Foxy AND delicious.
Today I offer an ode to one of my favorite Philly acts.
Are you looking for some garage rock with some panache? Maybe some fun chant-along choruses and infectious drum beats? Turn away from your Web browsers. Close Pitchfork and R5 and look around you. The band you’re looking for is staked out right here in Philadelphia, and its name is J.Fox.
There is no band that acts or sounds quite like this threesome. They boast a low-fi edge that immediately calls to mind early Pixies or a teenage Isaac Brock screaming gibberish into a telephone. The guitar is raw, the drums are tight and the lyrics skirt the line between genius and nonsense (regardless of which, they sure sound way cool). The band’s fans are zealous, and its newest EP is a 7-inch split, appropriately titled Banana Split, with MATT = TANK, a side-project from fellow local band Algernon Cadwallader.
J.Fox’s 2008 release We’re Happy to Be Here is pretty indicative of this band’s prerogative. The songs are racy and fun, with tracks about everything from Brooklyn to girls and drinking to catching catfish down at the lake and frying them while listening to the Cure. Sound silly? The band certainly is, but in a really spunky, smart way.
Singer Justin Miller has a mastery of lyrics that goes unmatched in the area. The songs are rough and typically on the shorter side of things, but they are chock full of character. Drummer Joey DeLorenzo lays down some of the most fun beats I’ve ever heard (and they are rife with tambourine, which gives me a personal bias from the start). Dan Weisberg possesses a stage presence that is simultaneously suave and affectionate.
Though the band has put out another CD since We’re Happy To Be Here, there was no better way to kick off the group’s solid career. The more recent release, 5/6, has a darker sound overall, but still keeps the low-fi spirit that this band harnesses so well. Song “Bam Bam” is primarily that line over and over again, but who can’t love a song about the Trash Can Man?
And the best part? These are also three of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. At a show in South Philly last weekend they gave away free copies of its 7″ to anyone with a record player.
They banter with their audience and always seem to be enjoying themselves, whether they are playing in a bar or the back room of a warehouse.
Check J.Fox out at myspace.com/jfoxband for free tunes, silly cartoon music videos and news on these guys’ escapades. You won’t regret it.
-Liz
