Fox N Vead: Playing the Game

[00:00:08] Welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having us. Yeah, of course. I appreciate you. I mean, do you guys want to just kind of introduce yourself and who you guys are? I mean, you guys aren't necessarily new, but you might be new to a lot of our listeners. Absolutely. I'm Christian Vead. I sing, write songs, play guitar. I'm Logan Fox and yeah, I'm the other lead singer. Play lead. Yeah, stuff like that. It's a pretty self-explanatory where the band name comes from.

[00:00:34] Was there any argument about whose name got to go first? So we started as a duo, doing like me and him. So me and him played in another band, like a cover band where we both just played guitar and there was like another singer. So me and him started kind of writing our, like just doing our own thing. And we went out playing like open mics and acoustic gigs and stuff like that. So Fox and Vead technically started like with me and him before we brought the other two guys in. So they didn't really-

[00:01:03] Vead and Fox didn't sound very weird. They sounded pretty weird. So yeah, we were just like Fox and Vee rolls off the tongue a little bit. One of those things. Well, it's a pleasure to get to talk to you all. Likewise. I have to point out, you've got the Dexter and the Moon Rocks shirt on. I do. And we just talked to them, what, a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, a couple of weeks ago. Talk to Fox. Yes. Yeah, we sure did. Fox and Fox. Yeah. A couple of Foxes in the studio recently. And I mean, I can't help but think, and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but it does

[00:01:31] seem like you guys are kind of on the same wavelength. Yeah, those are the boys. Yeah, they're our homies for sure. They're having a crazy year, a generational run right now. Yeah. And yeah, we played some shows with them. I think we met them last year. We played some shows and they were already doing good last year, but this year has kind of just kicked it into like a whole nother gear. Mm-hmm. But yeah, those are the boys. We just, the last show we played with them in Springfield, Illinois, and we sat out and played.

[00:02:00] There was a basketball hoop outside the venue and we stayed out there till like three in the morning, drinking, ripping cigs, and playing basketball all night. Sounds about right. It was fun. Yeah. Now, how would you guys label your guys' music genre-wise? I don't know. I have no idea. Our last, this album we just put out is like five different genres. Yes. So it's kind of, I guess like the biggest one is like alternative, y'all turn it up, I guess. Alternative rock, definitely blues.

[00:02:29] We have a lot of like blues elements, which in a big part is because of him, just because of how bluesy he is. But like we, we both love blues and like, we call it, we like to call it crunch, country grunge. Okay. We, we called it that for a while, but it really is just like, we love so many different types of music. And the fact that we have four people that are all like playing on every record, like it kind of just brings that different vibe like from everybody. Everybody's personality gets to come through. Yeah.

[00:02:58] Because he's definitely more like, he was on the, the blues vibe for sure. I've always been like on like the country type of vibe and like alternative rock and our drummer Ashton. I don't know if you got, were you guys able to catch the show? I was. The album show. I have him signed on that. All right. Well then you saw how crazy he is whenever we play. Yes. So he's like punk rock, like just like a punk drummer. And then Landon, our bass player is just like hard rock, like all that type of stuff. So it kind of just like meshes up together.

[00:03:28] Yeah. So we don't, we don't really have a good answer for that question. Yeah. That's kind of why I asked it. Cause it's like, I don't really, I don't know how to describe it. If you guys can't figure it out, I can't. You said crunch. And I feel like that's easier to say than the other thing I saw, which was gruntry. Gruntry. Gruntry. I don't know where that came from. Yeah. Sounds like a bad part. I would rather say crunch. Yeah. Gruntry sounds dangerous. Yeah. But I did, I was able to catch your guys' album release show and that kind of, I feel

[00:03:56] like that kind of sold me on you guys cause I got to listen to the new album top to bottom and like, I truly believe there are enough skips on it. So loved it. It was a great time. And it's not every day you see people moshing at a show I go to. Is that the first mosh pit at OD's? That's what I want to know. I'm like, how's that happened before? I can't imagine it has. Because if we were the first ones to do that, that is lit. They better like put a plaque on the wall for us. It was a fun night. How was it for you guys? Oh, it was amazing, dude. It was amazing.

[00:04:22] I feel like all, all the stars aligned, like for that night for us, just like, especially with all the people we had pop out, like with Gavin and with Coe, with Pecos and Dylan Wheeler and just, and our buddies that opened up for us, Owen and the Smokes and Rob Langdon. And like, we just, it just worked out great. Like literally, I don't think it could have went any better. So, I mean, it was great, honestly. It was a lot of fun. And how did those onstage appearances from some other artists come to be?

[00:04:50] Were those like, you put out a, hey, would you mind coming and helping us out with this? Or was that something that they were interested in doing and maybe even approached you all about it? We had an idea of like, it would be cool if we can get all the friends we've made over the years to like, just show up and have a good time. So we just were like, yo, we're going to do this. If you want to come, cool. If you don't, like, it's cool too. A lot of them were like, yeah, I'll be there. And they just happened to be in town. A lot of them. We toured with Gavin last year.

[00:05:17] So we kind of, we were on like a month long, a little over a month long tour with him. So kind of just, we built that, that connection and stuff. And we, we love Gavin. And with Coe, we just signed with Floating Leaf not that long ago. So that's kind of where that came in. And the first tour we ever did two years ago was opening for Pecos and the rooftops. So that was dope. And Dylan, we've kind of just recently linked up with him because he's doing like the 80 acres like rock thing.

[00:05:44] So maybe some potential there for us to work together. I'm not sure yet, but that'd be sick. And speaking of working together, I just have to ask, like you already kind of touched on it a little bit, but I think most people would assume when a band comes together, it's like three or four like-minded people who like the same type of music. And it's clearly shown through with all the projects that you guys have out that it can benefit a band to have different perspectives. But how was that band coming together? That process like? It was horrible. Horrible.

[00:06:13] We all had such big egos. Yeah. And like, we were like, no, it needs to be like this. It needs to be like this. It needs to be like this. Kind of saying like, this is what we should sound like. Right. It was hard at first. Yeah. That first practice was really rough. First couple. But eventually, I mean, coming from our hometown, there's not a lot of musicians there in general, especially younger ones. So we were like, we're all like too talented, like for our age to try and separate and do something else.

[00:06:42] We were like, we need to try and make this work. And over the years, you know, we've, you know, mixed our sound into one sound. And I think we're slowly but surely getting there. It's probably a reason why you get so many different sounds on an album, which I'm like, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure at some point for like certain, certain people listening, like they expect to hear this and then they hear something like this, but like, we're just having fun. So like, if somebody hears like something that's not their vibe, there's going to be something

[00:07:12] on the album that is for somebody. Kind of is the way we look at it. Can we cuss on here? Yes. Yes, you can. Yeah. We just try a bunch of shit. Yeah. And what year was it that you guys had your first practice? And so how long did it take to get to this point of releasing this album? 2022? Yeah, 2022. And that's very fast. Yeah. We were a cover band for a long time. Just to like... Probably two years. Yeah. I mean, we played cover gigs so we could like record our music.

[00:07:42] I mean... Gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah. Absolutely. We play every weekend at like bars, college bars, mostly. Three hours. And we were a really bad cover band because we only played the stuff that we wanted to play and like people would be like holding up their phones, like play this. And we're like, no, we're gonna play this. We have a set and we don't know any other song. Yeah. What were some of the songs in the set that, you know, were staples for you all? Oh man. Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix. We ripped that one a lot. We ripped a lot of Skynyrd. A lot of Skynyrd. Yeah.

[00:08:11] So there were some like, we knew like the crowd would like some songs, but there were some that they're like... We played like some Jason Aldean and stuff like that. And like, what is it? Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy. That's like a Nashville one right there. We played that one. Everyone's singing along with that. Played Tyler Childers and stuff. Okay. So honestly, it seems like, you know, from the very humble beginnings as a cover band, you could kind of see where the band was going because it sounds like you guys were kind of

[00:08:40] all over the place as a cover band. Absolutely. I never really thought about it like that, but that is true. Yeah. You guys were kind of practicing to become what you are now. It almost sounds like... Yeah. And what are your blues influences? Who do you listen to? I mean, I really... In high school, I wore out like Steve Ray Vaughn and Albert King. They did a live album together called In Session. And it was... I wore that out every day. Yeah. That there's one song on it that's like 15 minutes long.

[00:09:08] And I memorized every note that they played. Like I could sing it. It was... I was obsessed with them. Then just like, I love the old blues. So it's just always where it came. Which is crazy. Nobody else in my family listened to blues. 15 minutes is crazy. I'm checking out before... I can't make it to an eight minute song. It's all guitar solos. I'm checking out. They're singing for like a minute and a half. And then it's just... The whole time. Anything current that you like? I like Marcus King.

[00:09:35] I was about to say, actually with your album sitting there, we don't ever usually have the album sitting there. I just remember to bring it for once. But it also reminds me of kind of one of Marcus King's album covers too. I love... Yeah. His Youngblood album was so good. So fire. More of my favorite albums. Yeah. Buy the vinyl. Please buy the vinyl. Please buy the vinyl. I need to make sure you guys sign that too while you guys are here. We will absolutely sign it. I have like, my record collection is crazy and I always have artists in here and I always forget to like do something. I'm like, I need to sign a guitar, sign something.

[00:10:06] Yeah. Start collecting. Some way to commemorate the interviews. We got you. Actually. I want to ask, since new albums out, what's the reaction been that you guys have seen, whether at shows, online, whatever? One thing that I've noticed since we dropped the album is like our engagement and our comments are so funny now. Really? Like the stuff that people comment now, like we used to get kind of like, I don't know, just like the stuff that people comment on our TikToks and stuff now just like cracks

[00:10:36] me up. And I mean, definitely like with, I feel like Waste Away, like we dropped Waste Away last year, which was like, so that to see the progression of like in the crowds of how that song has grown to now, like people go crazy when we play that song now, which is like, I mean, as an artist, that's like the best thing you can ask for. Yeah. Yeah. Anytime we ask like, what's your favorite song on the album? There's never like a majority.

[00:11:01] Like there's like, you know, three or four songs that people will say, but like everyone has a different answer. It's all over the place. Yeah. It's all over the place, which is what I, that's what we expected. We were like, there's so many different kinds of music on here that like, there's not going to be a general favorite. What is your guys' personal favorite? It's a tough one. I like Long Way Down. Okay. Yeah. Uh, for me it's, it's either Waitin' or Waste Away are probably my two favorites.

[00:11:30] Let Go is also a, that's a sleeper. That's the one I was going to ask about. So I was like, what's the last one on there? Yeah. That one is a, I wrote that or we wrote that song. What? It's like three years ago. Yeah. It's about my, uh, one of my buddies that, uh, passed away a few years ago. And like, that was the, that's like the most personal, like toughest song we've ever wrote. Like I was actually like in tears when we played that song. So that one's a tough one, but like, I love that song so much. Yeah.

[00:11:59] Big like Jimi Hendrix vibes, like in that song. I don't know if you guys would listen to it, but uh. Yes. And I love when the song, like, I love when a song builds and it starts off slow and then gets into it. But yeah, at the album release, it's just like no one knew it yet. And I was, I was wondering if you guys are going to put it into the set or if you guys are just going to let it be like a deep cut for you guys. For this tour, I think we're definitely going to throw it. Like when we do the play in the game tour starting, uh, at the end of August, we're gonna be, uh, definitely throw that in the set. Are you going to play the album again top to bottom or just kind of do it all over the place?

[00:12:29] Probably not top to bottom. Yeah, probably sprinkle it. Which it was cool. Like it actually ended up flowing pretty good. And we did that just because it was the album release show. But it's hard for us not to play like Waste Away and Waiting and stuff like that at the end of the set. For sure. So I'd like to know the percentage of fans that would love to sit down or stand up at a concert and hear that, you know, the newest album front to back because I'm a, I'm a big fan of, of that. And I've been to, I think two or three different shows where the artists will literally just

[00:12:57] say like, Hey, I'm playing this album from front to back. Yeah. And I feel like it's always a really cool listening experience because I'm the type of person that likes to put on a record and listen to it all the way through. So there are probably some, you're far and few between. There are a lot of people that would probably rather just hear some of the bigger hits, but, but I mean, you, you just said a second ago that it was really cool to see how it flowed live and you guys are really good live. I wasn't, I haven't been able to see you live, but I saw the videos that Shelby was able to get from the album release concert and it looked like you guys put on a hell

[00:13:27] of a show. It was, it was fun. Like we playing live is like, that's like always been like our thing. And that's like our, we always knew like whenever we would go, we'd go, we'd go and we would open for people and we would know, like, they don't know who we are. We were like, we got to win them tonight. Like we got to win them tonight because obviously like you go and open for 2,000 people that have no idea who you are. Like people are like, they're not dumb. Like they don't, they know, they know what they're seeing like on stage. And like, you can't, I don't, you can't fake it.

[00:13:57] Like they either like it or they don't like it. So we were like, we're a brick by brick band. Like we're not a, we've never been like an overnight band. And I don't think that we're ever going to be that way. Like we're perfectly fine. Like that's not a problem. So we always are just like our live show is like, that's what's gonna. It's always been our number one. Get people to come back and see us when we come back in town and try to headline the smaller room next door. So that's kind of always been our thing. And it's just fun. I mean, it's just, it's so fun. Yeah.

[00:14:24] And I saw you guys open, I think for Gavin too, when you guys, when you played the pinnacle. Yeah. That was like, that was a couple, was that last year? Maybe the year before that. That was, that was last year. Okay. That was last May 15th. That was, that was a crazy one too. That was. Big room, a lot of energy. Crazy story about that night, not to go too far off. But Brent Cobb came up and played with Gavin that night. Yes. And me and him love Brent Cobb. Like he's such a good songwriter. Like he's awesome.

[00:14:53] So, uh, in our green room, we're out on the balcony smoking and I see him next door sitting in there playing guitar. And I was like, I was like, dude, he's by himself. I'm going to go say what's up to him. We have to. Yeah. Anyway. So we go and chop it up with them after the show. He didn't get to see our set. I was so hurt because I was like, I hope he sees us. Like maybe he'll like, like us or you know, whatever. And, uh, It didn't even matter. Either way, we went up and like played acoustic with him and just like chopped it up with him for a little while.

[00:15:23] And he ends up coming back to our Airbnb like that. We, uh, that we're staying down the road and he brings Taco Bell and he brings like two quesadillas and two tacos and we're all in a van. And I mean, probably 20 people get out of our van and he's sitting there and he's like, I don't think I got enough Taco Bell guys. Cause he didn't know he had all these people with him. Sounds like, sounds like him. Super chill guy. That was like one of the greatest nights of my life, dude. That was so fun. I got to see him at, was it the blue room here in Nashville?

[00:15:53] How was that? And he, that was one of the performances that I actually got to see where he played. Playing the rock album. Yeah. And rocked in a while. He played a front track and it was awesome. Dude, he's the truth. And we got to sit down and talk with him too. And he's, he's a really cool guy for sure. I just met his, um, wife and kids at a festival. Oh really? And they were like, exactly, they're just like him. Just country. Country sweet as can be. Simple and country. Like there's the best. So yeah, that was a fun show. And then you guys just played the cavern. So you guys are hitting all the big, a lot of the Tennessee venues.

[00:16:22] How was the caverns for you guys? It was great. It's a cave. It was our second time playing there. Oh really? Yeah. It's so crazy how like, cause when we just played there, it was like 90 degrees outside. And when you walk down the lower you get, the colder it feels. I'm like, this is great. I love this. I wish every outside venue was like that. Yeah. And so for this last one, you guys opened up for Pecos, but who was before that? All 60. All 60. Okay. That makes sense. Very similar vibe too. Different, but similar. Yeah.

[00:16:50] We used to be more like, cause before they dropped like the, the thoughts of you EP, they had like more of a rock set and now they're kind of like more of a folkier chill set. So many good songs. Oh yeah. Jacob's a hell of a writer. We wrote Rod with Jacob. Okay. Nice. Yep. That one of the songs on the record. That is probably the last song on that album I would have expected to write with him. Crazy, right? They actually, they used to play that song. They, so he had a, what was it?

[00:17:19] The first verse and first chorus. Yeah. And they would, and then he would like introduce the band. Like he would sing it and then he would introduce all the bandmates and they would like take a little solo. Okay. And we tried, we helped him write a second verse, but then he kind of went, I think thoughts of you. That's when it started to go crazy. Yeah. So he was like, I'm gonna go more to this route. He was like, if y'all want this song, you can have it. Yeah. I absolutely want this song. We've sat on it for a long time. Yeah. They're from Kentucky. You guys are from North Carolina, correct? Yep.

[00:17:49] I mean, you guys aren't Texas bands, but you kind of fit the vein of, I feel like what everyone assumes is Texas country. We do. Texas loves us dude. And they keep showing up every time we go. So we keep coming back. I'm like, you guys aren't Appalachian. Technically you're from there, but it's not that kind of music. So have you guys found like a really good community among the Texas people anyways? They've been great to us. Yeah. I mean, from the people we've met like Dexter and like, they've all been great.

[00:18:18] Honestly, we've had like really good like connections with Cigs, Cigarettes at Sunset and Hyjoon. Like we're all like friends. Yeah. It's funny because I feel like Dexter being from Texas, they don't have a very like Texas per se sound in my opinion. Or like persona. Like I feel like people from Texas, like they all kind of like, you can kind of tell they're from Texas. You know what I mean? Like they act like it. I feel like Dexter is very like, they're just not like that. I don't know how to explain it.

[00:18:47] Do you always wear a cowboy hat when you perform? No. Okay. Cause you did when I, I saw you wearing it the last time. So I was like, that definitely makes it seem more Texas too. Right. That was just for the, cause we were trying to, we're all wearing the suits. Yeah. Special occasion. Yeah. This is normally like the show. We all tell them, we're always like, dude, wear the hat, dude. It's cool to wear a cowboy hat and then play heavy rock music. It's just cool. I'm like, that's a cloth hat and it's a hundred degrees. Yeah. Hot at concerts. People are going to make fun of me for that. All right.

[00:19:18] I don't know. A cowboy hat, you do have to have some confidence to wear it. I've, I don't think I've ever even been close to one in my entire life because I don't think that I would, I would look like a fish out of water. See, I thought the same thing, but then like, you just gotta, you just gotta act like it's not there. I feel like I just take up more room when I have it on. I'm already like super broad. So when I put on, it just like, it almost like it fits my physique. It evens me out a little bit. So. Yes. How is North Carolina?

[00:19:46] What part are you guys from specifically? Um, we're about an hour outside of Charlotte, two hours from Boone. So like, kind of like in the middle of nowhere, we're like close enough to stuff. Like, yeah, we're in between Charlotte and Winston. I went out there once to Catawba. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're close to that. That's where Landon went to college there. Our basement went there for, I mean, he didn't graduate because everybody dropped down to college. Yeah. I went there though. I went to App State, yeah. Okay.

[00:20:16] I actually knew Sig's, Garrett and them, cause I went to college with them. Okay, cool. So like, I've known them for a while and we've played shows with them like before they, before either one of us really were like releasing a ton of music. It's kind of crazy. I went down. Yeah, we almost played a show. We were, uh, we were there at the show and it was like a five. We had a vine in that night. Yeah. It was funny. Which is hilarious. It was like a five band bill.

[00:20:44] And it was like two bands and then Sig's and then another band and then us. Well, the opener goes on and the venue people. So like there's a venue and then a set of double doors and a bar and there was like a basketball game happening and there was two people sitting at the bar watching the basketball game. This opener, the band's called Frigga Five. Shout out Frigga Five. Shout out. Out of, uh, Atlanta. Yeah, Atlanta. Yeah. It's somewhere in Georgia. He just being a badass.

[00:21:14] He's like singing this like new metal song, like some Limp Bizkit type shit. And he goes up to those double doors and he fucking kicks them in. He's rapping to the two people sitting there and they're just like, and the bar, like the security gets pissed at him, like super pissed. Mm-mm. And so they get up on stage, like in the middle of his song pressing, like they're trying to fight him, the security. And so we were like, yeah, it was, it was really not a good situation.

[00:21:43] We, and we told the security, like, if y'all don't quit, like we're going to leave. And we were the headliner that night and they didn't stop. So we all left. And like four of the other bands left with the Sig's was the only one that stayed to play that night. Oh my goodness. And afterward we met up at a bar and they were like, we're so sorry that because they kind of organized it, they were like, we did not want that to happen. We were like, guys. That's the last time we ever played in Boone, North Carolina. You guys gotta be back eventually. No, we will. We will be back. We love Boone.

[00:22:12] There's not a lot of places to play in Boone unless you're playing like the football stadium they got there. Like there's really not a lot of venues in Boone, which is crazy. Just the college bars. When I was there, I played mostly like house parties. Oh really? Like frat parties. I'm like, I haven't been over there. So I'm like, are there, are there even like a strip of college bars? There's like three. Yeah. There's really not a lot, which is crazy because there's a lot of kids that go to Boone. And just, I just have to ask like, so you were, you told the security if they wouldn't

[00:22:40] stop trying to fight the person who's like, stop pressing him. They were trying to kick him out and like, and we were like, if you kick him out, we're leaving too. And so they kicked him out. So everyone left except Sigs. They played the whole, they probably had a longer set then, which was probably good for them. Yeah. I would love to hear Sigs like point of view from their side of it. Yeah. And are, do you guys have plans to move to Nashville or are you guys staying out in Carolina? I don't really have any ambition, especially cause our management is in Texas now. I just wouldn't make any, I mean, unless we move to Texas.

[00:23:10] My goal is for us to, to one day be able to have like a spot here. Like maybe that we rent out that anytime any of the boys want to like, if we want to come and write or if the other fellows want to come and write or whatever, do something just to be a, cause I love North Carolina. Like that's home for all of us. So we definitely want to stay there. Like just cause our family and like everything's there. But I would love to have a place here that we could like come to and maybe rent it out as a, I don't know. We'll see. Yeah. That'd be nice. Yeah.

[00:23:38] And I feel like now a days you can do that. At one point it was like, if you want to do music, you have to go to Nashville or you have to go to Texas or go wherever. And now I feel like you can just travel. The beauty of social media. Yeah. And how has social media been for you guys? I feel like it's probably in your favor, but people have very mixed opinions about it. I feel like we ended up talking about it every podcast now. I mean, it's literally, I don't mind it. I used to hate it, but now like once you realize it's a tool, it's everything, bro. Yeah.

[00:24:07] If you're not utilizing social media and every bit about it and learning how to use it, you are wasting the biggest potential you have to cause gone are the days where you're playing an open mic in a bar and some big label executive is there or somebody and they're like, I'm gonna pick you up. They're like, I'm gonna sign you. They don't, labels don't do artist development anymore. They expect you to have a following already. So it's like if you're not using social, even just setting up your iPhone and playing in front of it, like you're wasting your time.

[00:24:36] I think Fox from Dexter and the Moon Rock sat right there and said that it's the bare minimum just to play music. Yes. Like you have to be doing other things. Yeah. Your music has to be good and you really have to focus on social media. Like if your music isn't good, like you gotta work on that first. There's a, there's a very like, it's an anomaly to be like the band that doesn't post on social media and their music blows up. And like, it does happen. Yeah. You can't say it doesn't happen. I mean, Trudio, like. Oh yeah. But they're just like. That's like a once. Once in a blue moon. They're phenomenal. Oh yes. They're great live.

[00:25:06] And bro, they just, they came in at the perfect time. Yes. Like the people were yearning for that type of music and they came in with it right at the right time and it worked out. And I mean, props to them, bro. Absolutely. Them, like the way, the way we look at it too, like with Trudio doing everything that they've done and Dexter, like all that does is help everybody else around us. Like our genre, like the crunch, whatever you want to call it. Like it, all it does is help us. Yeah.

[00:25:32] It's like when the Dexter song, Freaking Out started going crazy. It's like the, all the bands that like they have been literally all the ones that have opened for them, us, Hyjoon and Sigs are personally, our numbers like at least doubled. At least doubled. Yeah. I saw a guy, I think I want to credit him correctly. I think it's like Ponds and Kings and he called it like the Nirvana moment. I saw that too. I agree. I mean, I love it. Yeah. It's trickling down. Yeah.

[00:26:02] How the whole scene just became blew up. So I'm interested to see how it evolves. Even, we also had Colby Acuff in here and his latest album is more rock too. And he was just like, you know, country seems kind of boring right now. It's like moving on to rock. So, but like, you know, it just has like ebb and flow in the, in all music, you know? Yeah. So. And you all kind of morphed into rock, right? Was it more so like you kind of started country and then started to fall into the. I mean, yeah, kinda.

[00:26:28] We are first, we have a, we, we had a EP that we made and it was like the, and it was, I mean, it, it has some rock stuff on it, but it was all, it was, it was, it was, rock stuff was like Southern rock. It was not like, like grunge sounding. It was more like straight, like Southern rock. And we had some very country stuff on there, but we've kind of just, our sound has just evolved like into that as we've just grown as like people and musicians.

[00:26:55] And like, the more, I don't know if, if you feel this way, I think it is like for a lot of artists, like the more you, you're around the same type of music all the time. And you're listening to this type of stuff, especially like playing on the road. Like you want to, you want to listen to different stuff because you don't want to listen to what you're always around. Yeah. We went from listening to like the Willie and Waylon album and like rap. So now we listen to like straight alternatives pretty much. Like will and like indie stuff. Yes.

[00:27:25] Which I think has had some of a impact on some of the songs. I would say a huge effect on some of the songs. But it's just like, it's cool. I mean, there's just so, I don't know. Music is just in a dope place right now. I feel like, I think it's in a super cool place. So we're happy to be, to be like coming up right now and like, you know, making our way and trying to just make something happen. So it's been cool. And who are some of those alternative bands that you guys are really, really digging right now?

[00:27:53] I mean, Will, what's uh, Sweet Phil, Sweet Phil, what's Olivia, what's her last name? The I want your thing in my heart. Julia Wolf. Julia Wolf. I don't know why I said Olivia. Julia Wolf is crazy good. I mean, they're so like, even like a basement, like that band. I feel like a lot of those bands have came back like crazy. Ashton loves Turnstyle, which Turnstyle is cool. Oh yeah. Yeah. Superhuman. And it's interesting. I mean, alternative has also changed over the past 10 or 20 years, just like country

[00:28:21] has because I mean, I actually grew up listening to a lot of alternative and it's like now the definition of alternative feels like it's a little bit different than it was whenever, you know, I maybe started listening to it. Like one of my all time favorite alternative bands is Cage the Elephant. Yeah. They're still doing great. But they don't like if you tune into an alternative radio, you might not hear them as much as you are, you know, hearing indie bands and stuff like you guys are talking about. I don't even know what to call bands. I feel like every genre has been stretched to some, like country can be like anything. Yeah.

[00:28:50] Like our, our album, the main genre on it that we put on like the streaming platforms is country. Yeah. I was gonna ask about that. And it's not very country at all. You know? Do you guys choose that? Do you guys label it country or is that? Yeah. I mean, it really is a management decision, but like, I didn't really care. I was like, dude, I don't care. Yeah. I know. It is interesting. Cause like I'm on Apple music and so like I can go by genre and then it's so interesting. I have like thousand genres, but it's not, it's not because it's, I listened to that.

[00:29:18] I mean, I do listen to that much music, but it's like country, country, folk, country slash rock, country slash something. And it's just like each one has their own. I'm like, it's got like little avenues and different pockets of like of country, whatever, or it's weird how like genres and music are now. Cause it's just like, I don't know why like, why try and put it into it. I mean, I get like, if you're searching for a certain type of music, but I just don't see a point in putting it into like a category, you know? Like if it's good, then it's just, why we're not good at describing our sounds. I'm like, I don't know.

[00:29:48] I'm just listening. It's like, man, it's just, you know, shit. That's screaming a lot. I don't know what it is. I think someone said country creed too. Country creed. Country creed. I mean, there are a lot of labels out there. You guys are saying you're having trouble, but it's like everybody else loves apparently to just throw these things out. Hey, they got it. Yeah. I'll let them do it all. I think it's entertaining, honestly. With a new album and new management, let's say this year goes absolutely perfect.

[00:30:15] What does that year look like for you guys? Like for the rest of this year? Yes. Well, we just announced a fall tour. Where's the camera at? Is this one? Yeah, that one. Shameless plug. So go buy tickets to our fall tour, foxnv.info.com. They're on sale right now. And to sell out that fall tour is like our biggest goal right now. I mean, yeah, I'd say keep writing good songs for the rest of this year and sell out the fall tour. At least in my eyes. That's what I want. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:30:46] Just keep seeing the engagement go up. Every Instagram has analytics and we always like really that's what we pay attention to the most is like those Instagram analytics because TikTok is so you never know and Spotify monthlies go. They vary up and down and just seeing those analytics like of the engagement keep going up. And, you know, obviously I feel like in my opinion, Instagram engagement and ticket sales, they correlate so hard for at least in my opinion. Interesting.

[00:31:15] For someone who like I don't, I don't really use Spotify as often, but do those monthly listeners update like first of the month or is it like every day is every week? Every day. Randomly every day. Yeah. And like, I don't, I don't know what counts. Like what is a monthly listener? Like I don't even know like how it even counts as I guess. From what I understand, it's how many new people listen to at least cause you have to listen to 30 seconds of a song for it to count as one stream on Spotify.

[00:31:43] So as far as I know, it's how many, how many people listen to at least one of your songs within like a month. That's right. Like when we dropped, when we had, we were at like 130,000 monthly listeners before we dropped waiting the first single or technically the third single, but the first single this year from the album. And then it jumped up to like 500,000. But that's why I like it fluctuates so much. Cause you see even like with, with big artists, like if you look like co for example, let's

[00:32:12] say like it can go from one day you'll look and they'll have 8.9 million. Then they'll have 8.7 million. And you're like, that's a 200,000 gap. Like in that, and when you have 8 million, it's not as much of a gap. But when you have 500,000, like, and you see that gap, you're like, oh my God, our career's over. We're done. Yeah. You just can't look at that. I don't know. It used to bother me a lot, but now it's just like... The ticket sales is like... The ticket sales is all about it. Who shows up to see you in a show. Like that's really your, your worth as a band.

[00:32:40] If I can fill a room full of people and they know at least one song, I'm pretty happy with that. So we'll plug it again. Go see the live show. I can attest. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Listen to her. Album top to bottom, no skips and go see a live show. Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Well, I was gonna... I'll step in Shelby and say like, I think it's really interesting that you guys have just kind of leaned into all of the different perspectives of your band.

[00:33:08] And we've already touched on a little bit how like you feel like that's benefited you. But I also think that helps build a fan base because, you know, someone could listen to one of your songs and be like, well, I don't know if I like this one as much, but then another one pulls them in. Yeah. So that's gotta also be cool. Like, I don't know how that works into the algorithm and, and you know, monthly listeners and stuff. But it's like, I know as a, as a music fan myself, I can go through periods of like, oh, you know, this time of the year, I want to listen to this type of music. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:33:35] You guys are basically putting all kinds of different types of music that people can listen to all throughout the year and you're one group. So that's, I don't know if that's intentional, but it's working, it feels like. I mean, I feel like, I don't know if it's intentional, but it's definitely like we do the same thing. Like there, it's like there's phases throughout the year of like, sometimes I want to listen to some like heavy stuff. And it's like, sometimes I want to just chill out and listen to some like... John Mayer. Yeah.

[00:34:00] You know, like, and it's crazy, like on Spotify, on like the analytics, you can see your each listener, there's like a, a stat for how many songs they'll listen to. And it's crazy to see like, people who first find us, the stat says like they'll, on average, they'll listen to six more songs.

[00:34:22] So like, they'll find one and then they'll just, so I guess like, they just keep finding the niche, like, because we have like, a couple songs in every genre that like we put out. Right. So I guess that's pretty cool. Well, I was surprised. Yeah. And, and I feel like I'm not an artist in any way, shape or form, but I feel like I would also kind of get caught up in all of those numbers that you can look at and have access to as a band. Um, so that is interesting. So people will find your music and listen to at least six more. Yeah. On average. Yeah.

[00:34:52] That's gotta be, that's gotta be nice to know, like your music is connecting in a way where people are like, I have to listen to more of this. Yeah. Either that or they're like, this is really bad. Let's see if the rest of it gets any better. My question came back. We were talking about the live show. You know, but I feel like when I look at bands play, there's usually at least five members. And with you guys, there's four. It was that intentional? Or are you guys just kind of like, we don't need to add, we don't need to add another person. Why add another person?

[00:35:20] Or do you guys think that that might come eventually? I think we were just, I mean, when we first started, it was just the four of us. I think the reason too, that there's usually five members is typically there's like the guitar, the main singer in the, is not also a guitar player or like they have two guitarists and one singer. So, but me and him both played like guitar in the other band before we sang. So we were like, I mean, well, not, we ain't that good, but we can, we can get by like playing, playing whatever.

[00:35:49] So we were, and with both of us switching lead, I'm like, I just don't, we just never felt the need. Like the chemistry felt so good, like between us four. And like, I don't know. I just. And a lot of the stages we were playing as a cover band, they were too small to add another guy. So we were like, let's just keep it at four for a while. I would love to add like a auxiliary guy, someone who can play keys and acoustic. And I wouldn't care if we kept four for like. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

[00:36:16] The band for, I don't see, I don't know if I ever see us adding another member of the band, but someone who's on stage playing with us. Like I could maybe see that. It's difficult to do, but I've seen it be done in some other bigger bands or like switch out a member. And I'm like, luckily you did all your first album and not. Yeah. I don't know if we could ever, we've, we've made such like a strong, like, I mean, we're practically all brothers at this point. You know, like we talk to each other all the time and I don't know.

[00:36:44] It'd be hard for us to, I mean, we all like, we all get in a bad mood sometimes, but it's never like we're going to break up. Yeah. That's never happened. I don't mean to be a nerd here, but I feel like it's also like the ship of Theseus where it's like, if you, if you take a board out and replace it with one at one point, like what is the ship itself? Mm-hmm .

[00:37:04] So I feel like you guys have definitely kind of, like we've touched on a lot in this episode, like the, the, the different perspectives and personalities that you all, all four bring to the band are very much beneficial to what you guys are doing. So then I feel like, you know, it's a formula right now that's working. Why would you try to throw in another person? Yeah. Or obviously you don't want to take anybody away. So it's interesting. It's just like, like bands too.

[00:37:29] Like, I feel like bands are kind of coming back because for a while, for a while it felt like everything was just like solo artists. And so I'm always for a band, you know, you know, rising up like you guys have. Well, I, sorry, go ahead. No, I was just going to say it's, it can be, it is tough to have a band. Like I can see, you can see why like it, it doesn't work like for a lot of people. And obviously the number one reason being like people drink too much or they're doing drugs or whatever.

[00:37:56] Like that's obviously like every movie, every movie you've ever watched about a band breaking up is because they got. The music scene is exactly. Yeah. There's a lot. It's not, you know, just for sure. There's a lot of, uh, and people just can't control themselves a lot. And especially in the music scene, it's so easy because you're around it all the time to just get sucked into that lifestyle. And the longer a band stays together, I feel like the more each person slowly starts to feel as though like they're the most important part of it.

[00:38:25] And so then the egos kind of come into play. I think we've all realized that like, if we've all thought about this a lot and we talk about it a lot too. Like if you were to take either one of us out, it would never be the same. Or like we would lose something that we would never get back. Like that's where our, and that's where like, I think our, our faith comes in like a lot because God will humble you. Like he will humble you very, like anytime you start to think like, nah, like, I'm like, no,

[00:38:53] Nah, bro. Nah. Nah, Veed and Fox, come on man. Nah, it's just like, that's a, that's an important thing for us that we've kind of like, that's helped us grow. I think, and I, I have to say it's like played a part in us like being more successful as a band is just like giving glory to God and just, and just remembering that like all this could go away tomorrow. So like you don't take it for granted.

[00:39:17] Yeah. And it's like, he gave us a talent, like, and I feel like he wanted us to use that talent to not only like make people happy, but also like to spread the word of like, well, I'm sure. I mean, I'm not sure, but I am curious, like, have you guys also had faith conversations where it's like, what are the odds that we all kind of came? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's not by coincidence. Oh no. And we're definitely too dumb to ever had orchestrated it. It ain't us. It's crazy how like all of us live like within an hour of each other.

[00:39:46] And like, I've only knew Landon. I knew him from high school, everyone else. We lived 20 minutes away from each other. Never met. Our whole lives growing up. I never knew him. We've probably been in the same restaurants as kids before and never seen each other. Wow. We've had, yeah, we've had those conversations a lot. It's weird like, you know, you know, talking to a lot of bands and artists and even just talking to friends and family, like how that happens so often is like, you're, you're so close to somebody for so long. You never meet them. And then it's like you, the, the moment that you had to have met them for this to work is when you did. 100%. God's timing.

[00:40:16] God's timing. For sure. I am also curious. Do you guys consider yourselves a duo or a band? Because not that it really matters, but like, I'm trying to think like Muscadide Bloodline, technically a duo. Yeah, duo for sure. Frozen done. Okay. But you guys still, I mean, obviously have your band. Oh, I was talking about Muscadine. Yeah. Muscadine is definitely a duo. No, we're a band. We're just having, we just couldn't come up with a better band name. So we just stuck with Fox and V. We had talked about, like, we were like, what could, what would we change the band name to if we did? And we had some terrible days. Terrible days.

[00:40:46] We were like, dude, Fox and V, like it's weird. It's weird enough. It's weird. And like, anytime you're trying to talk, tell somebody, they're like, what's your band? You're like Fox and V. And they're like, what? What is that? What is that? Fox and Beans. That's a weird dish. We had at one of the cover gigs we played, they put on the, on the poster, Fox and Bees. We've had, I mean, they, my last name, I'm like, dude, you could, they've messed it up. And as, yeah, any way you can think of. We've messed it up.

[00:41:14] If you look up Fox in, like on Google and just type in the Fox in, one of the top searches is like bead, B-E-A-D, and beans. Dude, hilarious. Hilarious. Hilarious. And what were some of those other band names that you guys, do you guys remember any of them? I remember one was the outlets and that's a horrible band name. The outlets. Any band name, any band name is good once you're a poppin' band. Absolutely. I stand by that. There's some terrible band names, but if you put out bangers, then it's a pretty good band name.

[00:41:44] Well, imagine, imagine being in the room whenever someone suggested Hootie and the Blowfish. Yeah. Very true. I'm sure there were some weird looks there, but now obviously that's one of the most well-known names. There are some cool names. Even if I didn't know them, I'd be like, that's a cool band. I think Def Leppard is an awesome band. And I thought Dexter's, I think their band name was cool because I used to smoke a lot of weed. And it's funny that no one is named Dexter. Yeah. The lead singer is James. I'm like, where's Dexter at, dude?

[00:42:13] He's like, I'm James. I'm like, alright. I know you guys said that the whole band is like brothers, but how has your family's reaction been to your guys' success, you know, being from North Carolina? Is it kind of like, you guys are like aliens or like not used to it? All of our parents are the most supportive people ever. Fox and V, merch, all like crazy. They supported it from, I mean, obviously, you know, when you first, when your kid drops out of college

[00:42:41] and they're like, I'm going to go start a band, they're like, are you stupid? Yeah. But then like, the more they see it, like, even from the cover band gigs, they were like- They've seen how hard we've worked. Yeah, they're like, they got something going on and they're not just messing around and, you know, getting drunk and, you know, smoking weed all the time. We were doing that. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Trying to work hard at the takedown. It's kind of crazy, the more sober we got, the more successful we got. It's almost like you're not supposed to do that, you know?

[00:43:08] I swear like every other artist that comes in here is sober just because they've been in the industry so long or- Yeah. I mean- Hangovers suck. Yeah, I'm only 23 and I feel like I've had like, we went, we watched that Conor McGregor fight the other night at Coe's Riot Room. Fight, if you can call it that. Yeah. And the fight was so bad, like we were like, you know what, let's drink a couple beers. Those couple beers ruined us the next day. And we had to play in the stockyards in Fort Worth the next day and it was so hot. Blasing, yeah. Dude, we were dying.

[00:43:38] Oh my God. We were dying. You were just sweating the hang of her out. It was so hot outside that my shoes were burning. I was like, bro, this is different type of heat. And we were supposed to like take a tour of Billy Bob's and like the manager came out and showed us around and we were like, this is really cool, but I could throw up right now. You're like, let's go see the bathrooms. Yeah. I was like, this is awesome. Let me throw up. Well, going back to, you know, you're talking about dropping out of college and stuff. And I think that's been mentioned a couple of times.

[00:44:07] What was the moment where everybody was all in? Like, what was it that you all saw or was there any sort of result or was it more of a faith based step that you guys were like, we got to go for this right now? I mean, we all dropped out at different times. Okay. I finished my first year and honestly, it wasn't even because of the band. I think me and Christian had just been starting to write songs when I decided to drop out of college.

[00:44:32] I didn't get accepted into my college's App State's music program for the second year in a row. And so I was going to have to go to college for six years. And I was like, I'm not doing that. And I had already like, to be honest, I started a band in college with like two other guys and I was already like failing classes. So I was like, I'm just not going to do this anymore. I didn't go to college. I didn't even try. I was working blue collar. So I was like, this or play music? I'm like, I think I would rather play music. Yeah.

[00:45:02] The hardest one to convince Landon, he was still in college for the longest time. And one day he had a job in automotive and he was in college. And one weekend he was just like, I quit both of those things at the same time. We were like, yeah. Is that the last step to get everybody on board? I think so. Yeah. I mean, Ashton was on board. He owns his own business and he still does that on the side to this day. But like, yeah, Ashton can't sit still.

[00:45:32] One thing like when you like Ashton just he would have a hard time sitting in this chair right here. He'd be moving around, drinking a coffee. Just like he's just all over the place. Which is great. He's helped a lot. Oh, dude. He's like when y'all talk about social media. Yeah. He has really took the reins on social media and he was our manager for a long time and our tour manager. And now we have those. And he's like, I have to double check everything that they do. And we're like, we love them for that. Yeah.

[00:46:00] Him and Fox actually like they Fox is helping us with social media and him and Ashton go back and forth a lot. But Ashton is really like taking a big step. And like just this year, like with the social media and with the album, like us like getting the record together. Like that was really all Ashton. Like he, well, his girlfriend, Grace is our photographer and she comes with us on the road. She took this picture. This is his dad's El Camino.

[00:46:28] I don't know if they can see this, but she took these pictures and she's like, dude, she's the goat. Like she's the goat of taking pictures. So she comes out on the road with us. So just like just them as like a little, a little duo right there. I already do it. It brings a lot to the table. Mom and dad. We love them. Yeah. They're the oldest. Yeah. At the album release, like he even stood up and came and thanked everyone. And I was like, it's not very often that like the drummer comes up or anyone else in the band comes up and talks.

[00:46:56] He's such a big personality, especially on social media. Like we have no problem with like, We get free reign to do it. Oh, absolutely. Go crazy. I'm like, you know how many bands like hate their drummer? They want the drummer to sit in the back. They're like, shut up. They're like, stop playing so loud. Ashton, come talk to him. Yeah. They're like, stop playing so loud. I'm like, buddy, break your drums. I'm like, go crazy. Yeah. Well, I love, we're kind of wrapping up on time. I love to ask this just so people have a little bit more idea of what you guys are personally

[00:47:23] into, obviously music, but what else are you guys into? What shows are you watching? What food you're obsessed with? Movies, books, whatever, anything. Go ahead. Last night, we just watched a generational movie. Come on. Coneheads. You ever seen that? I've never seen that. It's been a long time. What a banger. Have you seen Coneheads? Oh, yeah. All the old SNL movies I have seen. Coneheads freaks me out though. I love it. We watched it last night. Stone sober, dude. It was hilarious.

[00:47:52] One of the, it's a banger. And it didn't even break even on how much, I think they paid 30 million for it and they got like 27 in the box office. We gotta get them that other 9 million. Yeah. I'm like, we're gonna start it. Watch the Coneheads. Yeah. We're like, shout out Coneheads. You know, it's that. But I mean, on the road, we watch a lot of stuff. Breaking Bad was one of them for a while. Yeah. And all the Rocky movies have honestly inspired us and especially inspired him to get right. Sylvester Stallone is my favorite.

[00:48:22] I love him in anything. Like the day that he passes away, like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I might like lock myself in my room for a week whenever that happens. I actually watched Tulsa King with him in it. Fire. Yeah, fire. And he's like 80 years old and he's just a stud. Yeah. I'm like, bro, if I can look half as good as you when I'm 80, but I'm gonna be good. What was the other part of the question? Food, books. Hobbies. Hobbies, yeah, anything. Food. We just ate Hattie B's today. Okay, classic. Fire.

[00:48:53] Honestly, our whole lives are based around, I mean, I don't really have a lot. I mean, I play video games sometimes. I like playing basketball. I like that too, yeah. I love running. I love working out. I love riding four-wheelers and just doing bonfires. I do love fishing. Fishing. One thing we're both not into that a lot of music people are into is golf. I'm not into golf. I've never played golf in my life. It's just not my thing. I don't see the appeal to it, yeah.

[00:49:21] And I have this hat that that has, is this the one that has hats? See, I just played myself. Anyways. I don't, I mean, no hate. It's just not my thing. You know what? I tell my boyfriend all the time, nine. Nine is fine, 18 is too many, but he's a big golfer so he wouldn't agree. It's a time consuming thing, yeah. He's like, alright, we gotta wrap. Yeah. He's like, I got tee time in like 30 minutes. I've been golfing for my entire life and I agree, like it takes too long. It takes too long. It takes too long. I'm sure it's great though. Fun.

[00:49:48] It's very frustrating, like even the more time you put into it, the less good you can get at it. I can attest to that. Well, yeah, people who like play it, they just come out of it in a bad mood because everyone says that they suck and I'm like, well, what are you doing? I feel like golf is just like, you're going to play golf but you're going to drink a beer with your buddies at nine in the morning. I will say one of the best experiences that I've had of my entire life golfing was a friend of mine had never been to a golf course and we all went out as a big group of like eight of us.

[00:50:15] And he saw a cart coming on the cart path towards us and they were like, oh, this person's going the wrong way. And I was like, no, that's the cart girl. She drives around and he's like, are you kidding me? He's like, so now like as soon as he figured out like that, we just go out and you're just hanging out outside and there's people driving around and you pay for drinks and stuff. He's like, okay, I get it. So he spent all his money. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like a more appropriate bar. Yeah. Daytime. I bet you they'd be out there just taking everybody's money.

[00:50:45] Oh my God. The tip's gotta be crazy. Yeah. Well, we asked, you know, what the rest of this year look like for the band. What's the goals or what are the goals for the band? You know, just if you had to project it out five, 10, 15 years, what are some of those big things that you would love to accomplish? I'm trying to make it to tomorrow to be real with you. But like, I mean, of course, like we want to, we want to, this next, we're going to put out whatever this next album is.

[00:51:13] Like we're going to be, it's going to be a while before we get there. So like, I wouldn't expect an album from us probably for another couple years. Cause like, we've always talked about our, our next, our next album. Like the fourth one has gotta be like the most fire thing that has ever existed. So like, it's going to be a minute before people get another album from us. But, uh, I think just all of those just, I think the end goal is to just sell shows and just live comfortably, you know, playing music.

[00:51:41] I think that's anybody's goal in the music industry is just like to be doing well enough to where like, you don't got to worry about rent, you know? Yeah. It's hard. It's hard for us to like necessarily like set a goal to be like in, in 10 years, I want to be doing this because like, you just don't know what I just, I know if we work hard, trust God and just keep like, just keep grinding. Like, I'm like, we're going to get to wherever it is we're supposed to be. So that's just kind of how I look at it. Mm-hmm.

[00:52:10] Well, when you asked that, what came in my head is I envision like a Warped Tour, but for like fans like you guys and you, that like you guys put on the tour, you guys put on the show and it's like Dexter and the Moon rocks, you guys, and like, you guys just have like this whole community that's coming up right now. And like that's your guys' thing you guys put on and do. So I'm like, ideas, throw them out there. That would be fun. I would see that, yeah. I would just have... Something like music. Yeah. There's so many good bands coming out of North Carolina too. There is.

[00:52:37] I would love to do like a North Carolina, like, I would love for us and Hydrogen 6 to go on like a... Three band deal. Yeah. Or like make a festival out of it or something. That would be sick. Well, I think of like Rock the Country and how they go to like different cities. It's like a similar thing, except like you don't have to mix up the bands, the bands every time, which you guys already play to Rock the Country or playing the Rock Country? We're playing one at the end of this month. I think it's August 29th. Ocala, Florida. Yep. Nice.

[00:53:07] Country. Country. Well, that'll be fun for you guys. Say it again. Listen to the album. Go see a live show. Come see us, guys. Awesome. Thanks so much. Appreciate the show. Thank you, guys.