Interview | F.O.X: “Depeche Mode treated us like kings”

When they finished with their successful appearances at the side of D.M. I thought maybe it was a good opportunity to try to get in contact with them! Moreover I had so many things I wanted to ask them ! The answer was quick and affirmative and so I wasted no time ! I gathered all my questions and … voila ! The first interview of F.O.X in Greece is a fact!

1)F.O.X. welcome to tralala.gr! You are a newly formed band, still on it’s very first steps in the music industry. What are you working on lately?

Yes we are a brand new act, only formed in January 2013 and we have been very lucky to have had quite a year this year, full of adventure and new experiences. Currently we’re working on some new material that we hope to release in the first quarter of next year. We are enjoying experimenting with some new sounds and styles whilst still keeping the electro vibe alive.

2)How was the band of F.O.X. formed? Were you all friends from the past before its formation?

Yes. We have all played in bands together before and myself (Mitzi) and Darren both went to school together so we have known each other a long time. F.O.X grew out of the ashes of another band and when that came to an end we decided to carry on as a 3 piece and form F.O.X.

3)Do the initials “F.O.X.” mean something or is your band’s name inspired from MItzi’s last name?

The name itself doesn’t really mean anything, it is just a nod towards my (Mitzi) surname and when we came up with it, it just felt right which is the most important thing. It’s fun seeing what people come up with though, normally something rude about a xylophone…

Most people just end up calling us ‘Fox’ though – which we used to go through the painstaking process of explaining ‘it’s not Fox it’s F.O.X, it has dots, it’s just pronounced as letters… and then we gave up. So yeah, Fox is fine…it’s normally quite endearing anyway.

4)Last February you released your debut album “Chimera”. What should people expect from this release?

Yes, Chimera was a challenge as when we started writing the songs for the album we were still in another band and we were planning to release the album under that name and had the album release date and album launch party all booked in. Then our drummer decided to leave so then came the frantic mission of finishing the album on our own, re-recording drum parts, writing more material and all that came with that, aswell as re-branding ourselves as F.O.X, starting up new websites, social media etc etc. At one point we thought, what the hell are we doing – we have two weeks to essentially re-record a whole album and rebrand before our album launch…! But thanks to many 19 hour days and a lot of coffee, we just about managed it – and we’re very glad we did as we couldn’t have asked for a better year. The next release is likely to be an EP and is already sounding quite different to ‘Chimera’ whilst still keeping the same electro vibe. It has a slightly more earthy feel to it, more soul and gospel influences in parts and we’re making all our electronic sounds from scratch so it’s got a really nice feel.

5)”I am electric” is the first single that came out from this album and later we also enjoyed its very special video clip, which as you mention on your Facebook page, you made it on your own. Could you please tell us more about this unique creation?

Ha ha well, I Am Electric is a very old song, written when we were all a lot younger and is definitely our stand out happy song, people always love it live so we thought we should really do something with it. No matter how hard we tried to think of a darker concept for it, the fact is it’s a happy song so we decided the video should reflect this. It, however just got madder and madder as we went along. We made it entirely out of cardboard – we made all the props ourselves with a few bits printed off the internet. We also had help with the props from Pathways activity centre which is a centre for adults with learning difficulties – they made some of the sea and space creatures which was great. It cost us about £15 to make and we just filmed it on an iphone. It was a painstaking process of taking thousands of photos and to get everything to time up properly was actually very complicated – we had spreadsheets open and one person would read out everything that needed to be moved and by how much, one person would move them and one person would be cutting out stuff for the next scene. Our next video is in the planning stages and will be as far removed from this video as it’s possible to get but it was a lot of fun to make.

6)Is there going be another single from the “Chimera” album and if yes which one will it be?

We haven’t decided yet – Guns And Horses has had quite a lot of radio airplay but actually none of the songs we’ve officially released as a single – maybe your readers can vote on which one they’d like to see….

7)What are your music influences and which artists do you admire?

Well we have quite different taste in music spanning many genres but we all agree when we hear a hit. I love music from the 50’s , particularly Rhythm and Blues and anything with genuine soul, people just don’t sing now the way they did then, such beautiful, truthful voices. I also absolutely love the 80’s – again their voices were knock out – pure and powerful and it was just hit after hit, I always imagine what it must have been like to hear something like Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ for the first time or The Final Countdown by Europe – people laugh but what a tune that is!! There are just too many 80’s artists and songs I love to list. Most of them are guilty pleasures that I don’t feel guilty about. I admire Bob Marley and of course Depeche Mode – particularly the latter for continuing to be down to earth, humble and giving despite their huge global fame.

8)Is there any big hit by another artist that you would like to have been written or sang first by you?

Disparate Youth by Santigold is definitely one I wish I’d written – such a tune. Darren said the other day about a White Lies track he wished he’d written – probably ‘Bigger Than Us’. They know how to write a song.

9)What’s your opinion about the international music contests like Eurovision? Would you participate in a contest like this?

Ha ha no we would never participate in Eurovision. Although if someone had me at gunpoint and made me choose between Eurovision and X Factor I would still pick Eurovision as at least it doesn’t pretend to be cool – it’s just what it is. Absolutely love watching it though, I score all the acts and everything!

10)Being the opening act for the latest Depeche Mode World Tour, must have been something very honoring for you right? How did this collaboration occur?

Yes it really was. I sent Dave (Gahan) some demos when we were recording the album and didn’t expect to hear back. But he replied saying how much he liked them. He invited us to come to their show at the SXSW festival in Texas as we were also performing in the town and we met Dave and Jonathan their manager for the first time. We had a bit of Essex banter as we’re both from the same place and we kept in touch. Then Dave put us forward to support them on their stadium tour and we ended up getting 5 shows. No understatement to say it was incredible. Dream come true for us all. We were treated like kings and playing in front of 50,000 people a night was something we never expected to be doing, particularly so early into this band’s career. Will always be grateful to them for giving us a chance when they could have so easily brushed us aside.

11)What’s your relationship with the band of Depeche Mode after the tour?

I still speak to Dave regularly, he always supports what we do and it’s great to be able to run things past him. Such a nice guy.

12)Which artists would like to collaborate with in the future, either on stage or in your discography?

There’s no one particularly in modern music that instantly springs to mind, but I would love to collaborate with Stevie Wonder or if Michael Jackson was still alive that would have been incredible.

13)Apart from your collaboration with Depeche Mode, you have also worked alongside with several big international names like: The Deer Tracks, Tom Odell, Professor Green, Delilah, Devlin, Gary Powell and Mat Horne. Which one stands out for you the most and why?

Well we toured with The Deer Tracks for a month around America so we have a close bond with them and it was a great experience. We shared a van so we got to know each other really well and have lots of memories. Gary Powell (from the Libertines) was such a great guy – instantly so friendly and we just ended up chatting for hours, we’re still in touch a lot.

14)On the 10th of June 2013, we had the opportunity to watch you live at Terra Vibe Live Park as the opening act at the Depeche Mode World Tour. What’s your opinion about the Greek audience?

Greece is genuinely mine and Pat’s favourite country, we travel to Kos a lot and have visited many of the Greek islands. We love the people, the food and the culture and always find Greek people the friendliest in the world so we were not disappointed when we came to Terra Vibe. Everyone greeted us warmly and we had a great time. It was perfect performing in front of those mountains too, felt very special. The next day after the show we spent time in the centre of Athens and climbed up the steep slopes to the top and had the obligatory tourist photo with the city down below (as well as enjoying a few ‘Mythos’ – best beer in the world!

15)Do you know anything about the Greek music? Any Greek artists?

I love the traditional Bouzouki music – I have some at home. It instantly makes you feel relaxed and reminds me of good times in Greece!

16)Lately the internet is on its rise. Does this help the promotion of breakthrough-artists on their first steps in the music industry or is it something that could damage their attempt?

Well of course we use the internet to promote everything we do so it is good in one way but if I could push a button and delete the internet I would. I think it destroys many things, the most important one being the buzz of a new record coming out. It used to be so exciting, and exclusive and if a shop had run out – you had to wait. Now it means nothing. You release something, people have it and that’s it. There’s no mystery or magic behind it. And as much as it’s lovely everyone being able to get your music for free – it doesn’t help artists like us when you have to front the money to record that song in the first place – people don’t quite understand the thousands of pounds that go into that. It’s pretty frustrating. Also there’s no quality control – everyone and anyone can release a record now but it means the good stuff gets lost which isn’t right.

17)What’s your “relation” with the social media and moreover your communication with your fans?

Well it is very important to us. We run all our social media ourselves and we always reply to everyone as it’s only right if they’ve made the effort to contact you. Social media is very helpful to us as we have fans all over the world and it makes it very easy to keep up to date with everyone. We are going to be doing some exclusive online shows for our International fans which we will broadcast over our facebook page.

18)What’s your opinion about the global economical crisis? Is this affecting new artists and if so in what ways?

Yes it definitely is. Labels have no money, managers have no money and subsequently bands have no money. As labels have no money they’re signing less and less and are certainly not willing to take risks. I wonder if Radiohead and Portishead would have been signed today if they were in the same climate. It also means there’s no budget to market bands so artists careers are much shorter. It’s not easy. We are mega organized so we do as much as we can ourselves without having to pay for expensive services. You can only do so much though.

19)What’s your message to Greek people who are suffering the consequences of this crisis?

It saddens me as you are the nicest people in the world so don’t deserve to have these problems. Try and keep the faith and be good to each other as you are wonderful people.

20)As you’ve announced through your Facebook page, you are working on your second album lately. When should we expect it?

Well it will more likely be an EP so we can get some new material out more quickly but we’re hoping around March time so keep an eye on our facebook and twitter pages for more information.

21)Is your style going to be the same like “Chimera”? What should we expect from this release?

We are always evolving so already our new material sounds like it’s moved on from what we were writing for Chimera. But we obviously have a certain style which always shines through on each track. We just write what we like. There’s no point forcing anything, if we all like it then it’s a keeper. If one of us doesn’t then it isn’t.

22)Will there be another big tour? Where are you planning to perform?

Yes there will be fingers crossed. We hope to be back in the USA early part of next year and we are also aiming to revisit all the places went on the Depeche Mode tour this year. As well as lots of touring in the UK of course.

23)Is there anything that people don’t know about F.O.X. and you would like to share with them?

Probably how to find us as due to our name it’s pretty difficult to search online – you normally end up with Fox News! So our website where you can buy ‘Chimera’ is