Moxy Fruvous interview Danielle Christensen talks to Mike Ford

6x6 won’t be profane, I’1l be profound.’’ I Right now, the quasi-acapella sensation Moxy Fruvous are in the midst of the last lap of their forty-city tour of Canada. _ Playing everywhere except St. John’s, Jan Arden is opening for them, and they played a fabulous show at the Barn on November 16. Just before

together, while Mike and Dave Matheson had a folk band. For a while they had a wedding band, and then about three years ago they decided to start Moxy Fruvous. As mike puts it, ‘“We’re proud of what we do. We’ve been slapped with a novelty tag, and some of that is deserved. I mean ‘‘King of Spain’’--what a novel idea!’’

no commercial promotion. The main effect of their big record deal with Warner is that it frees them from the responsibilities of promoting the record, allowing them to write, and devote their energies to their live show, which Mike calls

“their main forté’’. They were allowed to insist

on their creative autonomy in this five record

“We're proud of what we do. We’ve been slapped with a novelty tag, and some of that is deserved. I mean “King of Spain”--what

the concert, I got the chance to talk to Mike -Ford. He was thrilled to be playing with Jan Arden. Moxy Fruvous called her record com- pany and specifically asked her to go on tour with them. Says Mike: ‘‘Jan’s amazing! She’s just incredible, her voice is so beautiful, her songs are so great. You hang out with her backstage, and she’s just hilarious, which her music would not betray.’’

The members of Moxy Fruvous went to the same high school in Thornhill, Ontario, al- though they weren’t in the same grade. They played together in various combinations. Jean Ghomeshi and Murray Foster had a funk band

a novel idea!”

Basically, the guys were just getting sick of all the commercial same old same-old. The new album ‘‘Bargainville’’ seems to havean overall more mournful tone than the songs that Moxy Fruvous is best known for--’’King of Spain’’ and ‘‘My Baby Lovesa Bunchof Authors’’. But Mike says that the more pessimistic tone is part of the band’s makeup, but that it isn’t going to come out in busking. “‘It surprises some peo- pie:

“‘Bargainville’’ has been out since July 22, and sales were just short of platinum as of November 11. Their six-song independent cas- sette sold over 50 000 copies nationwide, with

=

deal. Warner is allowed to to dump the band after the second album if things don’t go well, but Moxy Fruvous is in for the full five records. As Mike says: ‘‘We were thinking of recording albums # 3, 4, and 5 in Charlottetown and changing our name to the Linkups!’’

Moxy Fruvous has been number 1 on the CIMN charts for almost every week since the six-song cassette came to us in February 1992. They had a really great time in Charlottetown, and everybody who met them was really pleased with them. It’s always great to have pleasant people playing the Barn.

Moxy Fruvous closes for Jann Arden

Major musical acts rock the Barn

Barn had the rare treat of hearing two great acts in one exciting night. As night fell one could hear the murmur of excite- ment in surround-sound. My companions and I arrived early, as all good journalists are wont to do. As we sat in the lounge watching other concert-goers arrive we discussed the rather obvious presence of high school students (my sister being one of them) at this soiree. True enough, it was a wet/dry event so there was no reason for them not to attend- besides, they were necessary to get a decent crowd. When 9:00 finally rolled around, my intrepid col- leagues left the lounge for the noise of the second floor. Jann Arden finally took the stage around 9:20 (twenty minutes late, not bad by concert standards). She was worth the wait, though, as

O n November 16, all those present at the

18/X-Press/December 2, 1993

her strong voice and even stronger lyrics filled the Barn. Her bass/guitar/any other instrument player Mike was a hit, too (I’m still not entirely certain why). The two of them did a great job, especially in light of the audience’s rather odd response to Mike. The only problem I had with Arden’s performance was that it wasn’t long enough. She only played for about half an hour- and then we were left to wait for Moxy Fruvous. She could have played longer, and we wouldn’t have complained.

Moxy Fruvous kept us waiting for what seemed like forever (although it was really only about half an hour). My remaining companion and I were not happy with that (our old bones just can’t take it anymore). When Moxy Fruvous finally hit the stage we were anxious to see the show that everyone has heard about. It wasn’t bad. The guys were fun, and they even asked if

the audience (especially the first couple of rows) would mind sitting so that everyone could see (of course, the audience refused). The Fruvous guys are obviously ex-buskers and every aspect of theirconcert showedthat. They did all the songs people wanted to hear (and threatened to do three hours straight of King of Spain). They left my personal favourite, Green Eggs and Ham, until late in the show. When they finally left the building, after numerous encores including a cover of ABBA’s Dancing Queen and a rather odd version of King of Spain, I headed home to study for my mid-term. It was a great concert, and well worth the money we paid to see it. Speaking of money, this same concert cost $10 in advance or $14 at the door at Acadia University. Gee, does that

mean we got a good deal? I think so! CA SCHNEIDER