The Sounds Maja Ivarsson
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The Sounds
with Foxy Shazam
Revolution Live
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
September 30th, 2009
Review by: Steve Vaynshtok
Photos by: David Levitan
From the moment I heard about the show, I knew right away my reason for attending: Foxy Shazam. There was nothing else, having never heard of The Sounds before, but as I arrived at Revolution, the inconsistent crowd really showed me what a mixed environment I was stepping into. The fans all sat crowded together, some with acoustic guitars, some just waiting in line to get into the venue to see their favorite band. Right beside the venue stood The Sounds tour bus, and across the street was Foxy Shazam’s RV.
After a brief wait in line, the opening band The Mission Veo burst onto the stage with screaming guitar work by their guitarist Ben. The Mission Veo turns out to be a local favorite, composed of Jonny on vocals, a bass player named Ryan, Michael on the synthesizers and the drummer only known as JP. They started their set off with a solid “Silhouettes” off their self-titled record, and somewhere after the intense stage antics of Jonny and Ben throwing his guitar on stage, they finished with "New York Scum." A lively show, and a few happy fans later, the stage settled back into noiseless obscurity as the crowd died down and began waiting for Foxy.
Maja-vocals, felix-guitar, johan-bass The Sounds
With a wild outfit and equally wild haircut, Eric Nally of Foxy Shazam stepped on stage to sing the pledge of allegiance with a scribbled, balled up piece of paper he was reading it off of. Eric then finished that and said, “If Foxy Shazam was an animal at the zoo, it would be the one that'd bite your head off without even thinking about it.” And with that, they seamlessly launched into "Introducing" off of the record by the same name. The beautiful musicianship and showmanship of Alex Nauth, Loren Turner, Daisy, Sky White and Aaron McVeigh, along with Nally running wildly around on all fours and eating cigarettes, turned into the most unruly show I’ve ever witnessed. He stopped halfway into the set to tell a heartwarming story about his son Julian and a camping trip they had gone on. To hear such things from such a wild individual really opened up a fan’s eyes to the more sensitive side of Foxy Shazam. And Sky’s faces while playing the keyboard only contributed to the wide-eyed innocence of the band.
The Sounds struck beautiful chords to “Crossing the Rubicon,” slowly building up the crowd and then transitioned into heavy riffs and melodies. The crowd lit up with obvious devoted fans and followers of this incredible group of musicians.
The band slid into new songs such as "Bye Bye Symphony" and "Wannabe Angel," both of which can be heard on Foxy’s MySpace page. The band’s growth was imminent in the intensity with which Nauth (the new member in charge of horns) played his instrument. His backup vocals and playful fights with Eric were also beautiful spectacles to behold. Just as quickly as they came on, after finishing up with "Yes, Yes, Yes," Foxy Shazam was done with their majestic set. Although not without a screaming guitar solo from Turner, with Nally literally perched upon his shoulders.
Foxy Shazam
Last but not least, The Sounds struck beautiful chords to “Crossing the Rubicon,” slowly building up the crowd and then transitioned into heavy riffs and melodies. The crowd lit up with obvious devoted fans and followers of this incredible group of musicians. The Sounds comprises Swedish band mates Maja Ivarsson on vocals, Felix Rodriguez on guitar, Johan Bengtsson on bass, Jesper Andergberg on keyboards and piano and Frederik Nilsson on drums.
There is no doubt that these guys have talent and energy like no other band I’ve seen. Having never heard of them before this night, I was definitely impressed. The band mates obviously have an unmatched chemistry, and it just pulls the fans in. Their sound hits hard with beautiful melodies like "Rock-n-Roll" and then takes it up a notch to a more rockabilly sound with "Hit Me." By the end of the night there were lighters up and a circle pit that took over the crowd while The Sounds graced us with their last song, "Song With a Mission," and it ended the night on such a note that everyone wore a grin of content.
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Eric Nally, vocalist for Foxy Shazam
Maja Ivarsson vocals for The Sounds