Attention, please: Foxy Shazam is ready to rock
By John Benson
When a band is named Foxy Shazam, you better believe anything goes at its live shows.
This apparently includes fun, skin and unfettered revelry. Then again, would you expect anything else from a group whose perplexing moniker rivals that of a ’70s porn title, an ’80s hair-metal band or a ’90s rapper?
“Maybe it’s a weird thing when you’re in a band and you pick your name, but nine years ago, it was the best name to grab attention,” said Foxy Shazam trumpet player and Cleveland-area native Alex Nauth, calling from his Cincinnati home. “It made people think twice and look. I guess in that sense the name still holds true. It’s the same thing that goes for our live show, and that’s what we take very seriously. The live show makes people look at us twice.”
That concert experience makes its Youngstown debut Tuesday at The Cellar in Struthers with the raunchy rock act supporting its recently released fourth studio effort “The Church of Rock and Roll.” The club headlining tour is a warm-up of sorts for a late summer run opening for ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. The band members are beside themselves.
“We’re very excited,” Nauth said. “I was a huge GNR fan growing up, and the man is a living legend. It’s very rare to get the opportunity to share the same stage with people like that. We’re just humbled and flattered.”
Apparently Slash likes what he hears on “The Church of Rock and Roll.” The album is built around singer Eric Nally’s wailing falsetto and the band’s heavy guitars.
It’s that exact formula heard on the group’s 2010 self-titled effort that painted the Queen City sextet as a well, a Queen-inspired throwback to glam rock. While the label helped the band get national attention, the comparison wasn’t what the group intended. Then for the latest album, the band decided to pursue a sound that didn’t currently exist in their minds.
“Really, this record for us was kind of our saving grace from what we were hearing on the radio and the state of modern music,” Nauth said. “We just really weren’t happy with it. We wanted to make this record something we wanted to hear. It was for us. We’re not necessarily trying to make a huge, world-changing statement. It was just something we needed to hear.”
When it came time to record the new CD, the band sought out a kindred spirit of sorts in glam-rock singer Justin Hawkins of The Darkness as producer. It’s not hard to picture both bands existing in the same universe. The fruitful result includes songs ranging from the sexual swagger of lead single “I Like it” to the heart-shaped passion of “Forever Together.”
Finally, what does one wear when attending a service at “The Church of Rock and Roll?”
“Your birthday suit,” Nauth said, laughing. “Just the way that God made you, I guess.”
Does nudity happen often at a Foxy Shazam show?
“Actually, I don’t know about fully nude but we played this weird radio festival called ‘Pajama Jam,’” Nauth said. “There was a larger-size woman, and she was topless the entire set. We had a good couple of laughs, for sure. She was getting into it.”