Kevin Fox Is Stringing Together Quite A Music Career

Halifax, Nova Scotia native Kevin Fox's love of the cello and pop music has take him far in his music career; from Halifax to Toronto and all around Canada he’s worked with Justin Bieber, Sarah McLachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk and many more. An established musician, singer, songwriter and composer, Fox has made a name for himself in the Canadian music industry and in March added to his resumé with the release of third album Set Right, said to be his most collaborative effort to date. Youthink caught up with Fox to talk about is newest album, his musical influences and whose opinion he really values.

 

YT: Critics and fans have described your music as catchy, poetic and tranquil. How would you describe it?
KF: I would describe it as accessible and kind and not abrasive. I think the best way to describe it is to offer the context of who I am, because it represents the environment that I carry around, which is basically speaking of peace and kindness.

 

YT: I read that Set Right is your move into the popular genre. Was this a direction you knew you eventually wanted to head in musically?
KF: The line, "a move into the pop direction," is a bit deceptive in the sense that my songs have always been pop songs and I think that it’s speaking more from a production standpoint. My last album, was pop songs, but performed using only a cello and my voice and so I took it outside of the production standpoint and a little bit outside of the normal production for pop music. For this album I went back to using more traditional instruments found in pop music. Though the cello is used quite heavily still, for this album I used drums, bass, piano and guitar as opposed to the last album where I didn’t use any of those instruments. But the context of my songs have always been pop.

YT: For Set Right you brought in your band during the recording process and also co-wrote with your friend Fergus Hambleton. With this being    your most collaborative album, how were you able to write and record it in only two short months?
KF: By being prepared, I think would be the best way to describe it. When going into the studio, again you have choices; you can go in with a blank slate and three other guys — three other musicians — and go through the process together and create together and have a collaborative experience where things are tried out and then different paths are taken. But I went in with basically a lot of the decisions made other than maintaining an openness for change. If an idea came up in the moment, then I enjoy collaborating when I’m listening to what others have to say in the creative process and making decisions in the moment, but for the most part it’s called pre-production. I spent a lot of time with pre-production making sure that I came in prepared enough to be able to go through what’s going to happen and we had this short amount of time to do it and just diving in and having fun doing it.   

YT: You’re known for re-interpreting songs and you cover two songs on Set Right: River and Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes. Do you enjoy the process of re-interpreting a song more than finally hearing the final product?
KF: I enjoy both. The process of creating cover songs comes from basically being asked to do trivia nights around Toronto where we do like a Joni Mitchell  trivia night and local artists are asked to come in and prepare a couple songs. In those situations I often get asked to make sure that I come prepared to perform on the cello [and] that I don’t do it on the guitar. I'm usually busy that gets left to the last minute. So the actual process of figuring out how to do Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes say with just a cello looping pedal inevitably gets left to the last minute and I’m usually up in the middle of the night, the night before the performance trying to figure out how the heck I’m going to do it. It’s one of those joys where you’re actually taken out of you comfort zone and you’re challenged in the moment and you may be sweating a bit or cursing a little bit, but for me I’ve gone through that enough to know the value of it so I’m not cursing it really.

YT: Where do you draw inspiration for your songs?
KF: There is no particular place that I draw inspiration from. I think life’s experience is the only way to answer that question. It’s not like I have a reliable room in the house to turn to when, metaphorically speaking, I need to be inspired. I think it’s just a matter of being open and drawing inspiration from all elements of life whether it's my two-and-a-half year old child or the beauty of my wife or performing with other artists. A couple of weeks ago, I performed with Sarah Mclachlan, when she passed through Toronto or doing a string arrangement, or recording for Justin Bieber’s acoustic album this December or what have you. I have the great fortune — in the capacities that I work within as a musician, as an arranger or side musician or solo artist — I have the wonderful opportunity of [working with] numerous fantastic Canadian artists and beyond and that in itself is an inspiration. I’m lucky, I know the well is deep. I have no shortage of it.

 

YT: Other than your own, whose opinion do you value the most when it comes to critiquing your music and songwriting?
KF: I would have to say my wife, because she’s involved in my career as my booking agent and manager and she’s also always within arms reach so she’s always there. So I’d have to say — that’s a good question — I think I would have to say it’d be my wife Tammy. Especially now, with this album, our relationship — our working relationship even — evolved to include her as a lyricist, which I absolutely love. During the process of you know two months is not a lot of time to work within to create an album and so in that, for lack of a better word, stressful time we worked together in a capacity of creating together: her as a lyricist and me as a musician. To have that evolve in that context, in the context of our marriage as well, is just really absolutely lovely. I really enjoyed that and I look forward to that continuing in the future.

 

YT: Who was your musical influence growing up and how have your musical influences and tastes evolved over the years?
KF: Well, Paul Simon, but I would have to say as far as influences go it's for the most part peripheral, meaning in my twenties when I had roommates, I’d be interested in what they choose to put on the stereo. Then there’s also the numerous artists that I’ve worked with over the years from Royal Wood to Danny Michel. All these people have played a role in being an influential part of what I draw upon for inspiration. I rarely reference other people's music when writing my own. It's an innate process, drawing from everything that I’ve listened to since I was a kid all the way up to the last artist that I perhaps worked with. So given my age, I’m 42, the music that I listened to when I was younger still played a huge role and those artists were from Elton John to Joni Mitchell to Paul Simon and beyond and the Beatles of course and Rolling Stones.

YT: What goals do you have for the rest of 2011?
KF: Well this summer I'll be touring with Steven Page, the ex-member of Bare Naked Ladies. Also because my wife and I have this collaborative element to our relationship, I find myself still in the mode of writing and so I am continuing to put ideas down. What I would like to do is to spend more time throughout the year when I have it, songwriting. The other side of the coin, within this industry opportunities come up. You know that Justin Bieber thing all happened within a week. So the best way to answer your question other than the songwriting context is to say I’ll just continue accepting what opportunities come my way. I know I keep saying "I’m lucky." I’m a bit of a glass half full kind of guy. I love what I do and I really do consider myself lucky and fortunate and I look forward to just continuing doing what I’m doing and writing. On top of all that is to continue sharing my music with anybody who would care to listen and also getting out there and supporting this latest release, so the year will be busy I’m sure.