Fox N’ Vead might not be from Texas, but they sure feel comfortable in and loved by the “Lone Star State.”
Logan Fox and Christian Vead, the duo and co-founders of the band, stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast and discussed their love for playing live, how their latest album – Playing The Game – felt like a combination of five genres, the process of coming together as a band and choosing a signature sound being difficult, and threw out some of the early band names that they almost went with over Fox N’ Vead.
Fox and Vead also touched on how believing that God brought all of the band members together at the right time, their outlook on why labels don’t do artist development anymore, and how their latest project was labeled as country (even though they might not call it that).
If you consider yourself a fan of Fox N’ Vead, you know that it’s tough to put them in one box. They like to jump from genre to genre, and that’s just a natural result of all four band members bringing their favorite styles to the table. Their latest record, Playing The Game, is labeled as “country” if you were to seek it out.
But Logan Fox says that was more of a decision by management:
“I feel like every genre has been stretched. Country can be anything. Our (most recent) album, the main genre on it that we put on streaming platforms is country. It’s not very country at all.”
One could also describe it as “not all the way country.” There’s certain country elements to it, but that’s where classifying an album gets tricky. Artists and bands can’t just put country/alternative/blues/rock as the genre… even though I and many other music fans would be perfectly fine with that.
Fox N’ Vead have their very own, hard-to-describe signature sound because they value every perspective from every band member. They do their best to be intentional about splitting things equally amongst the four members, and as Christian Vead told us, having a band is a lot of hard work:
“It is tough to have a band. You can see why it doesn’t work for a lot of people.”
They realize that every component of their band is important, and that if one pillar of the Fox N’ Vead building fell, so to speak, it just wouldn’t work.
When they do hit rough patches, they lean heavily on their faith. All of the members of band truly believe that God’s timing brought them all together at just the right time. Vead says they always fall back on that if things ever get complicated… and with a band, complications are common:
“That’s where our faith comes in a lot. God will humble you… that’s an important thing for us that’s helped us grow.”
And in case you didn’t know, the four-member band formed just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. They don’t have that Appalachian sound like a lot of other acts hailing from the Carolinas do… and that’s perfectly fine with them. Interestingly enough, a lot of fans think they have ties to Texas, and even though they don’t, Fox N’ Vead is very appreciative of the love they feel from the state and it’s country scene, as Vead explains:
“Texas loves us, and they keep showing up every time we go, so we keep coming back. They’ve been great to us.”
@whiskeyriff @Fox N’ Vead @Dexter & The Moonrocks @Cigarettes At sunset @highjuneband #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriff ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff
Nothing wrong with having a “second home state.” In fact, the Lone Star State has embraced a handful of acts who don’t quite fit the mainstream country music mold… American Aquarium (another NC band), Chris Knight (Kentucky) and Muscadine Bloodline (of Alabama) are just a few that immediately come to mind.
You can hear about all of that and more from Fox N’ Vead by checking out the interview on YouTube or making sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or by clicking here.
We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.
Cheers, y’all.
