Black Fox (22/05/2012)
Hi guys, thank you for talking to the 59th Sound!
Your debut double A-side, Day In Lieu / Monarch was just released, how did the launch gig go?
The launch was a riot. There was a really nice crowd down at the Workers Club and it was a real joy to finally see the finished vinyl at the merch stand.
Why have you guys decided to release a single on vinyl?
We’re releasing everything on vinyl first and foremost because we love vinyl. We’ve always wanted to have some of our own music pressed to vinyl and so that was the main reason for doing it. That said, CDs are selling less and less every year while vinyl sales continue to rise. Most of the people who will buy physical copies of our songs are real music enthusiasts, and they seem to dig vinyl. It tends to sound better as well. It doesn’t cop all the compression that the digital copy gets in mastering so it has a far greater dynamic range.
Is the recording process for that any different? Can fans expect a better or different sound in vinyl?
The recoding process isn’t too different but it does dictate the way that everything is done to some extent. For example, the LP that we have coming has nine tracks on it. We needed to keep the overall length of the album down so that it would sound best on vinyl. If it’s too long, then the grooves are closer together and the sound and volume suffers. It also has a little bit of an effect on the mixing process. You can’t pan any low bass frequencies to one side because it can make the needle jump out of the groove. However, the biggest difference is in mastering. When the tracks are mastered, the digital copies are compressed a lot to make them louder. That’s why modern CDs sound much louder than CDs from the late 80s/early 90s. The vinyl masters don’t have this done to them, because the length of each side of the record dictates the volume. As a result, the vinyl masters have much more dynamic range.
What was the writing process like?
The writing process was a joy. Most of the songs would start with me writing and recording a demo. I’d then send the demo to Daniel and he’d usually add a few bits and pieces and put together an arrangement. Then we’d usually get together as a band and start playing the song and work out any final changes. We’re a group of guys that work really well together, so writing and recording songs is always pretty fun.
What kinds of music or bands have inspired your songs?
I’m pretty inspired by bands like The Cure, The Smiths, BRMC and Nirvana. I think all of those bands wrote, and in some cases still write, songs that aren’t marked with a time stamp. Their songs sound as relevant and as fresh today as the day they first came out. Bands such as these also write amazing lyrics that are very thought provoking and poetic. With all the songs I’ve been writing for Black Fox, I’ve been trying to keep those elements in mind. It seems today that fewer and fewer bands are putting out music with lyrics that mean something. When I listen to music I want to hear lyrics that are evocative and expressive and not a repeat of some thoughtless phrase that countless songs have muttered.
I know that Daniel was also pretty inspired by Pink Floyd when he was working on synth parts for the songs. We wanted the synth parts to add textures and layers to the songs without being big features in their own right. A lot of the parts were done using a Yamaha TX7 synthesizer. The sounds that emanate from that machine don’t sound great by themselves but sound amazing when you hear them in the mix.
Your debut album is coming out later this year; can fans expect to hear a similar sound to the single?
Absolutely. I think Day in Lieu and Monarch represent the spectrum of our sound very accurately. Musically, the album is very upbeat and driving in parts, while other songs are more mournful in their sound. Lyrically it’s quite a dark album allover. I’m the sort of person who is generally very happy and at peace with the world, but I think it’s because I inject the other side of my personality into music.
When we started recording the album we established a really clear direction for the music from the outset. There are lots of chorus guitars, big drums, growling bass, vocal harmonies and subtle synths all over the album. They’re really the elements that bring all the songs together. The album is also relatively seamless. We wanted to record an LP that really sounded like one piece of music, rather than a bunch of singles slapped together. Some of the songs actually run into each other.
You describe yourself as “Tightly linked by bonds of blood and friendship”, it is definitely a unique description. I know two of you are related but what exactly does that mean? Are you a really tight knit group?
Daniel and Leigh are brothers, so there’s definitely some blood links in the band. We‘re also a very unique and tight group of friends. Daniel, Leigh, Ryan (original drummer) and myself have been friends for years and are always spending time together, even if we’re not playing music. When Ryan parted ways with us to pursue other dreams, I was quite worried about getting new members in. I was worried that they wouldn’t gel with us, but I was also worried that it would be hard for them coming into such a tight group of friends. We were so lucky to find Andrei and Mitch, who came into the band and fitted in perfectly. It immediately felt like we’d been friends with them for years and it’s been a joy playing music with them.
Black Fox has evolved from the band The Smoke, was it hard to essentially start over again? Do you think fans have followed along with the change?
Very hard. Suddenly you go from being an established band with a big catalogue of songs, a booking agent, distribution, lots of gigs and radio play, to being a band that has to get all those things again. We decided that the name change was essential when Luke (guitarist in The Smoke) moved to Sydney. We had all been friends for years and we didn’t want to continue as The Smoke without him. We also wanted to change the style of music that we were making and embark on something new.
It‘s been easier to get up and running this time around, and we’re doing things bigger and better than before. Mind you, our first year was spent writing songs and not having any releases to show for it—so that was a bit tough. We’re now into the really enjoyable and rewarding time when you have records coming out.
And just a random one to let people get a little insight into you guys, what is your favourite city to play a show in and why?
Any interstate show. When we play interstate we usually either can’t afford a hotel room or can only afford a room made for two people. Inevitably, this means we party all night and then head home in the morning. It’s a real adventure every time. Sometimes we’ll find ourselves with a bed, sometimes not. Once when we were playing in Sydney, our friend Callum (who was filling in on bass) declared at 4am in the morning that he’d quit smoking. He made a big speech about how he couldn’t respect himself as a person if he kept smoking and he threw his cigarettes in the bin. By 9am, he was hungover and rifling through that same bin looking for his cigarettes.
Casey Cunningham
26th May 2012 – The World Bar, Kings Cross, Sydney, NSW.
8th June 2012 – Pony, Little Collins St, Melbourne, VIC.
16th June 2012 - The Alley, Adelaide, SA.
27th June 2012 - Revolver Upstairs, Chapel Street, Prahran, VIC.
Your debut double A-side, Day In Lieu / Monarch was just released, how did the launch gig go?
The launch was a riot. There was a really nice crowd down at the Workers Club and it was a real joy to finally see the finished vinyl at the merch stand.
Why have you guys decided to release a single on vinyl?
We’re releasing everything on vinyl first and foremost because we love vinyl. We’ve always wanted to have some of our own music pressed to vinyl and so that was the main reason for doing it. That said, CDs are selling less and less every year while vinyl sales continue to rise. Most of the people who will buy physical copies of our songs are real music enthusiasts, and they seem to dig vinyl. It tends to sound better as well. It doesn’t cop all the compression that the digital copy gets in mastering so it has a far greater dynamic range.
Is the recording process for that any different? Can fans expect a better or different sound in vinyl?
The recoding process isn’t too different but it does dictate the way that everything is done to some extent. For example, the LP that we have coming has nine tracks on it. We needed to keep the overall length of the album down so that it would sound best on vinyl. If it’s too long, then the grooves are closer together and the sound and volume suffers. It also has a little bit of an effect on the mixing process. You can’t pan any low bass frequencies to one side because it can make the needle jump out of the groove. However, the biggest difference is in mastering. When the tracks are mastered, the digital copies are compressed a lot to make them louder. That’s why modern CDs sound much louder than CDs from the late 80s/early 90s. The vinyl masters don’t have this done to them, because the length of each side of the record dictates the volume. As a result, the vinyl masters have much more dynamic range.
What was the writing process like?
The writing process was a joy. Most of the songs would start with me writing and recording a demo. I’d then send the demo to Daniel and he’d usually add a few bits and pieces and put together an arrangement. Then we’d usually get together as a band and start playing the song and work out any final changes. We’re a group of guys that work really well together, so writing and recording songs is always pretty fun.
What kinds of music or bands have inspired your songs?
I’m pretty inspired by bands like The Cure, The Smiths, BRMC and Nirvana. I think all of those bands wrote, and in some cases still write, songs that aren’t marked with a time stamp. Their songs sound as relevant and as fresh today as the day they first came out. Bands such as these also write amazing lyrics that are very thought provoking and poetic. With all the songs I’ve been writing for Black Fox, I’ve been trying to keep those elements in mind. It seems today that fewer and fewer bands are putting out music with lyrics that mean something. When I listen to music I want to hear lyrics that are evocative and expressive and not a repeat of some thoughtless phrase that countless songs have muttered.
I know that Daniel was also pretty inspired by Pink Floyd when he was working on synth parts for the songs. We wanted the synth parts to add textures and layers to the songs without being big features in their own right. A lot of the parts were done using a Yamaha TX7 synthesizer. The sounds that emanate from that machine don’t sound great by themselves but sound amazing when you hear them in the mix.
Your debut album is coming out later this year; can fans expect to hear a similar sound to the single?
Absolutely. I think Day in Lieu and Monarch represent the spectrum of our sound very accurately. Musically, the album is very upbeat and driving in parts, while other songs are more mournful in their sound. Lyrically it’s quite a dark album allover. I’m the sort of person who is generally very happy and at peace with the world, but I think it’s because I inject the other side of my personality into music.
When we started recording the album we established a really clear direction for the music from the outset. There are lots of chorus guitars, big drums, growling bass, vocal harmonies and subtle synths all over the album. They’re really the elements that bring all the songs together. The album is also relatively seamless. We wanted to record an LP that really sounded like one piece of music, rather than a bunch of singles slapped together. Some of the songs actually run into each other.
You describe yourself as “Tightly linked by bonds of blood and friendship”, it is definitely a unique description. I know two of you are related but what exactly does that mean? Are you a really tight knit group?
Daniel and Leigh are brothers, so there’s definitely some blood links in the band. We‘re also a very unique and tight group of friends. Daniel, Leigh, Ryan (original drummer) and myself have been friends for years and are always spending time together, even if we’re not playing music. When Ryan parted ways with us to pursue other dreams, I was quite worried about getting new members in. I was worried that they wouldn’t gel with us, but I was also worried that it would be hard for them coming into such a tight group of friends. We were so lucky to find Andrei and Mitch, who came into the band and fitted in perfectly. It immediately felt like we’d been friends with them for years and it’s been a joy playing music with them.
Black Fox has evolved from the band The Smoke, was it hard to essentially start over again? Do you think fans have followed along with the change?
Very hard. Suddenly you go from being an established band with a big catalogue of songs, a booking agent, distribution, lots of gigs and radio play, to being a band that has to get all those things again. We decided that the name change was essential when Luke (guitarist in The Smoke) moved to Sydney. We had all been friends for years and we didn’t want to continue as The Smoke without him. We also wanted to change the style of music that we were making and embark on something new.
It‘s been easier to get up and running this time around, and we’re doing things bigger and better than before. Mind you, our first year was spent writing songs and not having any releases to show for it—so that was a bit tough. We’re now into the really enjoyable and rewarding time when you have records coming out.
And just a random one to let people get a little insight into you guys, what is your favourite city to play a show in and why?
Any interstate show. When we play interstate we usually either can’t afford a hotel room or can only afford a room made for two people. Inevitably, this means we party all night and then head home in the morning. It’s a real adventure every time. Sometimes we’ll find ourselves with a bed, sometimes not. Once when we were playing in Sydney, our friend Callum (who was filling in on bass) declared at 4am in the morning that he’d quit smoking. He made a big speech about how he couldn’t respect himself as a person if he kept smoking and he threw his cigarettes in the bin. By 9am, he was hungover and rifling through that same bin looking for his cigarettes.
Casey Cunningham
26th May 2012 – The World Bar, Kings Cross, Sydney, NSW.
8th June 2012 – Pony, Little Collins St, Melbourne, VIC.
16th June 2012 - The Alley, Adelaide, SA.
27th June 2012 - Revolver Upstairs, Chapel Street, Prahran, VIC.