St. Louis’ Foxing is a beautiful evening afternoon breeze with your favorite snacks and a ton of babes. Their new album ‘The Albatross’ is one of my top albums of the year, moving up on the list with every listen. Super highly recommended, be sure to check it out and help this wonderfully talented band continue to share their beauty with the world.
Introductions:
Conor Murphy – Vocals, trumpet, piano
Josh Coll – Bass guitar, back up vocals
Ricky Sampson – Guitar
Jon Hellwig – Drums
Eric Hudson – Guitar
Hey guys, you all are really the greatest thing to happen to emo in a minute. You recently signed to Count Your Lucky Stars which is the label of Emo Ringlord Keith Latinen, and you’ve just released a new album called The Albatross. How did you guys come to meet Keith? CYLS has a history of great releases, are there any in particular that drew you to the label? I’m all about Summer Fences by Castavet.
Josh: We met Keith on our first tour, at a venue called Satan’s Gay Acid Bath in Kansas City. Earlier that week, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) and Warren Franklin & The Founding Fathers played at our space in Saint Louis and stayed with my girlfriend, but we didn’t meet due to the fact that we were already on the road. Four or five days later, Warren contacted me, asking for help with a show in KC for The Founding Fathers and Empire, as well as Joie De Vivre, and we ended up helping them get on our show at Acid Bath. So, yeah, we met at Satan’s Gay Acid Bath, where Keith asked to put out our record about 35-45 seconds after we hit the last note of our last song. We talked it over by our van, and agreed about 20 minutes later. It was great though, because there were three bands on the label there that night, so it was all hugs and love. There are a ton of Count Your Lucky Stars releases that made it hard to pass on the offer—Full Health by The Reptilian, The North End by Joie De Vivre, The Draft by Football, etc., Youth in Youth by Annabel, Summer Fences by Castevet, How to Draw a River, Step By Step by Rika, I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted by Snowing, Home After Three Months Away by Empire! Empire!, and I’ve Lost Everything by Innards to name a few. What great company we get to keep. Although, the label does refuse to put us on their website roster, so we’re kind of free agents.
Conor: CYLS has put out so many killer records, but the band that most drew me most to the label was Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson. They’ve been one of my favorite bands for a minute. Initially, it felt pretty surreal to share a label with them. Like Josh said, it’s really hard to deny being on a label that puts out so many golden treats.
Eric: I love Youth in Youth so much. Josh said everything.
I don’t know very much about St. Louis but my friends say that The Lemp is cool and that there are a lot (like a lot a lot) of really cute girls. What is the music scene like out there? How do you guys fit into it? Are there a lot of good looking girls?
Josh: Saint Louis has a strange scene; sometimes it can feel segregated.
Conor: St. Louis has a pretty lackluster reputation as a music city. Honestly though, its really not all bad.
Josh: There are times where it can be disheartening because Saint Louis has a ton of great bands. But I feel like that is starting to turn around; there is an ebb and flow to our city. Local support is on the rise. When we first started the band, we were all completely under the impression that we were not going to be accepted in Saint Louis, and we would just have to tour. We couldn’t have been more wrong; Saint Louis has been really good to us. It’s really satisfying, because we’ve all played in bands that no one in Saint Louis really cared about.
Conor: In regards to The Lemp Arts Center, Foxing has never played there, but it’s a place that most of us in the band grew up playing in other bands and it holds a special place in my heart.
Josh: Saint Louis as a whole holds a special place in The Red Rockers’ heart. Sammy Hagar has been quoted saying that Saint Louis has the prettiest women in the country.
Conor: Yeah, you heard correct about the city’s female population. I would go ahead and say 100% of the girls in St. Louis are beautiful. The men, however, are just horrible-looking.
Eric: Our scene has an interesting dynamic between those who would say, “Come to my gig” and those who would say, “Come to my show.” Good-looking girls like gig men.
Out of the many things that make you all stand out, I think that the inclusion of horns in some of the past tracks is especially nice. In the new album there are also a lot of additional instruments and choir parts. Are there any extra instruments/noises you guys didn’t include but would like to include in a future song? It can be wacky or whatever, if that’s what you’re into. Did you guys write all the orchestration/choral arrangements for the album or was it like an out-sourced kind of thing?
Eric: Guitar feedback.
Josh: Yeah, more feedback. I’d like to get my hands on a glass armonica and celeste organ.
Conor: I’d really like to utilize clarinet and a Rhodes.
Josh: We had a Rhodes Piano, but it broke down before we got a chance to write with it.
Conor: In regards to the orchestration, our good friend and brilliant composer, Sam Naumann did almost all of it. He and I sat at a piano and he compiled an insane amount of material for us to work with, a good amount of which is not featured on the record.
Josh: I wouldn’t call it outsourced though; Sam is one of our former guitar players and a good friend. We are really close to some of our former members; they still feel like extensions of the band.
Conor: As far as the choral arrangements went, I mostly just turned my vocal melodies into choral parts and gave the singers harmonies to work with.
I remember hearing your first demo release “Old Songs” about a year ago and being really impressed. Going from there to your two splits with Japanese Breakfast and Send Away Stranger there are definitely some differences. How would you describe the progression of your guys’ music through each release?
Conor: Honestly the progression of music has been very reliant on changes in our lineup. Jon, Josh and I are the only original members of the band. Our guitarists have changed over and over throughout our release history. This seems to finally be the official lineup, so now I feel that the progression aligns with our growth as a band. Everyday we are all getting more comfortable with our instruments, and our gear. It seems to be a process of honing in on what we are good at and what needs to be written.
Josh: Everything that was written prior to The Albatross came from unstable footing. I think with this album we found common ground and confidence as a collective; The Albatross is a more comprehensive collection of songs that serves as a proper representation of our intentions as a band. In the past we’ve swam in self deprecation and intimate subject matter–while at the same time allowing ourselves to be somewhat removed from the subject matter, either by bathing it in metaphor or hiding behind turn of phrase. I think we’re becoming more comfortable in our own skin, as writers and as people.
Eric: Well, I wasn’t in the band for the releases that preceded The Albatross, but with this full length and our post-Albatross material, it feels like we are growing and heading into new directions. What’s been interesting in our development is that we all listen to different things and bring whatever emotions are striking us that day into practice – so because of that our sound is versatile and can be a lot of different things at different points in time.
Your genre on bandcamp is “rock beard rock emo indie rock math rock post-rock rock st. louis stl twinkly St Louis.” One could infer that you guys are 40% rock band. That almost qualifies you guys to be played on the radio (which would be way cool)! Do any of you guys listen to music other than emo music, or is it a strictly emo diet at the Foxing camp?
Josh: I can’t really speak for anybody else, but emo music is not my go-to genre; I think that that applies to all of us.
Conor: I’ve never been big into emo at all.
Josh: I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’m not into it; there are a ton of bands that have been labeled “emo” that I would rank in up there among my favorites of all time. It’s just that I don’t actively seek bands out because they are in the genre.
Conor: Lately, I tend to listen to a lot of Broken Social Scene, Sigur Rós, Pixies, Belle and Sebastian, Do Make Say Think, Lionel Richie, Aaron Neville, The Books, and Seal. I guess Seal is pretty emo.
Josh: It’s winter here, so I’ve kind of been staying on Stars of the Lid, Boards of Canada, Leonard Cohen, Mogwai, The National, Kate Bush, Sam Cooke, and Four Tet. I’ve also been getting back into Colleen, Cat Power, and The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up–and I mean, Sigur Rós, Townes Van Zandt, and The Deftones are always. I am not certain if Hop Along and Crash of Rhinos are emo, but I like both of those bands a ton.
In the “The Medic” I think the vocals sound like Isaac Brock sometimes; I can dig it. What are some of your guys’ musical influences? Is there one that you guys agree on the most?
Josh: That early Modest Mouse is pretty untouchable; The Moon and Antarctica and The Lonesome Crowded West are beasts. All the bands and artists I listed above are all big influences for me. Blonde Redhead, mewithoutYou, The Microphones, Sparklehorse, Tom Waits, Envy, Toe, Pedro The Lion, and Tortoise have all at some point have made me feel like I will never actually accomplish anything.
Eric: I think we all like Sigur Rós, although I don’t believe that speaks to what we sound like musically.
Josh: Yeah, there are a couple other bands that we all agree on, but like Eric said, I don’t think any of them really come through in our music. I wonder if we had a radio in our van if we would find more commonality. We all love The Reptilian.
What’re some of the best local food spots in St. Louis?
Conor: Strange Donuts, Seoul Taco, Pointer’s Pizza, The Dam, Three Monkeys are all killer.
Josh: I like Strange Donuts, Old Town Donuts, Plush, Seoul Taco, and my girlfriend’s parent’s house.
What would you say to someone who looks up to you/ thinks you guys are cool?
Conor: I don’t think anyone has ever looked up to me. I’m the youngest of three kids. I feel like I would be in shock if someone said those things to me, but I don’t know. I think we’re a pretty cool band, but it’s hard to accept other people thinking so.
Eric: I’d say, “Thank you for taking the time to like something I worked on. Enjoy yourself, your life, and be you, always. Love.”
Josh: I’d say Thank you.
Awe, Foxing is so very cute. Check out some of the stuff that the guys are into, and be very cute like them. Also, be sure to check out their new album The Albatross out now on Count Your Lucky Stars, highly recommended!
Conor: The Reptilian: They got this new track that they showed us and it’s fucking stupid good. It will be on some upcoming release and everyone will hate themselves for how good it is. http://thereptilianband.bandcamp.com/
Crazy Town: We thought the journey was over but it just began. The Brimstone Sluggers is going to hit the shelves as soon as we all accept Shifty Shellshock into our hearts. https://www.facebook.com/officialcrazytown
Josh: Parisian: This is my old roommate and one of my close friends; he makes such great instrumental electronic music under the moniker Parisian. His music means so much to me, I want everyone to hear it. https://soundcloud.com/icareaboutyou
Rameses III I Could Not Love You More: This record completely killed me when I first heard it; it still gets me every time. It’s minimal and droney, kind of like Stars of The Lid, but less layered and a little more focused at times. Pop this on your Walkman II, lay down, close your eyes, and turn it to “Across The Lake Is Where My Heart Shines”; it will ease your soul. https://soundcloud.com/_type/sets/i-could-not-love-you-more/
Lastly, Phil Elvrum keeps putting out good records. http://pwelverumandsun.bandcamp.com/
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