Melbourne indie-rock band, Black Fox is celebrating their first single release since changing their name from The Smoke, at The Workers Club this coming Saturday.
The new name came after a change of the band members. Andrei Seleznev, the new bassist for Black Fox, describes the difference between the new music and the old as “Gloomier; Black Fox are an older, more depressed Smoke.”
The Smoke found success with their album Blood Orange in 2009. Their song Defeat Retreat was played on Triple J that year and it was named “Single of the Week” on iTunes.
Black Fox currently consists of Dane Robertson on vocals, Leigh Mullens on guitar, Daniel Mullens on guitar, Mitchell Freeman on drums and Andrei Seleznev on bass.
Daniel Mullens writes entire songs by himself, while Leigh Mullens and Dane Robertson work together. The three are known as the “Power Trio” within the band, as they are responsible for the creative process.
While their publicist calls them Indie-Rock, Seleznev said “Indie denotes an ethos or an image more than it does an actual sound – I think it means you just wear shiny shoes or something”, regardless of what they wear, Seleznev said he believes their music is “just rock”.
The atmosphere at their gigs are said to be “high-energy”. Dane Robertson was described as a “Mick Jagger-Elvis Presley-Zombie hybrid” by music reviewer Alexandra Duguid. “Dane throws his way through the performance in a way not copying music legends of the past, but as somebody who lives to perform” said fan, Timothy Stubbs.
The experience of performing depends on alcohol consumption for Seleznev, “Nothing to drink, it’s like a party; if I drink a little bit, it’s a feeling of intense concentration – the feeling you get from riding your bike down Bridge road at 9am – if I have a lot to drink it’s like a party again.”
There are plans to tour Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide, and they are hopeful to receive some radio air-time. Seleznev said that he is not looking to become famous, “We do it for the sake of doing it, and we’ll see what happens. It’s fun”.
You can see Black Fox perform at The Workers Club, Fitzroy, Saturday March 31st. Day in Lieu / Monarch is available in stores and online now and their full length EP, Line of Sight is available on vinyl and CD from May 16th.