I interviewed the adorable guys from the band The Stone Foxes at this past 2011 Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park.  These cuties had such an amazing energy about them.  They seemed to be taking in all these amazing experiences they are having with wide eyed amusement and gratitude. They were so sweet and really fun to talk to. Here’s what they had to say:

GG: How long has this band been together?

Aaron: The three of us, Shannon, Spence and myself (Aaron) have been together for a while, but the last three years we’ve really been together as a full band.

Spence: Elliot’s (Elliot Peltzman; keys) the new guy. He’s been with us for two and a half months.

GG: How old are you guys?

Shannon: Elliot and I are 23 and Spence and Aaron are 26.

GG: Where did the name The Stone Foxes come from?

Aaron: Oh man, no one really agrees on the answer to this one. We don’t really know. I guess at the time the name just sounded cool to us.  Something about it sounded more old school to us, retro.

Spence: You know, like Jimi Hendrix has “Foxy Lady,” and the whole Steve Martin fox thing.

Aaron: The whole “Stone Cold Fox” thing.

Spence: But I don’t’ think it really donned on me until later that it’s very funny that guys are named foxes.

Aaron: Yeah, there’s like that juxtaposition that we’re called The Stone Foxes, and we’re all men — who aren’t as attractive as many women.

Spence: Really, I guess we just thought it was something that would represent the music that we’re playing, in a way.

GG: Without using the words happy or excited, how do you feel about playing this festival?

Aaron: I feel VERY excited! Um, I mean ecstatic.

Spence: Proud.

Aaron: It’s a very cool experience for us.  Yeah, it really is a proud feeling. It’s really something for your own community to let you in on something like this.

Spence: It feels very validating.

Aaron: It’s validating, and humbling that our own city and music scene would let us come and do this. We were here for the first Outside Lands Festival and at that very moment we dreamed about doing this. So this has been our main goal since we started the band. Just to be able to get to that level.

GG: Really? Congratulations!

Spence:  Yeah, living in Sunset (neighborhood) we thought, oh man Outside Lands is in our back yard. One day…

Aaron:  And it still is. I still live right there.

Spence: We’re excited about it (we all laugh).

GG:  So I feel like the feelings that bands have toward the press when you first start out are completely different once you make it to a certain level. Love the press when you’re a new band, and then the band hates it once they made it really big. So how do you feel about it right now at this point?

Aaron: I think it’s just one of those things that comes with the job.

Spence: Press has treated us really well so far. We have gotten a few burns, but I don’t think anyone here hates the press for that.

Aaron: You have to expect it and respect that.

Spence: You have to be open to criticism.

Aaron: It’s just one of those things that you can’t dwell on too much. You just have to enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re happy doing what you do then more than likely someone else is going to like it too. If you believe in it. The press is there to spread the word.

Shannon: You can’t really do anything new and fresh in music without criticism, because criticism is just responding to something being new and different.

GG: Last question, what’s up with the video for “Psycho,” and fan submissions?

Spence: We had this idea to involve our fans by asking them to submit video that we will chop and sync to the song, and that will be the official video for it. So far it’s going really well. We’re starting to get videos in and a good response to it.

GG: Is there a deadline?

Aaron: The end of August, but as of now that’s a soft deadline. What we’ve learned is that people are actually making their own music videos to the song and submitting and we didn’t expect that. So it’s taking people a little longer to put it together. Which is really cool that their spending the time to do that.

Spence: Yeah, it’s not just people getting in front of a camera doing something simple. They are actually getting dressed in costume and makeup and doing full on choreographed stuff.

Shannon: Even though it would be totally fine to just sit in front of your camera on your computer and do something. We encourage that.

GG: Like chat roulette?

SF:  Nooooooo (all laugh)!

GG: Has anyone dressed up like a fox?

Spence: No, there’s been a lot of mentally ill, and death kind of things. Which, surprised me.

Aaron: Lots of knives.

Spence: (laughing) It is stuff that we’ll be able to use, but it’s just interesting to me that people are interpreting the song that way.

GG: Well, it’s called “Psycho” (all laugh).

Spence: It would be nice if people did dress up as furry animals. That’d be cool.

You can submit your video submission for The Stone Foxes video “Psycho” here.

 

Interview by Roxanne Hilburn

Photography by Dominoe Farris- Gilbert