My Dad lives and breathes and dies by the Rolling Stones. To him, it’s the only the band that ever mattered. So during a depressing November day last year, when I failed to get him way over-priced Stones tickets for their shows in Jersey and Brooklyn, I told him about Foxygen. “You’ve got to hear this guy; he sounds just like Mick Jagger!” I clicked different points of their songs off the EP Take The Kids Off Broadway, but couldn’t find a good reference point. Instead we heard a different sound every time I changed it. “Oh yeah, they also sound like the Doors, and the Zombies, and…yeah.”
Foxygen are much harder to pin down than their detractors insist. It’s new and fresh and overcomes the derivative output that traps many of their peers by being consistently jagged and surprising with their abrupt time-changes. One second singer Sam France is affecting a Lou Reed impersonation, the next a Dylan, and so on. Is it a joke? Is it a tribute? They do rock their own way. I mean their new record is called We Are the 21st Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, certainly not the ambassadors of 20th century rock and roll. Maybe they’re a nostalgic band, mining a range of sounds from the 60s and 70s and being playful about it. It may feel like a farce, but it’s actually a lot of fun.
Most performers I see fall into two categories: pleasant, but a little boring, or there’s moshing, so who really cares about what’s happening onstage anyway? There are few exceptions. Foxygen is one of those exceptions. They aren't just musicians: they’re spontaneous, funny, and weird. Sam rapped for a bit, saying things like “Chinese chicken tenders” (“That was a new song”), asked all the people named Dan in the room to raise their hand, and someone brought out a doll puppet. That all sounds a bit dumb, but believe me, bands like Foxygen are quite a rarity these days.
Perhaps I’ll take my Dad to see them one day. They could be my Rolling Stones. Or maybe I should just give up veganism and eat some Chinese chicken tenders with Foxygen. They make me question animal rights! They’re that good.
Check out the complete photo set HERE!
-Photos and Story by Joe Waslin
**All photos copyright Joe Waslin Photography. For licensing, contact Joe via his Flickr page.
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