A Conversation with Fox Street's Jonathan Huvard [interview]
Hard-working Huvard not slowing down soon
By Eric Frank
January 6, 2016
As a Colorado music fan, you've probably heard the name Fox Street thrown into conversation, and not just for the road that bears the name.
A band known for their grit both in sound and in character, Fox Street has risen through the ranks of the scene to become one of Denver's proudest musical achievements. Their soul-infused stylings offer something for every kind of music fan, with roadhouse-rock fortified by funk au naturel.
This is a band that oozes with talent. From Eric Low's ebullient drumming, to James Dumm's passionate and unrivaled guitar style, Mirco Altenbach's thunderous saxophone, and newly acquired bassist Alex Scott, these extraordinary gentlemen that make up Fox Street are perfectly aware of one another at all times.
It is front-man Jonathan Huvard, however, that really manifests the band's sound. His voice emerges from the depths of a party that is somewhere still raging, a call to the bartender seeking another whiskey on the rocks.
Coarse yet soothing, the stream of southern sound emanating from within is neo-classic and affords the band wide variety in their sonic choices. It is both the first and last piece to a puzzle in which rugged meets refined, the wound meets the remedy, and the lost finds itself. Part angelic serenade, part battlefield cry, Huvard passionately brings the show to life. As an audience member, one cannot help but focus on the front-man.
Fox Street, Analog Son team up in Englewood
Fast-approaching is a co-headlined bill featuring Fox Street and Analog Son at The Gothic Theatre in Englewood, CO on Friday, January 15.
A long-standing relationship between the two bands has created a connection that serves both the crowd and the music itself. Analog Son features members formerly of Kinetix and the two bands have grown together, leaning on one another for support and challenging one another throughout the years. "Expect a ton of great music throughout the night, without interruption," says Huvard.
Between the strenuous schedule of Fox Streeet and that of his side-projects, The Lil' Skoops and The Great Family Reunion, Huvard was able to find time in his busy schedule to discuss Fox Street's past, present and future in Colorado and beyond. With is dog Hank at his side, here's what Huvard had to say.
COjam: Fox Street and Analog Son have quite the history together. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Huvard: Part of the reason we're so stoked about this show in general is because we've got a lot of history with those Analog Son guys. Josh Fairman and Jordan Linit, who are the co-founders of Analog Son, were in this band Kinetix. Out of all the bands that were our age who were playing at that time... they were so tight! They had a following and were doing theatre shows and around the time they were starting to peak, Fox Street started getting gigs over at Herb's subbing out for Kinetix. Fox Street became this rotating cast of musicians playing cover tunes. We'd hire Jordan to play guitar or Josh to play bass... and that worked out pretty well for a while, but then we decided to start playing original music. Everyone does a whole lot of different projects now, that's kind of the nature of the beast. We've just had a long history of playing with these guys.
COjam: Tell us a bit about the members that make up Fox Street..
Huvard: The band is sounding really good! We've been rehearsing and writing a lot. It's funny because this is our seventh or eighth year and what's been cool about this is that we've now got a full-time bass player. We were playing with Dave Solzberg who is a phenomenal musician and phenomenal person, but unfortunately that situation was a time and place commitment. So now we've been playing with Alex Scott, who... not only is he super sick. It's awesome to see a guy like that who is young and super talented. He's kind of committed himself to pretty much being in the group which has been a huge asset, not only musically, but like, vibe-wise. Eric, James and I love each other and we're brothers, you know? But there's always been a pretty high demand to try and always be our best. Alex has brought a real sense of reason and calm to the group dynamic, which has been nice. That's been probably the biggest and best thing that's happened to us this year that people don't really know about.
James is an incredible person to watch too man. James is a guitar player. That's what he does and that's what he's always gonna do. The guy was meant to play guitar. And I'll tell you one thing. There's a lot of phenomenal guitar players in in this town, ya know? But the one thing that I think James has is a voice on his guitar. He sounds like James. No one else sounds like him. He's done a real job of cultivating his sound in a way that no one sounds like him and he doesn't sound like anyone else. And he doesn't try to sound like anyone else. He's killer and he's gonna play the way that he wants to play. You can see when he's taking a solo that he just knows what he's doing, and that's an amazing thing. I don't think of him as "the guitar player"... It's James.
I'll say the same thing about Eric Low. There are a lot of good drummers in this town, but he does a really good job of having a sound. He gets some session work around town and I can always hear when it's him. I think he's done a really good job of not really sounding like anybody. You know, he's like riding a stallion sometimes... bareback!
COjam: A lot of what we're discussing goes toward the philosophy of music. What are some of your musical philosophies?
Huvard: I've really learned a lot from playing with all these guys over the years. Everyone really develops their own sound, takes their own road. At this point, as much as you'll learn, music is really just self-expression. So you can only be who you're gonna be. It doesn't matter! The more you can learn, the more you can practice... I still learn from people, taking a lesson here and there. But people relate to [musicians] because of how they sound and what they're trying to express. It's for yourself. You go through the situation enough times where you're standing on stage with someone who's better than you... killer musicians, ya know? But if you can get rid of the idea that ‘this guy is better than me’ or ‘I'm better than him’... it's like, how are you going to have a conversation? What's it gonna sound like? And certainly it takes a certain level of playing. You play and play and play, just like any language, to be able to express yourself. The more fluent you are, the greater you can express yourself.
COjam: What is special about Colorado's music scene?
Huvard: I'm adamant about giving due credit to the people in this town. They're ravenous for shows, hungry for music. We're lucky and I hope it continues. I know things come and go in waves, but there's a good, healthy scene. I think people are encouraging and at the same time there's a good-spirited... not competitiveness, but just pushing each other. When I'm out and about, especially in this town (Denver), I expect to see good playing. That's how spoiled I've become living here! So like, when I'm doing my job, of course it's got to be that way, you know what I mean? You've gotta bring it! That's what's been called on here. It's good shit. It's family out here.
COjam: With the recent release of Authentic Western Style in August of 2015, Fox Street now has three albums under its belt. Can you discuss what makes each album unique?
Huvard: Welcome To Mighty Pleasin’ (2010) was our first record and it took like a year to record. It was a real process and was mostly us just playing the songs that somebody had written. We were essentially still a cover band, learning each other's songs and maybe offering less continuity. And then, I think what happened with our second record Tough Talk (2013) is that when Josh (Fairman) moved into the brand new studio, I think it allowed us to find the path of the sound that we were really going for. There's a lot of material on there. This third record, Authentic Western Style, is real to-the-point. Everything really fits and is by far the best representation of what we sound like now. Just going in and doing what we want. Everything is live. With this record, we were kind of just on the fly but at the end of the day, it became one of the most focused pieces we've done. With Fox Street, so much of what makes the sound is the moment. It's available on CD, vinyl, and iTunes as well as Spotify.
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Fox Street will be at The Gothic Theatre in Englewood, CO (just south of Denver) on Friday, January 15, 2016 along with good friends Analog Son. Tickets are on sale now. For more information on Fox Street or Analog Son, visit the links below:
Fox Street Links
Official Website
Fox Street's Facebook
Fox Street's SoundCloud
Fox Street's YouTube Channel
Analog Son Links
Official Website
Analog Son's Facebook
Analog Son's SoundCloud