Welcome to a new ongoing series! We’re always on the lookout for ways to create unique and original content here at 4LN. One way we’ve tried to do that is by incorporating music as much as possible into our articles and posts, while keeping it closely relevant to nerd-culture. About a year and a half ago, 4LN writer (and my comic bae) Bill Clark did a Local Spotlight article on the band Daisyhead and I have to get that article credit for inspiring me to start this series. I love music. It’s always been a huge part of my life; just as big as my nerd-interests. I would even call myself a “music-nerd”, but *some people* think that you can’t be nerdy about something as general as music, but those people are sad and lonely and pity them…
ANYWAY! I really wanted to do this article so I reached out to John at Spartan Records (a killer indie label that you NEED to check out) and explained what I wanted to do. I asked him if he could connect me with any nerdy dudes or ladies in any of the bands that he works with. He was kind enough to take time to collaborate with me on this and now thanks to his generosity I present to you the first ever Nerds in Bands.
For our inaugural piece, we got Mike and Kyle from Louvisville, Ky’s The Foxery to talk to us about their love of comic books and what they’re into right now. Enjoy!
4LN: When did you first get into comics, and was there any specific issue or series that got you interested?
Mike: I first got into comics when I was a young one. I would buy whatever the local big box grocery store carried which rarely carried the same series two months in a row so I would just read parts of stories until I was old enough to learn the layout of our city and walk miles to our nearest comic book store which Kyle now works at 20 years later. Ha. The first comic I ever read was a Superman comic that had Doomsday in it which was a bigger deal than I realized at the time. I haven’t read a Superman comic since. 🙂
Kyle: Comics are one of the first things I ever read. My dad would take me into the comic book store all the time when I was little. The first comics I read that made me fall in love with them were Bone by Jeff Smith and Todd Mcfarlane’s Spider-Man.
4LN: Do you have an all-time favorite issue?
Mike: First series X-Factor #87. There’s a scene where Pietro is talking to a therapist who I believe is Doc Samson and he explains how in his world, he doesn’t have super speed, the world is just moving insanely slow around him which explains why he’s always so grouchy. That has always stuck with me as a really creative way of looking at super heroes with super speed because before that I was always bored by that super power.
Kyle: The two that come to mind are both by Matt Fraction. There is an issue during his Fantastic Four run where they’re all in space headed to Earth to defend the world from some threat and they leave their kids behind so they’re safe. The whole issue is the kids listening to the last messages their family has left them before they maybe die and Reed Richards says something like “I’m a scientist, I believe there’s no god. Therefore nothing matters. Therefore everything we do is literally all that matters. Remember that.” It’s so so powerful. The other is an issue of Hawkeye that is told through the perspective of a dog. The colors are only colors dogs can see and the words are only words dogs can understand. It’s just incredible.
4LN: Typically, comic readers will gravitate to certain writers and /or artists whose work they really enjoy. Which writers and artists do you feel most drawn to?
Mike: I like Robert Kirkman a lot. I also really love Jeffrey Brown. He makes comics that make me feel some type of way. He makes comics that hit you right in the feels and he also does Star Wars and giant robot comics so he’s rad all around!
Kyle: Obviously Matt Fraction haha. I also love Neil Gaiman, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie. I’m drawn towards artists that are bigger than life and think they’re some sort of huge entity, like Kanye West, so I also love Alan Moore and Grant Morrison.
4LN: What is your favorite ongoing series right now?
Mike: I’m really digging Outcast by Robert Kirkman. That’s a fairly new one and a really dark and scary book. If our record, “Unless” we’re an instrumental record, it’d be the soundtrack to Outcast. I also get every Simpsons and Simpsons-related comic that ever comes out and I’ve never been disappointed by one yet.
Kyle: As far as superhero stuff it’s Batman by Snyder and Capullo, and for other stuff it’s by far The Wicked and The Divine by Gillen and McKelvie.
4LN: Switching gears, let’s talk about your band, The Foxery. How did you guys get started?
Mike: We are The Foxery from Louisville, KY. We’ve been playing in different incarnations for 8 years now but the current line-up which is solid and sticking around has been friends for years now. We started as a three piece and wanted to be heavier so we got a second guitar player; then we wanted to be prettier so we got a Fender Rhodes, and then we needed to be heavier again so we got a third guitar player and to balance all those guitars out, we started having Trav, our Rhodes player, play auxiliary drums as well.
4LN: You just released a new album “Unless.” Can you tell us a little bit about that project?
Mike: We started writing it a long time ago as a four piece and by the end of writing the record we were our current six piece line-up, so the record follows a story of growing and changing. It gets really dark and hopeless feeling which I think we felt at different times throughout the writing of it but ends on a hopeful note once we found this line-up and started putting more time into the band. We’re all really dedicated to exploring what we can do further and I know we’ll still write dark and heavy songs but we’ll be super stoked to be getting dark and heavy together! 🙂
4LN: Finally, do you have any touring plans on then horizon?
Mike: Our plan is to tour every chance we get. We are currently on tour as I type this but this tour ends in two days so we’re gonna start booking our next tour south. We’re shooting for late May/early June. We’re gonna be doing more touring with our Spartan labelmates, Shy, Low. We also want to tour to wherever the Stephen Colbert’s Late Show will be filmed and hopefully make a stop at the studio to play the show! 🙂
I want to thank Mike and Kyle for chatting with us about comics and their band. I took a listen to their brand new album “Unless” and I gotta say, I really loved it. It reminded me of early MewithoutYou (with some light Brand New vibes) and, having been a fan of MwY from the very beginning, I feel confident saying that if you like them then you’ll definitely like The Foxery. I highly recommend the tracks “Broken Vessel” and “The Filth II”. If you are interested in checking out more by The Foxery you can buy their album by clicking this link: The Foxery – Unless, and you can catch up with them at all of their various social media sites by using the links below.