THE FOX DERBY

...the band’s better than they’ve ever been, honing their Britpop-hazy brand of rock to a sharp, sharp edge...pay attention to these guys, right freaking now. - Space City Rock

!Yes Indeed! Music Fest, featuring The Fox Derby, duneTX, Jealous Creatures, Alkari, A Sundae Drive, The Ex-Optimists, The Gold Sounds, The Wrong Ones, Bantam Foxes, Anomic, Antiques, Immigrant Punk, Charity Ann, Recovery Room, Empty Shells, Screwtape, & Bernal & Sherrill @ Dean’s & Notsuoh (4PM-2AM)
We’ve already talked a fair bit about this one, I know, but dammit, it bears repeating: this is going to be a great show. See here, here, here, & here for some of the other stuff we’ve written, btw.

There’re a ton of bands I like — The Fox Derby, Alkari, Jealous Creatures, The Gold Sounds, The Wrong Ones, A Sundae Drive, & The Ex-Optimists - Space City Rock

Houston gets another mini-music festival to add to its already busy calendar with the announcement of Yes Indeed Music Fest, set for September 29 at Dean's and Notsuoh on Main in the heart of downtown. Acts like dUNETX, Alkari, The Gold Sounds, The Wrong Ones, The Fox Derby and Screwtape top the bill, plus a host of others.

Alkari's Jason Smith is helping organize the festival with Phil Peterson and Shane Burke, who both do booking at the venues. Bands will be spread out over both stages. They are still working out the running orders at this point.

"When I put a show together, I feel better when it involves a bunch of bands. I'm most excited about The Gold Sounds who haven't played since January, and a band from New Orleans called Bantam Foxes," says Smith.


"We're going to make this an extremely affordable and well organized "block party" type mini-fest for the fans. Having been involved in my weekly event at Notsuoh, the NoDo location worked out to be perfect," adds Peterson.

Events like this aren't easy. Just ask anyone in town who has attempted putting one on.

"It is always a bit nerve-wracking having to make a multistage, festival-type event happen, with the mechanics of managing doors, managing stages, and keeping music flowing for several hours," says Smith.

The full list of YIF bands can be found here on the event's Facebook page. - Houston Press

Yes, laydeez & gents, it’s The Show That Almost Wasn’t; you could almost call this a sympathy mention, since I genuinely feel bad for the locals who got A) rescheduled to two(?) months after their original date and then B) ditched by would’ve-been headliners Alpha Rev. Damn. Of course, I said “almost,” because any praise for ex-Million Year Dance frontman Tyagaraja is in no way a pity vote — the guy’s freaking mesmerizing, truly — and I like what I’ve heard so far of The Fox Derby. Go, and be sure to give Alpha Rev the spiritual, long-distance one-finger salute while you’re there. - Space City Rock

Honestly, I have yet to hear The Soundtrack of Our Lives — just not enough Headphones Time this week — but I’ve heard ‘em praised to the skies by people whose opinions I value a heck of a lot, even if the descriptions I’ve heard have been fairly confusing. (Something about a fat Swedish guy in a brown tunic fronting a heavy rock band or something?) Your mileage may vary.

I have heard a fair bit from LA rockers Nico Vega, however, and they’ve impressed me mightily with their dramatic, Denali-esque alternarock (see Quinn‘s review of their show last year at the HoB over here); well worth checking out, as are local folks The Fox Derby. - Space City Rock

"The Fox Derby are pretty awesome in their own right, like a serious, intensely personal Britpop band if they were raised on orchestral indie-rock instead of Blur. Check ‘em out." - Space City Rock

"I’ve been totally bowled over recently by The Fox Derby. I’ve spent a fair amount of time lately with their debut full-length, Regular Dreams, and it’s very, very cool, like The Long Winters or Decemberists playing a weird combination of early-’90s Britpop and mid-’90s emo-ish indie-rock. Full review on over here, should you be interested."

- Space City Rock

"Got a hold of The Fox Derby‘s debut EP, Regular Dreams, not too long ago and was blown away by it, as well. The band plays seriously Brit-pop-influenced songs that sail serenely along, right into your brain, complete with intricate pieces that seem like they’re so delicate they’re about to fall apart the whole damn time (but thankfully, they never do). Like the above, this is seriously awesome stuff, particularly “Hold On The Brakes”. Full review over here." - Space City Rock

RUNNERS-UP:

¦LIMB, The Shape of Punk for Some

¦listenlisten, “dog”
¦The Niceguys, The Show
¦The Gold Sounds, Seismic Love
¦The Manichean, Whispers
¦The Hold Steady, Heaven Is Whenever
¦Balaclavas, Roman Holiday

¦Ghost Town Electric/Defending the Kingdom, Ghost Town Electric/Defending the Kingdom
¦The Sword, Warp Riders
¦Girl Talk, All Day
¦Caddywhompus, Remainder
¦Paris Falls, Reverse Mirror Image
¦Ólöf Arnalds, Innundir Skinni
¦Born Liars, Fast Songs Is All We Know
¦Tambersauro, From the Last Day I Saw You
¦Paul Weller, Wake Up The Nation
¦The Fox Derby, Regular Dreams

¦Beach House, Teen Dream
¦The Roots, How I Got Over
¦Blitzen Trapper, Destroyer of the Void
¦Gorillaz, Plastic Beach
SONGS THAT BLEW ME AWAY THIS YEAR:

¦Bright Men of Learning, “Blood Rain”

¦Holy Fiction, “More Than Ever”
¦Muhammad Ali, “Smiling”

¦The Niceguys, “Mr. Perfect”
¦Ketch Harbour Wolves, “Body Without Organs”
¦Cee-Lo Green, “Fuck You”
¦The Orbans, “New Dress”
¦Featherface, “A Youthful Offender (The Men We Will Be)”
¦Lissie, “Little Lovin’”
¦Superchunk, “Digging For Something”
¦Linus Pauling Quartet, “Porno In The Sink”
¦Retribution Gospel Choir, “Hide It Away”

¦Katey Sagal & The Forest Rangers, “Bird On A Wire”
¦Priestess, “Lady Killer”
¦The Gold Sounds, “She Got Me Singin So Low”
¦Kelli Scarr, “Brother”
¦Sara Van Buskirk, “Halfway”
¦Tambersauro, “Standing There Gawking”
¦Co-Pilot, “Land Empires”
¦LIMB, “Prayer to Shellac”
¦Roky Moon & BOLT, “Five Dollar Fame”
¦The Hold Steady, “Hurricane J”

¦Omotai, “Rotting Hill”
¦The Fox Derby, “Hold On The Breaks”
¦Wails, “Lucky” - Space City Rock

FRI., MARCH 18TH:

¦Art Institute @ Zen Sushi (4PM)

¦B L A C K I E — Pop Montreal/Blue Skies Turn Black Day Party @ Club DeVille (4:40PM)
¦Finnegan — unSXSW Pop Fest III @ Carousel Lounge
¦The Fox Derby — unSXSW Pop Fest III @ Carousel Lounge
¦Hiss & Hum (mem. of Spain Colored Orange) — unSXSW Pop Fest III @ Carousel Lounge
¦Indian Jewelry — Ballistic Missile Party @ Iron Bear (11PM)
¦Orange Is In — Live Music Records Showcase @ Guero’s
¦Spain Colored Orange — unSXSW Pop Fest III @ Carousel Lounge - Space City Rock

"A little further downtown-ward, over at the no-Website-having(?) ECHO (formerly Jet Lounge, for those without memories), there’s an interesting-sounding show with Austinites The Selfless Season as headliners — I’m less interested in them, though, than I am The Fox Derby, whose debut full-length, Regular Dreams, I’m still floored by, even though it came out last year. Seriously Brit-sounding, emo-tinged indie-rock that works amazingly well. (See here for full details on the album.)"

- Space City Rock

Fitz has a really great lineup — two, really, but I’ll get to that — with Brit-sounding psych-popsters The Fox Derby playing alongside recently New York-ified singer/songwriter Arthur Yoria and damn cool new-ish band Jealous Creatures, which features members of Japanic and Big Top(!). Check out the review we just put up of the Creatures’ debut EP, on over here. - Space City Rock

“Sing Your Life” Acoustic Showcase, featuring Dwight Taylor Lee (Finnegan/Literary Greats), Dylan Bryson, Frank Freeman, Amanda Tankersley (Day Sailor), Brandon Elam (Literary Greats), Gilbert Alfaro (Spain Colored Orange), Kylie Chrisman, Zeek Garcia, Trey Miller, The Fox Derby, Sarah Hirsch (Jealous Creatures), Jason Long, & more @ The Big Top
Aww, cool. Your favorite local rock/folk/pop people, all playing their best stuff acoustically; hopefully somebody’ll film this, maybe, so I can watch it later on? Please? - Space City Rock

Wanted to get a mention in relatively early on this one (although not earlier than the Houston Press it would seem), because it sounds like it’s going to be damn good.

A recent addition to the many, many, many awesome things happening in September — my birthday, Guided By Voices, Mission of Burma, and the debuts of both Revolution and Last Resort, for five — is the badass-looking !Yes Indeed! Music Fest being put on by none other than SCR‘s own Jason Smith (along with a couple of cohorts I’m not sure about).

It’ll be up on Main, spanning across “sister” venues Dean’s & Notsuoh, and it’ll run from 4PM ’til 2AM, with a crap-ton of awesome bands playing in-between.

They’ve got Jason’s own (excellent, I might add) band Alkari, naturally, whose full-length from earlier in the year, Blackout Falls, is freaking phenomenal, along with great, Pixies-tinged indie-rockers A Sundae Drive, sneering, sleazy glam-punks The Wrong Ones, cool, Britpop-y popsters The Fox Derby, Nosaprise‘s “rock” project, Screwtape, and awesomely Western-sounding, Cowboy Junkies-ish rockers Jealous Creatures (whose most recent release, Little Heaven Big Sky you also really need to check out). Oh, and they’ve also dragged dark, stripped-down, face-melting garage-pop trio The Gold Sounds — who I’d feared were dead & gone, by the by — kicking and screaming from their Deer Park lair. Sweet!

Beyond the locals, Smith and company also have Bryan band The Ex-Optimists on the bill, which is very cool by me — I reviewed their “Nitemare City”/”February” 7-inch a few months ago and was bowled over by the band’s mid-’90s-ish, heavily drone-y indie-rock squall. I’m not super-familiar with the rest, although I have heard good things about Antiques and Bantam Foxes, in particular, but all together, it’s a ridiculously solid lineup.

And dammit, I love festivals like this, where you can see one band and then walk next door to see another and not burst into flames because you’re outside in the heat. This promises to be seriously, seriously great, y’all. Mark yr calendars. - Space City Rock

15. BEST POP ARTIST
The Wild Moccasins
New York City Queens
Harts of Oak
Bang Bangz
The Fox Derby - Space City Rock

"Local band turns out darting guitar-driven indie rock with some folkie underpinnings. It's full of drive and surprises." - 29-95, Houston Chronicle

"2011 Houston Press Music Awards Best Indie/Alternative Gatlin Elms Wild Moccasins Screwtape The Fox Derby The Tontons The Manichean" - Rocks Off, Houston Press

"I’ll be up-front about it and admit I know zero about most of the bands playing Mango’s this evening, but eh, I’m not bovvered. Why? Well, because I’ve been listening to The Fox Derby‘s latest, Life Apart, quite a bit this week, and as its slowly seeped its way in there, I’ve found myself caring less and less who else these folks are playing with, so long as they themselves are playing. Now, I won’t lie; I was a little thrown off at first by the new album, because I had some fairly concrete hopes after adoring 2009's Regular Dreams, and the Derby crew pretty much did the opposite of what I’d been crossing my fingers for. Oddly enough, though, I’m really digging the hell out of Life Apart now, too, despite my misgivings. Check out the full review here." - Space City Rock

I honestly can’t say enough good things about The Fox Derby — they came out of nowhere to blow me down with 2010's Regular Dreams, leaving me wondering what the hell happened to ‘em until earlier this year, when they came out with Life Apart. It wasn’t quite what I’d anticipated, really, after Dreams‘ full-on, gloomy New Wave/Britpop explosion, but it took hold in my brain and made me love it, even still. Check these folks out… - Space City Rock

Inspired at least in part by Homer's The Iliad, The Fox Derby's sophomore record Life Apart is a pleasant collection of well-constructed, accessible yet downcast pop songs. The band's guitars and percussion are fleshed out by bells and swirling strings, giving the music something of a baroque, chamber-pop flare, though the tunes remain very much within the realm of indie rock.

Pretty good stuff from this Texas troupe; check out tracks 2, 1 and 3. - WLUR 91.5 FM (Lexington, VA)

How did you guys end up together?

While attending college in Austin a friend (Darren Shultz) and I began writing songs. By the time college had ended we had a lot of unused material. Once I moved back to Houston, I reunited with three friends from high school and we began practicing the unused material in my garage. Those three friends were Kenny Pardue (lead vocals), Zach Burns (Keyboards) and Justin Cables (Original Drummer).

After a couple of months of practicing in my garage, we decided we were officially going to start a band and that we needed a bass player and a second guitar player. Fate would intervene just days later when original drummer Justin Cables and I ran into a friend of Justin’s, Matt Strickland. Justin and Matt had played together before, so we invited Matt to hang out with us that evening. We all hit it off and he quickly joined the band as the second guitar player.

From there we started to book shows despite having a steady bass player. After playing with a couple of different bass players we soon enlisted Darren Shultz, my friend from Austin, to fill in on the bass. The problem was that Darren lived in Dallas and had to commute to shows. After two years of commuting both parties felt it was time to get a local bass player.

In stepped Gard Parkinson, a friend of Justin’s as well. Justin and Gard had met while attending college in Waco. Soon after Gard joined the band Justin moved to Norway, leaving an open slot at drummer. Fortunately for us Justin’s sister was graduating from percussion school and agreed to fill in. This brings us to our current lineup: Zach Burns on keyboards, Michael Buttaccio on rhythm guitar, Leah Cables on drums, Kenneth Pardue on lead vocals, Gard Parkinson on bass and Matt Strickland on lead guitar.

Your band started with four people in 2004 and has grown to six members now… What’s evolved with your music in that time and how do you feel about it?

Yes, originally our band had only four members, but only for a couple of months. We knew we wanted to have a nice, full sound, so we quickly enlisted two new members. However, the band actually started in late 2007 as opposed to 2004. Since the band’s inception in 2007 our music has definitely evolved. When we first started, the band was basically just covering songs that had been recorded by a friend and I during college. Soon after that the band started writing new songs specifically for The Fox Derby.

Our first record, “Regular Dreams,” is kind of all over the place for this reason, the band didn’t have a musical identity. On “Regular Dreams” we were using songs that were written in college as well as songs we had just written as The Fox Derby.

Our next record coming out, “Life Apart,” is definitely more focused and probably the first real release by The Fox Derby. In addition to that I think everyone in the band has grown musically, both in their scope and their musicianship. I think we definitely all feel grateful for this and are excited to get the new record out.

Do you write your own songs? Who contributes to it?

Yes, we write all of our own songs. Everyone in the band usually contributes their own part to their particular instrument, but songwriting duties are primarily left to Kenny and myself. Usually I will write a song on a guitar or piano, then when I think I have something I will show it to Kenny. It’s then left to him to write a lyric for the song.

What’s your inspiration? Radiohead?

We have many inspirations. Radiohead is definitely one of the biggest. We also get a lot of inspiration from The Beatles and The Beach Boys, as well as Arcade Fire, The Shins, Grizzly Bear, The Strokes, Dr. Dog, of Montreal, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Arctic Monkeys, The Pixies, Interpol, Modest Mouse…

What’s band practice like and where? Late nights after work, lot’s of pizza, etc?

Band practice is fun. We practice at a place called the Rock Center off of Bellaire and Ashcroft. We love it there. Practice starts around 730. Generally, everyone tries to eat before practice. For the first half of practice we tend to go over our current set list. Once we have gone over the current set list once or twice we usually take a break for a couple of minutes. Then for the second half of practice we usually work on new material.

What’s coming with The Fox Derby… what can fans expect?

Definitely check out our new record coming out “Life Apart,” featuring the songs “Strapless Armour” and “Backward Sunrise.” I think for our live show people can expect a fun, intimate show with creative melodies and provocative vocal harmonies.

Please support Houston’s local talent by sharing this page with your friends and following the Fox Derby on Facebook.

The Fox Derby can be seen playing most regularly at Jet Lounge, has had performances at Super Happy Fun Land, Warehouse Live and will perform at The Continental Club tonight. - EaDo Life Online Magazine

"There’s an intriguing British-ness to most of Regular Dreams, the debut full-length by The Fox Derby, a kind of cool, distant, almost New Wave-ish feel to the bulk of the songs that’s amplified by the intricate, often baroque arrangements. And yeah, a large part of stems from the fact that frontman Kenneth Pardue’s vocals make me think of Morrissey — not that his voice is much like Moz’s, but that Pardue uses the same detached, almost emotionless delivery for most of his lines.

To The Fox Derby’s credit, it works pretty ridiculously well. They start off “Stormy Weather” with “Tubular Bells”-esque cold, minimal piano and delicate strumming and steadily rev things up ’til the band’s playing an epic, sky-spanning track that’s turbulent and loud and foreboding, yet still utterly gorgeous. “Hold On The Brakes” — which is, up-front, one of the best songs on here — shifts things around a bit while retaining that Britpop vibe, incorporating choppy rhythms (that make me think of Damien Jurado, for some reason), somber vocals, nice horn touches, murky guitars, and overfuzzed, “block”-like synths in the break. The result comes off like The Killers if “Somebody Told Me” were about something actually important, like getting injured in a car wreck.

The baroque-ness is even more apparent on “Paintings,” where Pardue steps sideways and actually does sound like Moz for a minute or two, and the band starts to remind me of The Decemberists at least in terms of delivery (i.e., no overlong songs about military wives here, thankfully). There’s also a serious resemblance to Seattleites The Long Winters, and that’s no bad thing, in my book.

I’m not entirely sure what the hell happens on “Can’t You See,” but that’s where the Derby crew apparently say “fuck it” and throw out the five previous tracks and do something completely new. Dropping the Britpop thing entirely, The Fox Derby instead come up with a bouncy, shiny chunk of indie-pop, complete with driving bassline and almost-emo harmony vocals, that makes me think of Silver Scooter (or maybe matt pond PA) more than anything else. And believe it or not, it’s freaking great.

“Open Window” continues in the same vein, albeit more slowly and deliberately; the guitars jangle and chime at the start, then step their way through a central melody that sounds like it was taken straight out of “My Name Is Jonas” before ripping free and setting the speakers on fire for the break. Closer “Animals & Creatures” goes its own way entirely, with the band trembling and swaying their way through an honest-to-God Motown ballad — and not doing a half-bad job of it, either.

Now, on the bad end of things, I’ll admit that some of the lyrics are a little shaky, particularly on slower, more “romantic” songs like “Animals & Creatures” or “Paintings,” but hell, I’m willing to overlook it if I can listen to the rest of the disc with a big grin on my face. The Fox Derby may not be quite where they want to go yet, but I’m pretty blown away already."

- Space City Rock

RUNNERS-UP:
The Fox Derby, Regular Dreams

SONGS THAT BLEW ME AWAY THIS YEAR:
The Fox Derby, “Hold On The Breaks” - Space City Rock

BEST INDIE-ROCK
Satin Hooks
Deux Frupis
Spain Colored Orange
Wild Moccasins
The Fox Derby

- Houston Press

Back again with the rest of the weekend, and yep, there’s still a lot going on; here’s what looks good to me:

Sat., June 26:
Athlete/Carney @ Mango’s
I’m always partial to the locals, these days, but in this case I’m just as psyched at the prospect of British pop-rock crew Athlete making a swing through our fair city. Kinda odd to think of a band that’s this well-known in England playing little-old Mango’s, but hey, who’m I to argue? I still feel my soul crack open a wee bit every time I hear “Wires,” off the band’s jaw-dropping 2005 release, Tourist.

Alex Arizpe Benefit Show Part II, featuring Blueprint, Latch Key Kids, The Tie That Binds, Pretty Boys, & LJ All Stars @ Walter’s
Talked a bit about this one already right over here, but again: this will be awesomely good, and for an extremely good cause, to boot. A bunch of amazing bands that most fans of the H-town scene never got a chance to see and probably won’t ever again.

Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys/Mike Stinson @ The Continental Club
It’s been a long while since I’ve been over to The Continental Club, but this is tempting me to make the run to Midtown once again. Still haven’t managed to ever catch Sean Reefer & the Resin Valley Boys live, but I love the songs I’ve heard; rough-edged country/rockabilly songs about, well, weed — how can that go wrong?


The Fox Derby/Brains For Dinner/Intilusion/Cari Quoyeser @ Fitzgerald’s
Two bands I really need to hear more from, The Fox Derby and Brains for Dinner, playing at this one; I don’t know a lot about ‘em, unfortunately, I like what I’ve heard so far. The Derby, as I recall, are kinda indie-pop-like, while Brains for Dinner are more old-school reggae…

Days of the New @ 18th Street Pier Bar and Grill (San Leon)
Okay, I’m not going to say I like this show, because Days of the New mostly irked me back in the day, but…wow. To go from having #1 songs on the Billboard charts and videos on MTV to, um, playing a bar in San Leon? I’m sorry, but damn, that’s got to sting. I mean, it’s great for San Leon-ians, and the 18th Street Pier sounds like a cool place, but that whole area’s kinda like no-man’s-land, to me.

He’s not the only hard-luck story playing there in the near future, btw — Seven Mary Three‘ll be there in July, as will Michael Schenker(!) and Tone Loc (aww, man…), with Marcy Playground (who I’m amazed still exist) there in August. Mark your calendars, south-of-Houston folks.

The Thing @ Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex (8PM; $13/$10/free)
Ian McLagan @ Listening Room (NiaMoves; 9PM)
Carolyn Wonderland @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar
Spare Parts Band/Staci’s Edge/The Snake Charmers/Robin Kirby & Friends @ Rudyard’s
Witness To The Fallen/Sever The Silence/Blind Sanctity/Aerial Second/Play For Keeps @ Fitzdown
Sugarball Express/The Be Sharps/Letters to Voltron @ The Hot Dog Shop (6405 Brittmoore)

Sun., June 27:
Miss Leslie & Her Juke-Jointers @ Discovery Green (3-5PM)
Niiiiiice. If the weather holds off, this’ll be damn cool — Miss Leslie and company are absolutely amazing, honest, the best Patsy Cline-esque country band around. Seeing ‘em live at Discovery Green is a pretty neat prospect.

Jeremy Messersmith/Featherface/Fight With Flash (er, Little Lo?) @ Mango’s
Painful confession time: I’ve got CDs from both Featherface and Fight With Flash sitting on my desk (well, okay, the former’s an electronic download, but you get my meaning), and they’ve gone unlistened-to so far. I have heard excellent things about both, however, so they’re moving upwards in the pile. Hope to have more on ‘em here soon, but hey, you can still go see ‘em now, right?

By the by, apparently Fight With Flash recently changed names — they’re now going to be known as Little Lo, and, dammit, they’ve moved up to Austin.

The Texas Buzz, featuring Sounds Under Radio, Floorbound, & Light Parade @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake
- Space City Rock