a lot of young bands are blowing up online. One group that comes to mind is Florence Road, who reminds me of your sound a little. What advice would you give to young artists starting out in a traditional band setup?

Lee: Honestly? Just keep going. Build a good digital footprint and pursue your dreams because now, anyone can hear you.

Jasmine: I’d add this: if you’re in a band, you all have to pull your weight. It’s not just about the music  there’s social media, planning, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work. If one person isn’t doing their share, it gets exhausting really quickly. Being in a band means being part of a team. Support each other. Don’t just pay lip service.

REPLAY: That makes sense. Because it’s all fun when a band “pops off,” but if the effort starts slipping, people will definitely notice.

Jasmine: Exactly. And keeping a real connection with fans gets harder as things grow. I still try to read and respond to social media messages as much as possible. When you’ve cared about something for a long time, you keep caring about it. But you also have to accept that sometimes you just have to let the music land where it’s going to land. Honestly, no one, not us, not the record labels could have predicted this resurgence.

Further in our conversation, we naturally circled back to tips for young artists, and people in general. On this point, Jasmine spoke candidly about teamwork and its effect on the final project. 

Jasmine: I’m really serious about people doing teamwork. I think whenever you’re in any working situation, that could be a project at university, or you know, an office situation. It’s really important that everyone works together, and I think in a band, the musical aspect is absolutely that, but it’s even more intense, and I think that’s difficult to sustain. The importance of the band is having the different flavours coming in.  

Do the work, keep going and try not to put pressure on yourself. But by not doing the work, you put pressure on other people. It’s all about the balance. 

REPLAY: You’re wrapping up your 2025 UK tour, with the Latitude Festival coming up. How has the tour been?

Lee: We’ve actually got Cardiff first, on July 24th, since it was rescheduled and then Latitude the next day. The tour’s been amazing overall.

Since this interview, the band has announced their first LATAM tour in November 2025. Starting in Mexico, fans will be able to experience the group live in Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. 

REPLAY: What’s your favourite thing about performing live, both in concerts and at festivals?

Jasmine: The “new Bôa” hasn’t really done many festivals yet. We did Austin Psych Fest in the States, which had such a lovely vibe, amazing bands, amazing crowd. Festivals are tricky because you get a shorter set, so you have to make heartbreaking decisions about which songs to cut. And there’s literally a clock saying: “Don’t go over the minute or you’re cut off.” [laughs]

But what I love most is connecting with the audience  feeling that energy  and hearing how it all comes together on stage with our crew and musicians. Honestly, I love how it sounds.

Lee: Yeah, it’s how we always imagined it sounding.

REPLAY: Do you notice certain songs are always crowd favourites?

Lee: Definitely Duvet or Twilight. Fans also love Little Miss.

Jasmine: Walk with Me gets a big reaction too, and Seafarer. We’ve been introducing new tracks into the set, which is always exciting but also a little nerve-wracking until they settle in. Get There is becoming a favourite too.

REPLAY: I’ll admit it , I’m from the TikTok generation, so Duvet is still on repeat for me. But once I like a song, I dive into the whole catalogue.

Jasmine: That’s cool. I do the same thing, play one track on repeat until I stumble onto the next one and it hooks me in.

REPLAY: Do you ever hear new interpretations of your songs from fans that surprise you? 

Lee: Absolutely. It’s lovely to hear different interpretations, and sometimes I think wow that’s awesome, that would have been great, but then it wouldn’t, because the original is the original. It’s lovely to hear different interpretations, there’s some great ideas and great musicians out there. 

Jasmine: There was a couple of versions that I thought were pretty good. There was a version on a guitar that was rather lovely. 

Lee: That was good. 

Jasmine: There was also, a really long time ago, an amusing version on midi [laughs]. 

Lee: Yeah, the 8-bit! 

Jasmine: Which was unashamedly what it was, which was great. Hearing amazing vocalists singing has kind of been quite fun to hear, and to marvel at people who can. 

Paul played some of it on the synth, and he sampled Steven’s guitar and then Steven goes into his actual guitar solo – or the other way around. But some people have learned to do the whole thing on the guitar, and in fact we do the whole thing on guitar now as well. So, it’s kind of interesting, it’s like a conversation that’s been happening with our community. 

REPLAY: When it comes to creating new tracks, what’s your process like these days?

Jasmine: Everyone has to contribute to rehearsals with ideas, help with recording, listen to the mixes. If the workload falls on just one person, they burn out. For us, it usually starts with me and Alex bringing in ideas, and then the three of us develop them together. That’s been our process so far… though, we can’t say too much, some of it hasn’t been released yet.

Jasmine & Lee: [laughs]

When REPLAY interviewed Bôa, the band had told us about the process behind some new music they were working on. That new music is now out, so go and listen to the fantastic, Walk With Me (Londinium Version). Here is what we discussed with the band. 

Jasmine: We recorded acoustic versions of the old and new songs with a string quartet, and again, I came in with ideas and practised and rehearsed and then we came together to build on that foundation. We worked on this project with Harry and Carlos, and it was really lovely because we have been touring with them over the last year and a half. 

It was quite nerve wracking to do another album, after however many years. 

Lee: Yeah 

Jasmine: So, we didn’t do it with that in mind, we did it with the idea that maybe we could see what happens and see if we wrote some songs and luckily, it turned into an album worth of songs.  

Lee: And one of them was actually at the studio, Whiplash. Didn’t we do that one at the studio? 

Jasmine: Yeah, I think Alex came up with the guitar part, and I started singing a line to it. By the time we got to the studio, we were there with it. 

Bôa’s resurgence is proof that great music never really disappears, it just waits for the right moment (or the right algorithm) to be rediscovered. From their cult anime connection to sold-out shows and a new generation of fans singing Duvet back at them, the band is in the middle of a renaissance that feels both nostalgic and brand new.

And they’re not stopping there with fresh material making its way into their live sets, Bôa are balancing their legacy with a future that’s wide open.

Go listen to their latest release: Walk With Me (Londinium Version) a stunning reimagining of a fan favourite that captures everything people love about Bôa, while hinting at what’s still to come.