The first day of December, Boston Music Room, North London. It's a simple, pleasant venue - a tiny foyer, and a large ballroom with a bar to one side and a slightly off-centre stage.
I came here to see Black Foxxes (thanks to blog-favourite BLAB for her post on Twitter that pointed me to this gig), playing this date about halfway through a tour, and was expecting an energetic experience.
From what I saw of the first support - local act Bex - that energy started early. I only caught the very end of this set, unfortunately, but respect to them for their passion and raw power. They worked hard to get the audience up and jumping, with loud, heavy punk riffs and good interaction.
Jools were up next: a five-piece from Leicester (well represented guys!) with a clear sense of the image and musical style they want you to remember. They were loud, sure, but in a calculated controlled way, supported by some really interesting guitar sounds - melodic, chime-y, a bit different. (Listen to 'How Can Some Experience What Pride Is Without Liberation For All?', linked below, for a prime example.) This was pushed along with resonant, baritone vocals and lots of spoken - and shouted - word from front man. Voice-wise, imagine an East Midlands-inflected Joe Talbot.
Near the end of the set, Kate Price came on stage to introduce a song and explained that she is a 'background member' who writes the lyrics (and plays a big part in the band's styling and marketing, I discovered afterwards). It was a great moment of team-work, which to me demonstrated this band's honesty and down-to-earth niceness, and reflected their self-stated passion for being allies for underrepresented communities.
Then, Black Foxxes were on. With a snappy 'hello', Mark Holley (the man behind the name) led his trio confidently into '45', a song full of fuzzy, punk and grunge inflected guitar sounds and a chorus which is more of an explosion amid an already blazing inferno.
They projected a confident, powerful sound - firm and loud, but remaining distinct and musical, not falling into the trap of making noise for the sake of it. Mark handled his guitar deftly and at times almost casually, like a lightweight toy; and with it, he produced some incredible sounds, with skilfully interwoven touches of long reverb and echo.
The bass, played by Jack Henley, was fat and thrumming; and Finnan McLean discharged his drumming responsibilities very, very successfully. He had a surprisingly light touch, considering the mighty sound being pushed out. There's real skill in that. I noticed his smiles of joy as he did so, too.
Mark mentioned that this was Black Foxxes' first tour with this iteration of band members, and it's obviously working, everyone gelling and translating the studio recordings satisfyingly well. They worked hard to fill in where the produced songs would have included synths or other effects, keeping things interesting and the audience engaged (such as in the more chilled 'Panic').
The band was really tight, and perfectly executed the little touches that set apart Black Foxxes' songs from some others in a similar genre - those sudden stops and lifts, and the temporary changes of dynamics, which almost always come at surprising times. There were also plenty of moments of raw, visceral, guttural power - Mark standing back from the mic to scream - and yet he was able to switch from that mode almost instantly to a subtle, pure falsetto. There may be a danger of this kind of band creating an overpowering wall of sound - I've seen it too many times in the past - but here it remained distinct, with each element clear and without losing anything in terms of impact.
In terms of standout songs, as well as the opener '45', I was probably most struck by the closing song 'Badlands'. It's a bit of an epic track (listen below), and live the band really rode the wave, keeping the distinctive rolling guitar riff cycling on, before succumbing to a descent into chaos.
This was the kind of gig you leave feeling impressed, engaged and excited for the future of music.
