Foxy Shazam

The Church of Rock and Roll CD Release Party – 1/21/2012
Madison Theater – Covington, KY

Welcome, my friends, to the Church of Rock and Roll.

Foxy Shazam, a band that’s famous for being highly unpredictable and impossible to classify, has gained extremely passionate fans over the years with their impressive full-band instrumentation and dual-vocalization that includes both screams and prince-esque melodies.  After the highly successful 2010 release of their self titled effort that brought them a bit more main-stream, fans were anxiously awaiting what was next in the Foxy Shazam saga.  Finally, late in 2011 they announced that their next effort, titled The Church of Rock and Roll, was set to release early in January.  This excited Foxy’s huge fan base, including yours truly, and I was waiting with baited breath the weekend before the release.

However, my anticipation for the new album skyrocketed when I found out that they were playing a CD release party near their hometown of Cincinnati that very weekend, a few days before the CD came out.  Last minute plans were made and a small group of us headed down to a little theater to watch the show.  In true Foxy tradition, I’m so glad we went.  It’s time to get Foxy.

The Venue

The Madison Theater is a quaint little theater across the bridge from Cincinnati in a town called Covington, Kentucky.  I was impressed with this place right when I walked in.  In addition to clean bathrooms, cheap beers, and an open layout, the venue was perfect size for the bands and amount of people that were there, as it was full enough to be packed but not so full that it felt cramped.  The theater was standing room only, and had staggered levels to stand on so the people in the back could see over everyone in front of them, which was a nice touch for those that aren’t freakishly tall like I am.
The sound was great, and the lighting of the venue stood out to me a bit – as it was relatively impressive for the size of the venue.  Multicolored lights ran the length of the venue and really lit up this place, which added another dimension to Foxy’s already wild music.  Overall, I was very impressed on my first trip to the Madison Theater, and I have already made plans to go back.

The Show

Foxy Shazam is famous for all the crazy elements they bring into their show.  Because their music is relatively complex, they have a lot of people on stage that bring major personality.  And if there’s ANYTHING that Foxy has a high dose of, it’s personality.  Those who have seen the show know how difficult it is to explain it in a blog like this, but let me just say that its incredibly fun, and EXTREMELY unique.

They are also the only band I know where it’s nearly impossible to focus on the drums, the bass, or the guitar.  Usually these are some of my favorite parts of the band, but Foxy has three other musicians on stage that were born to entertain.   It starts with Schuyler Vaughn White on the keyboard and Alex Nauth on horns/backup vocals.  These two, whether it’s by dancing, standing on keyboards, or pelvic thrusting into a trombone while killing a falsetto note, join together to give one hell of a show and would overpower many lead singers.  However, the most prominent person on stage the king of Foxy himself, lead vocalist Eric Nally.  Eric is second to none when it comes to talent, creativity, and creepy mustaches.  He can do things with a microphone stand that make me wonder if he ever leaves the stage, and his acrobatic maneuvers make me think that he must have broken every bone in his body at some point.  In addition to this, he can sing a little.  And by a little, I mean he is unbelievably good.

As a unit, along with a great rhythm section, they provide fans with a total experience that makes the eccentric music on Foxy’s albums all the sudden make sense- and that is a feat in itself.

This particular show was really unique because Foxy Shazam was the headliner, and thus had plenty of time to play all kinds of different songs from genres all over the place.  First, we got to hear all the hits off of their new album, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  I especially liked I Like It, The Church of Rock and Roll, and Holy Touch live.  In addition, they saved some time to slow it down a bit and play Forever Together, which was one of the surprises for me.  Foxy doesn’t seem like the kind of band that can pull off a slow song live, but it worked in this setting, and became one of the moments to remember.

They also saved some time for some of their older great material, like Count Me Out and Rocketeer.  Unfortunately (for me), they didn’t dip too far into their post-hardcore-ish work from the Flamingo Trigger days, but for a band that covered SO many genres live, it wouldn’t be fair for me to complain about that.  Overall, my favorite song during this show was probably Killin’ It from their 2010 album.  They closed with this song, and I was amazed at how comfortable they were on stage, and how they really enjoyed playing this last song.  It was also one of the songs that heavily involved everyone on stage – even one of the stage hands that I saw dancing side-stage.

If I had to be critical, my one (minor) complaint was that it somehow seemed like the show got just a touch repetitive towards the end.  Most likely, this can be attributed to the fact that this is no doubt the longest live show Foxy has ever played.  Regardless, it seemed to lose just a little bit of steam near the 75% mark.  I have no doubt that Foxy will soon learn that their show is incredibly high energy and sets a precedence early, so even the slightest dip in excitement or enthusiasm or creativity is even more obvious.

However, my one take away from this show, now that I’ve been able to see Foxy live multiple times, is not how crazy their show is, but what high-quality music they can pull off.  The music that they write is fairly complex, interweaving in-depth melodies that have prominent parts from three different instruments (horns, keys, guitar).  I’ve seen this time and again force a sloppy live show, but Foxy Shazam executed this music flawlessly, all while doing Star Wars moves or holding a giant keyboard over their head.  More than anything else, this show reminded me that on the surface, Foxy is a talented band with a goofy live show, but that in reality they are much, MUCH deeper than that.  In my insignificant and highly biased opinion, musically, they are second to none.  (And let’s be honest…..my opinion is why all six of you are reading this!! 🙂

As this band grows, they will most likely learn how to expand and make their show even bigger and better.  As an absolute worst possibility, they will opt not to go bigger, and will continue to play incredibly good, smaller shows that even a casual fan will have a great time at.  Either way is totally fine with me, and I will continue to scour the internet for chances to catch Foxy where they belong –  under the lights in front of a crowd.  Who knows what they will come up with next!!

Another great show in the books.  Until next time, cheers!

“Cause there is always a wrong to your right.  And there will always be a war somewhere to fight.  God knows I’ve had some rough f****** years.  Ooooh, Oh Lord.  Oh Lord.  Keep on Keeping on.”