Fox and The Law kick off Spring Tour at Neumos

Fox and The Law

Fox and The Law

by Derek Aubert

Fox and The Law brought the noise to Neumos this Wednesday, debuting four unheard songs and kicking off their Spring Tour of the Southwest. The crowd received FaTL with enthusiasm, despite them only being the opening act for touring band, Electric Six. If you’re wondering why you didn’t hear about the show, it’s because they didn’t want make a big deal about it.

“Yeah, we’re not doing a lot of high profile shows until our EP drops,” says frontman Guy Keltner, “at this stage, we’re more interested in testing our new material and connecting with the audience, rather than worrying about packing a large venue. Electric Six already had a good draw, so all we had to worry about was showing up and sounding good.” Their four new songs, Bad Education, 27 Club, Paralyzed, and Innocence, showed a different side of Fox and The Law.

“Our sound is starting to evolve,” says drummer Daniel O’Neil, “The style of the first record was more aggressive and simple. We’d basically write a song around one or two key parts and stitch them together with jams and cool riffs. It was kind of sloppy sometimes, but the high energy made it sound cool. To keep the sound fresh, though, we had to change how we played. We’re pushing our sound into new territory, so we have to be more precise and deliberate. The new songs incorporate influences like funk and prog rock and we had to be careful to make our music sound interesting without alienating our audience.”

If you read “funk” and “prog rock” and wondered if Fox and The Law have watered down their high energy, panty throwin’ garage rock roots, no need to worry. Despite walking on stage to a few curious clusters of audience members, they brought the energy to get the mood hot and heavy and by the time they said goodnight, the floored balcony was saturated with a sweaty crowd that begged them for more.

“The goal of every FaTL show is to show people a good time,” says Guy, “We don’t want to call ourselves ‘party rock’ because that paints a bad picture in people’s heads, but we want music that’s chaotic and fun.”

Speaking of partying, this was supposed to be a full-on interview. I had planned to sit the band down before the show to talk shop about the EP and the tour, but the subject of drink tickets was broached shortly after we started talking, and the next thing I knew they’re on stage and I’m into my second gin and tonic, after two pre-show beers with a pre-show whiskey chaser. Needless to say, no one was in a condition to interview after that, and I stumbled home empty handed, hoping the rest of the tour wouldn’t be as disorganized as this night was.

Not only is he a multi-media journalist, he is also an accomplished musician. He is the founder of SMI and drives the creative look, feel and branding for the publication. His years of writing, arranging, and performing live music in a variety of genres inform his ability to communicate the message and the mechanics of music. Roth’s work on SMI reflects his philosophy that music is the universal language, and builds community. He believes it has the power to unite people of every race, religion, gender, and persuasion.