INTERVIEWS PRINT

Interview: The Stone Foxes touch on upcoming L.A. Residency & New Single

Brendon Goldwasser

In the noise of electronic music hype these days, it’s easy to get lost in it all and forget what got you into music in the first place. While there is a place for it, I tend to always return to true, gritty rock music. For those who doubt if real music still exists, you know the kind with real musicians pouring their hearts into every note and snare hit, well…look no further than The Stone Foxes. They’ve been at it for awhile now and have more recently been gaining a huge following and buzz around their new music. Their live shows are said to be extremely fun and memorable, leaving you wanting more. They’re ready to get loud for their LA Residency at The Bootleg soon, so we wanted to catch up with the Bay Area 6-piece and get the lowdown on their influences, history, and what we can look forward to next year. Check it all out plus some of their new music below! See you at the shows!

 

Stone Foxes! Thanks for chatting with us here at GroundSounds! We’re getting excited for your LA residency. Where are you guys currently?

We just played a party for a great agency called Arnold World Wide in downtown Boston, where the governor and mayor were in attendance. There were a lot of fine cheeses, bottles of wine and sexy dance moves. We’re headed down to NYC today for CMJ.

I’ve been a huge fan of the music since I heard your single “Locomotion” and then once I spent even more time on your Soundcloud, I was totally sold. Your music has unearthed an overall feel that creatively combines a lot of different elements including blues, rock, soul, and 60’s-influenced acid rock. For those who are just discovering your music, describe how you all met and the major influences or musical backgrounds that collide when you all play and create the music we hear and love.

Spence: Shannon and I have been brothers for a long time now and we started playing music together when we were in middle school. We met Brian in high school, Elliott through friends in San Francisco and Vince and Ben through their band Buxter Hoot’n that we played with a lot early on. We all have our unique personal influences, new and old, but there is a very strong common appreciation for the rock and folk greats that came before us. The Band, Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and Willie Dixon are a few, but there are plenty of hip-hop, country, and jazz records on our shelves influencing us as well.

Was there a moment when it all clicked and the group decided to really pursue music as a career? Is there history or meaning behind the band name?

Shannon: I met Joe Barham (our manager and former radio music director) while working for 107.7 The Bone in San Francisco during college. We had a heart to heart after working a Hooter’s restaurant event where we promised ourselves we would never work in a place like that ever again. Shortly after that, I gave him our demo. We talked a couple days later and he said, “Hey, you should try to be serious about this.” I replied, “Ok.” That was in 2008. The band name is not my fault.

Your newest single “She Said Riot” begins with a nice wailing guitar and some thumping drums. It’s amazing how the track has such an old-school, doo-wop vibe, but it’s heavy, distorted, and loud, too! Tell us what the writing and recording process was like for this incredibly catchy tune?

Spence: The main riff of “She Said Riot” came from a jam one day that Ben threw out while we were messing around. Some time after that, Vince wrote lyrics to it and we all got together and fleshed out the rest of the song. A friend of ours runs The Complex, a studio in downtown San Francisco, so we booked a day to come in and lay down some demos. We recorded the base tracks all together live in one room, then took them home to overdub the vocals. When we finished it all up we liked it so much we decided not to sit on a good thing and released it!

Where did you guys come up with the clever “Foxes First Friday” idea to release a new song every month and then include them all plus other exclusive content with your upcoming album release?

Spence: The idea to release a song each month stemmed from a long period of questioning the standard “album release” and the way we consume music these days. We all love getting to hear first singles and random leaked songs from new records rumored by our favorite bands, so we figured why not just do that ourselves? Release a new song from Twelve Spells each month and let fans download it for free. We do still value the “album” and the physical record though, so the release of Twelve Spells, late 2015, will be the culmination of it all.

As far as artists that you admire, who are some of the current labels, artists, or musicians that you’re really into right now? Are there any producers or artists you would really love to collaborate on music with or go on tour with?

Shannon: Burger Records and Glass Note are a couple of our favorite labels, so much tasty stuff. We are really into The Black Angels, Ty Segall, The Felice Brothers, and our brothers Strange Vine. I know it’s a stretch, but I want just one day with T-Bone Burnett to see what he would do with our sound. Larry Campbell, Levon Helm’s old guitar player, would be awesome too. But I think it would be really cool to do something with Shannon from Shannon and the Clams. Her voice is kick ass, and…there’s the whole Shannon thing. We are still waiting to do something rad with our buddy Chuck Prophet too, that will be fun.

Do you have any words of advice for aspiring artists?

Shannon: Play as many shows as you can. That whole “10,000 hours of playing” thing is true. If you do that enough everything will be made evident and clear to you.

Your new album Twelve Spells will be out in 2015. We’re looking forward to hearing more singles in the build up to that! What else do you have planned for next year?

Shannon: We’re going to be touring like mad dogs and recording on our breaks back home. Shooting lots of music videos and getting a lot of artwork put together. We’ll hit the festival circuit and hopefully get a ride out to Europe again!

Well, we certainly look forward to all of that. Thanks again for sittin’ down with GroundSounds. See you in LA!

The Stone Foxes Residency DatesGet tickets below!
10.30 | Los Angeles | The Bootleg
11.06 | Los Angeles | The Bootleg
11.13 | Los Angeles | The Bootleg

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