November 11th, 1999 Featured Artist

Featured Artist
What's Up With Musicians & Performers

Moxy Früvous Invades Whitaker Center

by Ed Yashinsky

Back in 1994, Moxy Früvous took the familiar path of many of their brethren Canadian musicians. After gaining a huge following in their native land, they signed a national record label that included an American deal as well. "Our Canadian label warned us that we might get lost in the shuffle in the States," explains Dave Matheson, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for the Toronto-based The Band yuk-rockers. "We got invited to a few nice lunches and that was about it. Often, we would get into a town for a concert and we wouldn’t even be able to find the record in stores. It became apparent that this was not the right marriage to be in, so we got out of it as soon as possible."

While such a slap in the face might be enough to break up another band, Matheson and his band mates, Mike Ford (vocals/guitars), Murray Foster (vocals/bass) and Jian Ghomeshi (vocals/drums), returned to their native Canada (where their debut record, Bargainville, went platinum) and got back to their street-performing roots.

Formed by four high school friends in the mid-1980s, Moxy Früvous started out busking the streets of Toronto as an a capella band. "At the time we had a wide range of common influences," says Matheson. "For some reason, even in the ’80s our high school was really into The Stones and The Beatles, but we were also influenced by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and many others. On top of that, we were all into Broadway musicals and folk singers."

From those a capella roots and eclectic tastes, Moxy Früvous has developed into one of the most undefineable pop bands on the road today (more than 250 annual shows), relishing in the originality of their music and the common humor they find in their own musical theater. "It was odd, with the success of the first record in Canada we had a bit of a spike in our celebrity status," says Matheson. "But as that tapered off and we went back out into the Northeast United States, building a fanbase was up to us and our performance. Because of that we have built a more honest fanbase (affectionately known as Früheads). It wasn’t media related or radio related. That’s why our fans are loyal. They are not into Moxy Früvous for a given song or a fashionable attitude. They come out and bring friends because the band has a lot of fun playing and we let the audience be a part of that."

With three subsequent studio releases and a live release since their 1994 debut, Moxy Früvous has continued to push their eclectic tastes onto ever-appreciative audiences. And while songs like "My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors" and "Michigan Militia" are memorable for the laugh factor, every Moxy Früvous song is a little pop gem full of irresistible hooks and stellar harmonies.

With the newest release, Thornhill — named after the neighborhood where Matheson, Ford, Foster, and Ghomeshi grew up — the band has taken a decidedly more focused approach with mesmerizing results. "Individually, we had all come to the quiet realization that we like records that flow together nicely," says Matheson. "Although nothing was specifically laid down in choosing the songs for Thornhill, we just put the songs that sounded similar together for a change."

Produced by Don Dixon, Thornhill exposes a quite different Moxy Früvous. While the humor is still sprinkled throughout the record (especially on songs like "Splatter, Splatter"), Moxy Früvous has become a formidable song-writing machine, mixing Beatle-like melodies with lush XTC-like harmony vocals that have become the band’s signature sound. "Part of the fun of being a band is you get to stay current with yourself," explains Matheson. "The new record has a little bit of a folk thing going on, but it also has a Beatles influence and some hip-hop influences, Our eclectic tastes are still there, but we have tried to put a little bit of a border around it."

While Thornhill might have a border around it, Matheson says that Moxy Früvous continues it’s no holds barred approach to their live performance. "We started in the street where you have to captivate people, and a part of that still comes across in our live shows," explains Matheson. "We don’t always know what will happen on stage, but it is always fun. And we let the audience get very involved in the show. It’s basically a very good time."