theaussieword.com catches up with Melbourne band Black Fox! Join me as I ask those pressing questions for this very special in-depth interview! Love love LOVE plugging home grown talent!
What can you tell our readers about you? How and where did it all begin?
Black Fox was really
the evolution of our previous band, The Smoke. Leigh, Daniel and myself had
played for a number of years in The Smoke with a couple of friends, and churned
out a couple of records along the way. When one of the members moved to Sydney,
however, we decided to start working on something new, and Black Fox was born.
Later down the track, our long time drummer and friend, Ryan Ferguson, had to
depart the band to pursue some other dreams. That’s when we wrangled in Mitch
on the drums and Andrei on the bass, and the Black Fox line-up was complete
What had you first interested in music?
I’ve always loved
music, however I would have to say that it was Nirvana that first got me
seriously interested in it. At the time, I was a rather disenfranchised,
unhappy youth, and their music spoke to me so much more than the pop music
dominating the airwaves before their arrival. The first time I started a ‘band’
was in year 7. A friend from school and myself decided to cover a Nirvana song
at the school talent concert. We were booed off the stage before the vocals
even started and disbanded soon after due to creative differences. Very rock n’
roll.
Who motivates or influences your quest to make great music?
To be honest, it’s
usually artists that have stood the test of time. I’m constantly listening to
bands like The Smiths, The Doors, B.R.M.C., The Cure and The Zombies. I think
all of those bands have real lyrics backed up by great song writing. Aside from
that, my own experiences and those of my friends are a constant source of
influence.
Do you have any planned tours coming up?
Currently, we’re
focusing all our efforts on our upcoming LP Launch in Melbourne (Saturday
November 24 at The Espy Basement), however we’ll be announcing some national
dates in the New Year. Touring is absolutely the most fun you can have in a
band, so we’re always looking for opportunities to get out on the open road.
What are some of your biggest goals you hope to accomplish as
an artist?
Putting out a record on
vinyl was one of my biggest goals for a very long time, and we’ve managed to
accomplish that this time around. Aside from that, I’d love to do some
international touring, purely for the wild times that would ensue. More than
anything though, I just want to write and record music that I’m truly satisfied
with. You can never tell what other people will think of your songs, so there’s
no point making records for someone else. At the end of the day, as long as
you’re personally content with your songs, then you can smile.
What can fans expect from you in the coming months?
A great big party at
our album launch, a new album available on CD, 12-inch vinyl and digital
download, and with any luck some embarrassing photos of our bass player making
out with a groupie in the car park.
Success, what is the secret to it and what has been your
biggest career highlight so far?
If you ever find anyone
who knows the secret to success, send me a link to the interview. I’ve got no
idea. I’ve never achieved any level of large commercial success and I probably
never will, but it’s a lot of fun being in bands and making music. As far as
career highlights go, opening the main stage of the Pyramid Rock Festival a few
years ago was a riot. We were plagued by technical difficulties, but we had a
whale of a time.
Which stars of the music industry do you find inspiring?
Johnny Marr, Robert
Smith, Noel Gallagher, and anyone else who hasn’t compromised what they do for
the sake of a dollar. It was so depressing to see the road that INXS went down
when Michael Hutchence passed away. There are also heaps of small Australians
bands that constantly inspire me. There’s a band from Sydney called Bright
Yellow who are brilliant. Their singer battled schizophrenia and was in and out
of hospitals for 2 years. However, he’s now back on the scene and writing
better songs than ever before.
How would you best describe you and your music to your fans?
Stomping beats, driving
bass, melodic guitars and hazy vocals. Those elements, although they sound like
marketing hype, are actually present on virtually all of our songs. There’s
usually also a hint of synthesizer that just adds a little more texture.
What can you tell us about your latest album?
It’s a truly
independent album. I know that bands like Van She, etc. call themselves indie
(independent) bands these days, but this album’s the real deal. We recorded and
produced it ourselves in bedrooms, rehearsal spaces and living rooms around the
globe over the course of about a year. From the very get go, we approached the
album as a complete piece of work rather than a collection of different songs
thrown together. We always intended to press it to vinyl, so that meant that we
had a maximum of about 20 minutes per side to work with. This allowed us to
approach the construction of the album very differently. We spent an enormous
amount of time making sure that the songs on each side flowed into one another
like a film score. Once the tracking was complete, I mixed the tracks with a
guy called Gavin Nebauer on a hi-fi system in his living room. I’ve mixed
albums with Gavin before, and he’s vey much a member of our team now. We’d
previously always mixed in his studio, but we found we got better results in
the living room of his house. The mastering and pressing were really the only
two processes that we outsourced to other people. Leigh did all of the record
artwork and the members of the band have even inserted the digital download
cards into each and every vinyl sleeve themselves. You can’t get much more
independent that that.
Are there any new exciting projects in the works?
Daniel and myself have
already started penning a few song ideas for a second album. I’m not sure
exactly what we’re going to do by way of a follow up record, but we’ll have
plenty of time to focus on that once this one is on the shelves.
The music industry is huge, where do you see yourself a few
years from now?
Making more music with
friends and playing lots of shows. We’ll continue to make records and put them
out. I can never speculate as to how they’ll be received or who they’ll reach,
but rest assured we’ll be putting them out.
Name a few of your favourite Aussie artists.
Bright Yellow, The
Church, The Vasco Era, Deep Sea Arcade, The Hoodoo Gurus, God, Dinosaurs Exist.
The shape of the music industry has changed significantly
over the years, including the use of social media, how do you feel about the
industry as a whole and what does it mean to you in getting your records out
into the public eye?
I’m a little bit of a
cynic when it comes to the music industry. It seems that the business model for
most labels these days revolves around signing Idol contestants that already
have a TV market. As soon as the next reality star comes up, they’re dumped
just as quickly and their albums are relegated to the shelves of Cash Converters.
However, modern digital recording and delivery, and things like PayPal and
BandCamp mean you don’t need a label to make great records and get them out
there. There’s honestly been no better time to make music. You can record you
own music the way you want, do your own artwork, film your own clips and then
put it out there for people to enjoy. It’s always nice to hear that other
people are enjoying your songs, and it can provide you with great opportunities
to play bigger shows; but as long as your main goal is making the music you
want, you’ll never be disappointed.
Thank you for the interview! What can you leave fans of theaussieword.com
with here today?
Come on down to our LP
launch at The Espy on Saturday November 24 and we’ll hook you up with a free
Black Fox anchor tattoo.
Website: www.weareblackfox.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/weareblackfox
Twitter: www.twitter.com/weareblackfox
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