There are a lot of Canadian bands who stand out in the music industry today. Especially to their fans.
Moxy Früvous has been in the music scene since 1992. Since their demo tape, the band has grown and developed greatly. In talking with Mike Ford, the development of Moxy has been a gradual one.
'(O)ne thing that's becoming more and more clear when people ask about the band and when we started doing this and that, is that so much of what we do comes from those busking days,' explains Ford. 'Interaction with the audience, the making up topical stuff about what's happening right there in a song, the sort of Vaudeville bits like Green Eggs and Ham, Spiderman, etc., it's all straight from the busking days. And learning to sing loud like some kind of braying farm animal. All from the busking days.'
Their days busking have now led them to touring across North America.
'We tour like dogs,' admits Ford. 'There's usually a two or three month period where we're at home almost all the time. The rest of the year, it's scattered through the year.'
Lately a great deal of their touring has been throughout the States. Some fans have been concerned that there is a conspiracy that the Früvous four are turning American on us, but Ford is assuring when he says that's not the case.
'We go where people will have us. We've been touring the northeast and midwest States for the past few years quite a bit,' he says. 'We're getting quite the following and so that's where you've got to go.
'We always go to Winnipeg, we always go to Thunder Bay, we always go to Ottawa and stuff, but we go where the gigs are, and the gigs are down here.'
Much of their latest album, Live Noise, is taped during live shows at various sites in the States. Ford says that they were trying to capture the energy of their live concerts on the CD.
'It's something we're really striving on, this Live Noise, because (Mike gets sidetracked by soccer match)' oh ya, Live Noise. We're really hot on it because, you know, we've been getting better at making studio albums. We're really proud of You Will Go To The Mood. It's sort of our finest to date, but we really feel, and most of our crowd really feels, that a live Früvous is a real experience. So to get it captured on disk, and it has a fair bit of the improvised stuff and there's some times where we make up songs on the spot, which is what we do live, and it's good to capture that on the disk.
'It's also got a lot of our talk because it wouldn't be capturing a Früvous show if it was all songs.'
Ford says he's really looking forward to playing with Spirit of the West.
'We'll be calling this the double-header of the year. It's two bands that are coming to Thunder Bay, take-no-prisoners attitude, kicking out the jams and we're hoping for a lot of fun.'
Moxy Früvous will be appearing at Rockin' the River's Edge at Old Fort William on July 8, along with Spirit of the West and Bruce Guthro.
Back to the News Page...