All Fox
Peaceful Heart
Buy Peaceful Heart from http://allfox.bandcamp.com/album/peaceful-heart
Play Manic Oppressive from Peaceful Heart (mp3 link)
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor that I introduce to you the love child of Bob Dylan and The Silver Apples (likely to have been conceived under the influence of lysergic bliss), Alex Fox Tschan. The release of his first full-length solo LP, Peaceful Heart, hit at the turn of the new year, and has certainly given all of us hens something to cackle about.
Tschan has been taking this seriously since 2008, and after a move to Brooklyn with bandmates nearly two years ago, it’s been nothing but progressive for his music. His newest release hits all of the chords in the dark recesses of your psyche while cradling you in some kind of ceremonial shroud. It’s a strange and familiar ride, and maybe that’s just my personal bias due to experiences and/or experimentations with Psilly things. I like it, and if you lay back and close your eyes, you’ll find yourself seeking the same peaceful heart that it left me with.
He manages to bridge the gap between psychedelic rock, progressive folk, tribal-like soul harmonies, and funky acoustic riffs; you might be imagining a disorganized mess (there’s even a touch of Filmi!), but he manages to layer each track like a fine piece of southern biscuit. I had the pleasure of prying into the world of Tschan, and this is what he had to say…
STPP: So, this is your first solo EP, right? Have you ever released anything else?
AFT: Peaceful Heart is actually a full-length LP (12 songs, around 50 minutes). And yes, this is my first ‘solo’ album. I also play and write songs for my band The House Floor. We’ve put out one album, our debut Warship, in 2009 right out of college (where we all met). It’s only a ‘solo’ effort in the recording sense. I write all the time and it’s just nice (and sometimes necessary for my sanity) to be able to put to bed a collection of songs without running anything by anyone haha… But live, the All Fox songs would be performed alongside my best friends, my bandmates in The House Floor. So a show for either All Fox or The House Floor would allow for us to pull from all of the material, which is fun & varied & exciting for us. If I release something as All Fox it’s just ’cause I have a clear vision that I’d like to compose and work quickly on, and I just generally have a lot of fun with the album-crafting process. That way, when we’re having practice as The House Floor, I can sort of relax on the compositional control & we can all just work on things together, because those guys have fantastic ideas, too. But having both outlets is a must for me.
STPP: How long have you been at this?
AFT: I’ve explored songwriting since around 15 or so. Even then, despite being awful at both, I had a strong desire to sing and play guitar. I’d record songs all the time using my shitty PC and some free-ware multi-track program that kept asking me to upgrade upon each new project session! Would have killed for a 4-track haha… but I just used what I had ’cause it was there. I would say that I have only considered myself as any sort of ‘songwright’ since 2008. Prior to that I had always been unsure of my skills and voice. I knew I enjoyed doing it, but I wasn’t interested in being just another anything… and I felt unconfident that I had a unique voice of any kind (likely because I didn’t at the time). The change, or rather, the genesis of any bit of confidence at all can be attributed simply to realizing what it is I love doing, and then realizing that I have to fully explore it or else I’m full of shit. This means more pertinently, I was in college as a pre-med Biochemistry student through both familial and self-induced pressures… I went through the entire program, graduated, and even began the process of applying to medical schools, before I finally stood up for myself (and more so, for what it is I knew I needed to explore) and cut that tie for good. I became a sauté chef at a local restaurant and spent the next year reading, writing, analyzing myself, and just trying to exist without feeling like I was supposed to do anything but get to a good place in my head. There was as much failure as success during this period, but I came out of it beginning to write what would become the songs for Warship. I moved to Brooklyn with my closest friends & bandmates almost 2 years ago, and that has continually proven to be the greatest decision any of us ever made. For me, despite being broke, it has given me more energy and happiness to put towards my friendships, ideas, poems, songs, etc. than I could have ever dreamed. It has been the most rewarding and prolific time of my life, and it feels like it’s just starting. But I’ll keep you posted on the sustained accuracy of that statement as the drug addictions start to really take hold…
STPP: Who have been the biggest influences in your music?
AFT: Sam Cooke (both as a performer and a man), Lou Reed, Bob Dylan (particularly ’63-’66), Brian Wilson, the Allman Brothers, Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Animal Collective, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Little Anthony, Neil Young, and I always say (and truly believe) even Walt Whitman & Hunter S. Thompson have greatly influenced my lyrical tendencies & even my delivery at times. So I count them as musical influences as well.
STPP: What have been the biggest obstacles in getting to this point in your musical career?
AFT: Expanding on what I said above, it’s really been that need to overcome self-imposed limitations. Having the emancipatory confidence to feel like nobody is stopping me from doing anything except for me. Sounds simple, or even cheesy, but it’s the truth. There aren’t any rules to how you create your art… what art is… what communication can be… it’s so invigorating because, as far as living in & understanding that realm of thought, I’ve only reached a toddler’s age… I’ve still plenty to learn, and I think I always will. But the difference is there aren’t adults there to crush my dreams this time haha… I don’t mean to say that it’s easy to get to this point, or that it is the same point for everyone. I feel fucking lucky to have made some strides for myself in my own personal context. It’s a privilege, and one that I won’t ever take for granted, to feel like I’m free to explore now.
STPP: What’s your outlook on the industry?
AFT: God. How much time do you have??? . . . It’s interesting, really… Even as recently as a couple months ago I was obsessively interested in working with an independent label that contacted us over a year ago about Warship. I respect them and their roster a great deal, and if we get to the realm of discussion where we see eye-to-eye on an artist-friendly contract & an understanding of my particular brand of overt idealism, then I could see working together. But it pains me greatly to know how much of ‘getting heard’ is not about the material itself. I’m not completely naïve to that fact, but I guess I at least thought that there wasn’t quite the total eclipse of ‘exceptional material’ by ‘how can you market your exceptional material?’ The ‘mainstream’ I remember resenting growing up in the 90s is quite similar to what the independent music industry is now. It’s a machine well-oiled by a whole shitload of marketing and promotions and branding that seem to have usurped substance as the #1 necessity in an artist. I get that the other stuff is part of it, and if you ultimately wish to communicate with people and make a living as an artist, you have to understand branding & promotions quite well. BUT, and again this is that overt idealism talking, I aim to try & cut through by meaning what I say & creating from a genuine place & hoping that someone comes to me rather than the other way around. I do not need money to make what I make. I’ll do it till I die regardless. But it would be nice to think that if you set an example like that, maybe there could be a small shift in how it’s done from an industry side. I don’t know — it’s really just how I want to do it. I don’t have any interest in saying how anyone else should do things, ’cause I also totally get someone taking a bunch of money for a licensing contract because they’ll then have money to see their friends & family more often.. or to provide for them better by doing what they love… I know several artists that I still very much respect who have done that. It’s a complicated issue. I just personally want to go with my gut and nothing else. We’ll see what happens…
STPP: Where did you grow up?
AFT: I was born & raised in Deltaville, VA. It’s a small harbor town on the Chesapeake Bay. I’m in love with it now, but hated it growing up ’cause there was nothing to do. Now I realize I just wasn’t interested in the right things. It’s a very special place to me. The cover to Peaceful Heart is a photo of a painting that has been hanging in the living room all my life. That little streak dripping down is some sort of melting/sweating wax or something from the back of the frame. It dried years ago & no one has ever cleaned it up. I don’t think they should.
STPP: Where are you living now? What’s a normal day in the life of Alex?
AFT: I live in the South Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, NY. A normal day involves me waking up earlier than I’d like to for a dog-walking job so that I can pay my rent & still keep the flexibility/availability of not having a real job. After the dog-walking shift, I have my 2nd or 3rd cup of coffee and continue to work on either my next album, screenplay, poem, or humanities project. I’m generally a bit neurotic if I haven’t made at least a little progress in one of those areas on a daily basis. It felt great to say Peaceful Heart was “done” (whatever that means) a few weeks ago… and I celebrated a bit… but now it’s back to sequencing the first of three 10-song collections to the next All Fox record Quaintness to Greatness, or working on grant proposals for my Common Threads project (a town-hall style forum project whose goal is to help a diverse group of people articulate & peacefully communicate their particular existential/religious beliefs to each other). Also, I’m working on my first book of poetry, which I will self-publish when I think the first edition is ready later this year. It’s called Nowist Hymnal.
STPP: Who’s your hero?
AFT: Ah, I’d have to say my father, full of flaws as we all are. He made the house in Deltaville a home for me. Instilled the sense of responsibility to your family & friends before anything else… Even when he wasn’t always a living example of these things in the past (insert knock on 4 marriages, or his oft-unreasonable disciplinarian tendencies), I knew he always believed he wanted to & could get there. As he’s gotten older he has mellowed out even more (as I imagine we all do), and is just supremely supportive and hopeful. Nobody is perfect, but I think he’s done as near a perfect job as you can in two areas: making sure music was a part of my life & making sure I knew he cared.
STPP: How do you promote your music?
AFT: Poorly. Haha… Yeah, I’m learning more and more from Sam Cooke’s incredible example of taking ownership of your creative output, literally & figuratively. I’d shy away from self-promotion for many reasons, but I more & more feel like that’s a cop-out. It does feel awkward to mention website when you’re on stage… most all of my musical heroes are old school & they didn’t have to deal with that shit! haha… it just feels unnatural in that sense, but I’m trying to digress… It’s just the time I live in. The internet is generally what people use… so I just got a bandcamp (which actually seems pretty cool & artist-friendly): allfox.bandcamp.com. I’m also in the midst of filming a couple film shorts that are scripted curations of what I care about as an artist and who I really am. I think that’s the most exciting & natural way for me to promote, and I’m looking forward to getting those done. But yeah, really I just try to be honest and myself in interviews like this… play live shows as often as possible… and when someone asks, I tell them how to get the tunes! I guess that’s how I promote.
STPP: Are you playing any shows? Any tours in the future?
AFT: Touring would be lovely. Can’t wait to do it full-time. Not there yet haha… You can keep checking myspace.com/ohmyfox and myspace.com/thehousefloor for show listings. We book new ones in Brooklyn and NYC all the time.
STPP: What’s the next step for your music? Anything in the works?
AFT: Always. Currently working with my bros in The House Floor for our sophomore LP. SO stoked for those compositions… hopefully summer-ish that will come out. I think it’s gonna be something we’ll be proud of for a while… Simultaneously, I am doing some All Fox recordings for the 3-LP 30-song Quaintness to Greatness. Each of the three pieces will be very much their own thing, but I plan to sequence it purposefully from 1-30, so the real go-getters will have lots to ascertain from a full listen. But yeah, very excited for both endeavors, and for our live set to start really coming together with the strings, oboe, and sounds on the new records. Practice makes perfect sense! We’ll try it more in 2011, I promise.
STPP: And finally, do you have any advice for fellow solo artists?
AFT: Not really. Just because who am I??? But I don’t think you can go wrong if you start by being honest with yourself. I mean, reeeeally calling your own bullshit & and all that. But not everybody gets material from turning within, so who knows??? Just be yourself, and dig yourself for doing so. But don’t be an asshole about it. And never stop listening to others. They can let you know when you are being an asshole.
