We had an excellent phone interview with Jonny Fox of The Standstills as they drove to their next gig in Kelowna, BC, opening for Sebastian Bach. Johnny sounded quite fresh after a raucous night at The Commodore Vancouver (which we also attended – find pics and review here). The bonus was it went much smoother than their first time playing there, on tour with I Mother Earth…
Jonny Fox – Right before soundcheck I went to open up my guitars and one of my Gibbon’s headstock was completely off of the neck. And then the first song in I broke a string and had to pull out my loaner guitar.
Scotty Evil – I got to hear your stuff recently and noted that the sound is really fresh; you’ve said you approach it as artists rather than musicians. How does that work with your creative process?
JF – Both of us have spent a lot of our lives around musicians. My parents were both big into music and my mom played piano music when she was pregnant with me and I guess I owe her everything up to this point (laughs). I think musicians approach music with a lot of theory imbedded in what works, and why it works and less taking chances whereas artists try to do less thinking and more using their heart and their emotions and take chances all over the place. Where the really good stuff happens is when you don’t go into the regular chord positions; just trusting your instinct from what’s embedded in you over time from just being a listener. That’s how we approach it. We’re always craving something we haven’t heard before, a different sound, chord progression or something that throws you for a loop. The acts that inspire us are the ones who went for something different or new; that’s the cream of it. The top albums are full of that.
SE – I think the bands I’m noticing these days are getting back to the basics sound and production wise, what are your thoughts on that?
JF – As artists we have to keep that in mind, because sometimes we create something we think is really amazing and when we show other producers and they that it’s a bit too different. Knowing that there is a language of music that still needs to be there for people to be able to understand what you’re doing (laughs) but I agree there was a period when rock and roll was really suffering and that downloading music really changed everything and as far as the business goes and the labels everyone just got scared. And they didn’t want to take chances.
SE – I’ve gotten to listen to your studio stuff, but wow, you guys really kick it up a few notches in your live act.
JF – We really like to bring it to a live show. What we’ve been able to develop over time is creating little captivating moments in a set because we are just a duo. We’ve had to cut our teeth with a lot of bands who are a lot heavier than us. When a band like Monster Truck is just pounding it out, we have to stand up to that, so we developed a certain type of live presence after being thrown in with a lot of bands who were hard hitting. We love it though and the songs translate better when we are pounding it out… we do have a softer side…we just aren’t going to bring that side to a Sebastian Bach
tour!
SE – You’re a duo, so you have a lot of stage; whereas the bands you tour with are, 4, 5, 6 pieces…what’s the learning curve been like using that space?
JF – When we toured with IME and Our Lady Peace and started to hit the arenas…we had to approach it differently. A lot of it technical…taping down cables (laughs) so they’re not overlapping my pedals and stuff. With a bigger stage everything has to be much more grand…we really want to give our fans something special. We take chances in the moment because you can’t really plan that and then we learn from the moment and develop more for the next show.
SE – So you think there’s a point when you’ll be adding things like visuals?
JF – We have notebooks full of shit for visual ideas…all sorts of that stuff. We talk about it on a regular basis. When we have the opportunity, we have some really exciting ideas for that. Hopefully in the next year we’ll be able to bring that to some of the stages. It takes a certain setting to pull that off, and part of that would be a travelling stage as opposed to the built in stages in a lot of the clubs we are playing right now.
SE – Just looking at your tour list, you have some dates with Sebastian and then some dates in between…like “Bo’s Bar and Grill” in Red Deer…what’s the most interesting room you’ve played in the last few years, that really stuck out in your mind?
JF – To tell you the truth, the Commodore is the nicest room, for a lot of reasons. We feel the sound in that place is just phenomenal and the room itself is very big but feels intimate. No matter where you are, it sounds great. The stage feels really good, the height of the stage…all sorts of aspects…there’s something really magical about that room and a lot of the musicians we talk to, especially the Canadians, it’s ‘The Commodore’s the nicest!’” That’s the number one for us right now.
SE – Getting back to your music…how do you support your artistic vision with musicianship when you aren’t on tour?
JF – As far as inspiration, a lot of other artistic things inspire us…we follow a lot of poster artists on Instagram…stuff that’s really mind-bending…anybody doing anything artistically different, like music wise or film etc. The wild west, Spaghetti Western… which is part of the brand and reflection of who we are as people. Very much the wild west is rock and roll and rock and roll is the wild west…it can get pretty gritty and pretty real…we find ourselves looking at the two and they are so much alike. Bands of cowboys, bands of rock and roll…it’s funny…but when we aren’t touring we like to seek out inspiration wherever; keeping an open mind is a huge part to adding to experience and song ideas. When we tour we see so many different places and people living differently and all of that stuffs gets imbedded into our writing.
SE – So you would be right into doing a soundtrack for a Western movie then…
JF – Absolutely! (laughs) I would be right into that, that would be a dream come true!
SE – As I do photography as well, I wanted to mention I noticed Renee has fantastic drummer face…
JF – (laughs) I don’t know if she means to put it on…? It just sort of happens…we’re very passionate about it and I think that comes through in our movements, facial expressions and stuff…we are very much people of the moment; when we get on stage we let the passion happen.
SE – So how long have you been musicians for your respective instruments?
JF– That’s a difficult question. I first got a guitar when I was about 12 years old. One of my older brothers was taking lessons; I looked up to him and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was also into sports and stuff so it was on and off…it wasn’t until after high school that I replay dug into it. I played in a couple of bands and I would write songs but…I think we were taught not to pursue it because it’s not possible, it’s not going to pan out…but after high school I thought ‘I don’t care’…I wanted to do what I loved to do so I buried myself in it more. So probably about 10-15 years for me, and Renee…we met in a music program at Fanshawe College in Ontario…I just wanted to meet likeminded people but Renee has kinda given up the drums at that point. She just played for fun because she was just really into music. Her parents took her to concerts when she was 10-11 years old. When we met in college we started going to shows together and just loved it…when we started to jam I had no idea she even played the drums.
That first jam session we wrote a song and then recorded it. It was just like magic right away. You look at music differently when you are learning it and listen to how it all comes together…I never really had lessons, my parents gave my brother the lessons (laughs) when I asked him to teach me he was like ‘Listen to it and figure it out’…over time the theory stuff develops a little bit more.
SE – What’s it like touring with Sebastian Bach?
JF – It’s been great. We met him the first show, his wife and his kid were on the road for a little bit…they invited on the bus which was really classy of them…we drank some wine, smoked some weed…chilled, had a good talk, got on the level right away. He has a lot of respect for us right now, out doing what ewe are doing…on a smaller scale. He makes fun of us a little bit. His band…those guys are really fantastic guys. It’s been a very positive experience, they’re very supportive. For us, it’s an older crowd, 95 percent really passionate rock and roll and of course the 5 per cent Skids…they want nothing
but Sebastian so they are a little hard to please. We’ve been making a lot of new fans which is cool because we are trying to bring something different and the rock fans are still into something new.
SE – What’s next when you’re done?
JF – We have some opportunities coming up…looks like a lot more stateside…and we have a new video coming out shortly which we are really excited about. We worked with a guy and we were very eye-to-eye on all the decisions. I cannot wait for people to see it…so different and visually it’s so out there. So a part of tours in the states and then back to Europe…some stuff in Germany a while back we made some good connections. We want to be on the road and win front of people, doing what we love todo. It’s good but a lot of work!