Artist: The Stone Foxes
Title: Bears & Bulls
Label: The Stone Foxes
Genre: Rock & Roll, Blues
UPC: 700261302607
Territory: Worldwide
Release Date: 07.06.10
The Stone Foxes is a DIY kind of band that would much rather create their music live onstage than inside any studio. For this reason, members Shannon and Spence Koehler, Aaron Mort, and Avi Vincour record their songs only after they have worked them out during their shows. This unique approach is part of what makes The Stone Foxes such a pleasure to listen to (live and on record). Their music is constantly evolving and improving but it always maintains their signature marriage of rock n’ roll and the blues in a classically packaged, yet refreshing sound.
Bears & Bulls, the band’s sophomore album, is a prime example of how they combine rock & roll with the blues. The band demonstrates that they are students of the blues with the song, “I Killed Robert Johnson,” which is a classically formatted blues rock number that tells the story of how they killed the legendary, nearly mythical father of the blues (they also mention Sonny Boy Williamson). The album is ripe with stellar guitar and blues harp riffs. It has the power rock & roll songs like “Young Man” and “Patience,” as well as the slower, bluesier numbers such as “Easy” and the classic “Little Red Rooster” (special tip: blues fans should check out the Luther Allison version) that employs the harmonica to capture that Southern sound.
Another very unique feature of the band is that there is not a set lead singer – or a set anything for that matter. When the band says each song is unique and has its own personality, they mean it. All of the members contribute songs, but just because they write it doesn’t mean they will be the one singing it. Shannon explains, “It doesn’t matter who writes the lyrics, if someone else has a better voice for the song, they sing it.” Since the lead singer is always rotating, who’s playing what also changes: “Shannon may come out from behind the drums to sing and play harmonica while Avi replaces him. Aaron, Spence and Avi regularly swap rhythm, lead, and bass duties.” This is one talented group of gentleman.
Adding to the band’s already impressive multitasking skills, they also built their very own all-analog studio in the heart of their (and IODA’s!) hometown, San Francisco. Through recording in their personal studio and using minimal overdubs their music maintains all its live energy and sound. Says Vincour, “Recording in our own studio really allows us to connect directly to the listener; it comes right from us to the fans.” For this reason, by listening to Bears & Bulls you are learning exactly who and what The Stone Foxes are. What you hear on their album really is what you get, and with a band of this caliber, that is a very, very good thing.
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