PHILLIP FOX BAND
''HEARTLAND''
SEPTEMBER 2 2014
52:02
1 - You Are the Girl 3:42
2 - Writin a New Damn Book 2:18
3 - Been Workin Hard 4:00
4 - Lovin You (Never Felt Like Work) 3:43
5 - Ava Lee 4:03
6 - Nothin Worse Than Weak 4:56
7 - Heartland 4:21
8 - We All Lose Somethin 4:34
9 - I'd Be Runnin Too 3:37
10 - Cancer Cannot 4:55
11 - Don't Forget Me 3:15
12 - I Ain't Angry (But I'm Feelin Mean) 8:32
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
BIO
There are a lot of bands that claim to be different and to have carved out their own sound only to sound like everyone else in their genre, but for Ohio quartet Phillip Fox Band, that statement could not be more literal. With their debut full length album, Heartland, they have truly carved out their own sound that is best described as ‘Country-Fried Rock N’ Roll’.
From the tenacity of “I Ain’t Angry” and “Nothin’ Worse Than Weak” to the down-home feeling of “Heartland”, Phillip Fox Band have crafted an album that is full of hope, love, loss and the truth.
“As a band we have a pretty wide listening palette” states frontman Fox. “Jonathan was raised on classical music and Motown, Austin digs deep into metal and pop, and David really digs the blues. So, at any given time in the van we could be listening to and discussing Rachmaninoff, Gojira, or Led Belly. As it pertains to our sound, we really respect bands like Blackberry Smoke, Sturgill Simpson, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s, Hayes Carll, Cadillac Three, Monster Truck, and even a little Kings of Leon and Zac Brown Band. All for different reasons of course, and I don’t think there’s one group out there that is ‘who we want to be’. This, I think, speaks to why our music is so diverse. There are threads that run through all these groups whether they’ve been classified as Rock, Country or Southern Rock that tie them together. It’s sort of a blood-line or genealogy, and for us it’s about tapping into that blood line and channeling that rural, earthy, dirty, swampy soulfulness that only exists on the fringe of music in our generation.”
Hailing from Columbus, OH, Phillip Fox Band formed in 2011 after Fox, who had been performing as a solo artist for several years, came up with the idea of putting a small group together for a 14-state, 6,000-mile house concert tour. “When the tour turned into something bigger than we had hoped, we gathered up some recording equipment and captured each show live. Those recordings became my solo record Dreams Will Come. The crucible of the road was enough to sour the rest of the musicians toward gigging full-time and I was left solo once again. The experience, however, had enlightened me to the fact that most of the music I was writing was meant for a band arrangement. I could hear these parts when I performed, but no one else could and so there was a disconnect that was happening every show.”
Shortly after Dreams Will Come was released, Fox reconnected with Jonathan Kampfe whom he’d recorded on a couple of albums with back in Toledo when he was working at a small studio and Kampfe was doing session work. “We had bonded instantly back then, but he received a full ride scholarship for cello performance and I was battling disillusionment with music in general” explains Fox. “But, he heard Dreams Will Come, really dug the music, and was looking for a fulltime project. It took him 8 months to move up from Virginia and get settled in Ohio but once he did in March of 2011, we hit the ground running and played over 100 dates that year including some stops in Austin at SXSW.”
I’ve heard it said that “If you fall in love with music, you’re screwed” states Kampfe. “Well, I’m screwed. Although I didn’t show an interest in playing an instrument until the 4th grade, I had been surrounded by singers and instrumentalists in my family since I was born. I still remember the night my parents brought home my first rental cello and how I immediately fell in love with it. Music gradually took over from there. I grew up playing classically on cello and string bass inschool and community orchestras, but there happened to be a bass guitar laying around the house, so I picked that up too, which opened the door to many other kinds of music. In all its forms, I always found myself gravitating most towards small ensemble work in which each member plays an integral role both as soloist and support. I fell in love with the dialogue and interplay that’s created in the moment among fellow musicians. There was a particular evening after one of our recording sessions in Toledo that Phillip, myself, and Mark Graalman (Sanctus Real) were jamming to one of Phillip’s tunes in the studio. That’s when it struck me that being part of a band, writing and performing original music, was ultimately what I wanted to do. I was shocked when Phillip took an indefinite hiatus from music shortly thereafter. At the time, I figured the best thing for me to do was to go to college and build a solid foundation for that someday when the right opportunity came along. Interestingly enough, it was working with Phillip again nearly a decade later.”
For the first year, Fox and Kampfe went through a string of lead guitar players and drummers before settling in with David Morckel and Austin Nill who were both, interestingly, connections of a previous drummer. “David and Austin had both graduated with music production degrees and a whole mess of talent. David joined just in time to record our first EP Motor City Blood with us in 2012. Austin joined in the fall of that year and finished out the balance of our 150 dates” says Fox.
For Nill, music came in the form of accidental “I was always the kid getting yelled at in class for tapping on things” states Nill. “Hackey sack? You mean shaker. Head rest? No, snare drum. Pencils? Hardly. I can't really remember a point in my life where I wasn't tapping on things or trying to add auxiliary percussion of some sort. I annoyed the piss out of everyone. Teachers, parents, friends, girlfriends. It was (is) relentless. Getting into the percussion program at my middle school was really competitive, but I made it in (thank god, I probably wouldn't be a musician if I had to play my back up, trumpet.) I took some lessons and played in the band program all through school but it wasn't until I was a senior that I really made up my mind to follow music and pursue it as a career.”
Guitarist David Morckel grew up in a musical family. Forced by his mother at an early age to sacrifice TV time to practice piano, he felt disconnected and had no passion to the sheet music he was required to play. “A garage sale drum kit came into my possession when I was finishing up grade school” says Morckel. “The only thing remarkable about my solo work as a pianist had been my exceptional lack of enthusiasm, but the drums were physical, loud, and athletic. Inspired and eager to express myself, I set up my kit alongside the church choir and was promptly encouraged to ‘please play a little softer’ followed by ‘try those brushes’ and finally ‘here’s a couple pencils’ This was discouraging. The church preferred hymns to be accompanied by the established piano/organ duo. I think the organ’s overpowering chords and the piano’s disorienting rhythm provided individual members of the congregation with a soothing distraction from their own tonal inconsistencies and poorly executed harmonies, if they weren’t lip-syncing already. The louder voices of the church seemed threatened by modern instruments’ disturbance of their comfortable Sunday morning customs. But as I entered middle school, I witnessed a friend’s success at sneaking up to the altar with his acoustic guitar. I rarely heard the guitar over the rest of the noise, but I was drawn to the aesthetic and the congregation’s cautious acceptance. Tired of the formality of piano recitals and melancholy Sunday morning hymns, I was anxious to participate in an ensemble that wasn’t simply reading notes off a sheet of paper. My first electric guitar was a gift from my parents along with a month’s worth of lessons. The instructor was young. He had thick glasses and hemp bracelets. He taught me chords and showed me how to strum along to my favorite songs. The lessons were informal, the tunes were new, and I never had to comb my hair for a living room recital. I was able to play my guitar with friends and share ideas. I sang louder and had a better ear for harmony with a guitar in my hands. I played in church praise bands and discovered a love for arranging and reworking songs to make them my own. I hoarded my dad’s laptop and overdubbed guitar riffs and vocal harmonies using its primitive sound recorder. I sat back down at the piano with a different approach and admiration. It was easier to express myself, I felt passionate, less like a confused student and more like a creative artist. Music was no longer a chore and I could finally appreciate it as a creative outlet. It was personal and social. I was aware of my talent and motivated to improve.
In 2013 the band hit their stride finishing with 175 dates, including over 30 fairs and festivals, playing high-profile events like Crew Stadium, President's Cup, and American Quarter Horse Congress, and opening for national acts like Shooter Jennings.
In early 2013, the band began pre-production for what would become their debut full length album Heartland. Taking several off-days and setting up a mobile studio wherever they could, the band narrowed their ever growing song list down to 20 songs and performed three showswhere they gave their fans the opportunity to vote on which songs they wanted to hear on the record. “We took that feedback along with the pre-pro tracks and sat down with Joe Viers (Dr.John, Eric Clapton, Bobaflex) to talk through the project. We had recorded Motor City Blood with Joe at Sonic Lounge and developed a really good rhythm. Plus Joe has been soaking in roots rock for a long time so it was a really natural fit to bring him on earlier in the process as more of a co-producer” says Fox.
By late summer the band narrowed the songs down to 14 and hit the studio in early November. Having played over 300 shows together, they wanted to capture the live energy, so they recorded the rhythm tracks live with tube amps, real signal chains, and a Neve console.
“We wanted to add a lot of spices to this record so in December we brought in some guest musicians - Brett Robinson (Whitey Morgan and the 78's) on pedal steel, Brad Wright (Nashville Crush) on banjo, Todd Hamric (Floorwalkers, Anthony Gomes) on keys, Rhodes, and Hammond, a string section comprised of members from the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and a horn section led by Rob Parton (Chicago jazz luminary)” states Fox.
The band finished most of the mixing in January and launched a Kickstarter campaign raising over $18,000 to release the new record.
2014 will see the band playing over 200 dates including headlining slots at Ohio Bike Week and larger festivals such as Buckle Up featuring Alabama, Willy Nelson, Jamey Johnson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Cadillac Three, and more.
“Heartland has sort of a double-meaning. The Motor City Blood EP was about where I came from, my roots in Detroit. This record is more about where we call home now, and that’s Ohio. For a long time Ohio’s slogan was ‘The Heart of it All’ and in a small way we wanted to pay tribute to that. But in a grander sense, I’ve traveled to four continents and there are just places that feel welcoming to certain folks and places that don’t. I’ve found that if I get too far away from open fields, trees, and a little soil in the air, I start getting antsy, a little claustrophobic. It didn’t matter if it was in Japan, Spain, or New York state. Heartland is about finding those places wherever we are that speak to us and feel like home.”
OFFICIAL SITE
''HEARTLAND''
SEPTEMBER 2 2014
52:02
1 - You Are the Girl 3:42
2 - Writin a New Damn Book 2:18
3 - Been Workin Hard 4:00
4 - Lovin You (Never Felt Like Work) 3:43
5 - Ava Lee 4:03
6 - Nothin Worse Than Weak 4:56
7 - Heartland 4:21
8 - We All Lose Somethin 4:34
9 - I'd Be Runnin Too 3:37
10 - Cancer Cannot 4:55
11 - Don't Forget Me 3:15
12 - I Ain't Angry (But I'm Feelin Mean) 8:32
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
BIO
There are a lot of bands that claim to be different and to have carved out their own sound only to sound like everyone else in their genre, but for Ohio quartet Phillip Fox Band, that statement could not be more literal. With their debut full length album, Heartland, they have truly carved out their own sound that is best described as ‘Country-Fried Rock N’ Roll’.
From the tenacity of “I Ain’t Angry” and “Nothin’ Worse Than Weak” to the down-home feeling of “Heartland”, Phillip Fox Band have crafted an album that is full of hope, love, loss and the truth.
“As a band we have a pretty wide listening palette” states frontman Fox. “Jonathan was raised on classical music and Motown, Austin digs deep into metal and pop, and David really digs the blues. So, at any given time in the van we could be listening to and discussing Rachmaninoff, Gojira, or Led Belly. As it pertains to our sound, we really respect bands like Blackberry Smoke, Sturgill Simpson, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s, Hayes Carll, Cadillac Three, Monster Truck, and even a little Kings of Leon and Zac Brown Band. All for different reasons of course, and I don’t think there’s one group out there that is ‘who we want to be’. This, I think, speaks to why our music is so diverse. There are threads that run through all these groups whether they’ve been classified as Rock, Country or Southern Rock that tie them together. It’s sort of a blood-line or genealogy, and for us it’s about tapping into that blood line and channeling that rural, earthy, dirty, swampy soulfulness that only exists on the fringe of music in our generation.”
Hailing from Columbus, OH, Phillip Fox Band formed in 2011 after Fox, who had been performing as a solo artist for several years, came up with the idea of putting a small group together for a 14-state, 6,000-mile house concert tour. “When the tour turned into something bigger than we had hoped, we gathered up some recording equipment and captured each show live. Those recordings became my solo record Dreams Will Come. The crucible of the road was enough to sour the rest of the musicians toward gigging full-time and I was left solo once again. The experience, however, had enlightened me to the fact that most of the music I was writing was meant for a band arrangement. I could hear these parts when I performed, but no one else could and so there was a disconnect that was happening every show.”
Shortly after Dreams Will Come was released, Fox reconnected with Jonathan Kampfe whom he’d recorded on a couple of albums with back in Toledo when he was working at a small studio and Kampfe was doing session work. “We had bonded instantly back then, but he received a full ride scholarship for cello performance and I was battling disillusionment with music in general” explains Fox. “But, he heard Dreams Will Come, really dug the music, and was looking for a fulltime project. It took him 8 months to move up from Virginia and get settled in Ohio but once he did in March of 2011, we hit the ground running and played over 100 dates that year including some stops in Austin at SXSW.”
I’ve heard it said that “If you fall in love with music, you’re screwed” states Kampfe. “Well, I’m screwed. Although I didn’t show an interest in playing an instrument until the 4th grade, I had been surrounded by singers and instrumentalists in my family since I was born. I still remember the night my parents brought home my first rental cello and how I immediately fell in love with it. Music gradually took over from there. I grew up playing classically on cello and string bass inschool and community orchestras, but there happened to be a bass guitar laying around the house, so I picked that up too, which opened the door to many other kinds of music. In all its forms, I always found myself gravitating most towards small ensemble work in which each member plays an integral role both as soloist and support. I fell in love with the dialogue and interplay that’s created in the moment among fellow musicians. There was a particular evening after one of our recording sessions in Toledo that Phillip, myself, and Mark Graalman (Sanctus Real) were jamming to one of Phillip’s tunes in the studio. That’s when it struck me that being part of a band, writing and performing original music, was ultimately what I wanted to do. I was shocked when Phillip took an indefinite hiatus from music shortly thereafter. At the time, I figured the best thing for me to do was to go to college and build a solid foundation for that someday when the right opportunity came along. Interestingly enough, it was working with Phillip again nearly a decade later.”
For the first year, Fox and Kampfe went through a string of lead guitar players and drummers before settling in with David Morckel and Austin Nill who were both, interestingly, connections of a previous drummer. “David and Austin had both graduated with music production degrees and a whole mess of talent. David joined just in time to record our first EP Motor City Blood with us in 2012. Austin joined in the fall of that year and finished out the balance of our 150 dates” says Fox.
For Nill, music came in the form of accidental “I was always the kid getting yelled at in class for tapping on things” states Nill. “Hackey sack? You mean shaker. Head rest? No, snare drum. Pencils? Hardly. I can't really remember a point in my life where I wasn't tapping on things or trying to add auxiliary percussion of some sort. I annoyed the piss out of everyone. Teachers, parents, friends, girlfriends. It was (is) relentless. Getting into the percussion program at my middle school was really competitive, but I made it in (thank god, I probably wouldn't be a musician if I had to play my back up, trumpet.) I took some lessons and played in the band program all through school but it wasn't until I was a senior that I really made up my mind to follow music and pursue it as a career.”
Guitarist David Morckel grew up in a musical family. Forced by his mother at an early age to sacrifice TV time to practice piano, he felt disconnected and had no passion to the sheet music he was required to play. “A garage sale drum kit came into my possession when I was finishing up grade school” says Morckel. “The only thing remarkable about my solo work as a pianist had been my exceptional lack of enthusiasm, but the drums were physical, loud, and athletic. Inspired and eager to express myself, I set up my kit alongside the church choir and was promptly encouraged to ‘please play a little softer’ followed by ‘try those brushes’ and finally ‘here’s a couple pencils’ This was discouraging. The church preferred hymns to be accompanied by the established piano/organ duo. I think the organ’s overpowering chords and the piano’s disorienting rhythm provided individual members of the congregation with a soothing distraction from their own tonal inconsistencies and poorly executed harmonies, if they weren’t lip-syncing already. The louder voices of the church seemed threatened by modern instruments’ disturbance of their comfortable Sunday morning customs. But as I entered middle school, I witnessed a friend’s success at sneaking up to the altar with his acoustic guitar. I rarely heard the guitar over the rest of the noise, but I was drawn to the aesthetic and the congregation’s cautious acceptance. Tired of the formality of piano recitals and melancholy Sunday morning hymns, I was anxious to participate in an ensemble that wasn’t simply reading notes off a sheet of paper. My first electric guitar was a gift from my parents along with a month’s worth of lessons. The instructor was young. He had thick glasses and hemp bracelets. He taught me chords and showed me how to strum along to my favorite songs. The lessons were informal, the tunes were new, and I never had to comb my hair for a living room recital. I was able to play my guitar with friends and share ideas. I sang louder and had a better ear for harmony with a guitar in my hands. I played in church praise bands and discovered a love for arranging and reworking songs to make them my own. I hoarded my dad’s laptop and overdubbed guitar riffs and vocal harmonies using its primitive sound recorder. I sat back down at the piano with a different approach and admiration. It was easier to express myself, I felt passionate, less like a confused student and more like a creative artist. Music was no longer a chore and I could finally appreciate it as a creative outlet. It was personal and social. I was aware of my talent and motivated to improve.
In 2013 the band hit their stride finishing with 175 dates, including over 30 fairs and festivals, playing high-profile events like Crew Stadium, President's Cup, and American Quarter Horse Congress, and opening for national acts like Shooter Jennings.
In early 2013, the band began pre-production for what would become their debut full length album Heartland. Taking several off-days and setting up a mobile studio wherever they could, the band narrowed their ever growing song list down to 20 songs and performed three showswhere they gave their fans the opportunity to vote on which songs they wanted to hear on the record. “We took that feedback along with the pre-pro tracks and sat down with Joe Viers (Dr.John, Eric Clapton, Bobaflex) to talk through the project. We had recorded Motor City Blood with Joe at Sonic Lounge and developed a really good rhythm. Plus Joe has been soaking in roots rock for a long time so it was a really natural fit to bring him on earlier in the process as more of a co-producer” says Fox.
By late summer the band narrowed the songs down to 14 and hit the studio in early November. Having played over 300 shows together, they wanted to capture the live energy, so they recorded the rhythm tracks live with tube amps, real signal chains, and a Neve console.
“We wanted to add a lot of spices to this record so in December we brought in some guest musicians - Brett Robinson (Whitey Morgan and the 78's) on pedal steel, Brad Wright (Nashville Crush) on banjo, Todd Hamric (Floorwalkers, Anthony Gomes) on keys, Rhodes, and Hammond, a string section comprised of members from the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and a horn section led by Rob Parton (Chicago jazz luminary)” states Fox.
The band finished most of the mixing in January and launched a Kickstarter campaign raising over $18,000 to release the new record.
2014 will see the band playing over 200 dates including headlining slots at Ohio Bike Week and larger festivals such as Buckle Up featuring Alabama, Willy Nelson, Jamey Johnson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Cadillac Three, and more.
“Heartland has sort of a double-meaning. The Motor City Blood EP was about where I came from, my roots in Detroit. This record is more about where we call home now, and that’s Ohio. For a long time Ohio’s slogan was ‘The Heart of it All’ and in a small way we wanted to pay tribute to that. But in a grander sense, I’ve traveled to four continents and there are just places that feel welcoming to certain folks and places that don’t. I’ve found that if I get too far away from open fields, trees, and a little soil in the air, I start getting antsy, a little claustrophobic. It didn’t matter if it was in Japan, Spain, or New York state. Heartland is about finding those places wherever we are that speak to us and feel like home.”
OFFICIAL SITE
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