oxy Fruvous combines sounds of three
decades to create new genre of music
John Amorose
staff writer
Elvis Presley. The Beatles. The
Sugar Hill Gang. Prodigy. Each
has caused fear to reach into the
hearts of the musical establishment.
Each has steam rolled society like
a storm over a Kansas farmhouse.
Moxy Fruvous is this type of band.
They combine the pop harmonies
of the 1960'5, disco guitar riffs
They act as a much
needed breath of fresh
air, in a time when the
vast majority of bands
are so square you could
roll them on a Las Vegas
craps table.
from the 1970'5, chunky, three
minute pop nuggets from the
1980's, and an uncanny knack for
spunk and peppiness, noticeably
lacking in these 1990'5. With their
third album You Will Go to the
Moon, Moxy Fruvous attempts a
new, revolutionary style of music.
They act as a much needed breath
of fresh air, in a time when the vast
majority of bands are so square you
could roll them on a Las Vegas
craps table.
Moxy Fruvous has already
received much success in their
native Canada since their self-titled
independent release in 1992.
Within a few months, this self
titled debut was certified Gold in
Canada, and catapulted the group
to opening act status for the
legendary Bob Dylan. The record
stayed number one pn,C.an o adlan
independent , c I I4I4fi'4 O ;AP;VAt,A,
year. Major record labels soon took
ACROSS
1 The best
5 Throws, as dice
10 Catch sight of
14 Freshly
15 City in Nebraska
16 Wheel hub
17 Stratagem
18 Stratum
19 Sign on a door
20 Of the stars
22 Unwavering
24 Contended
26 Captain of fiction
27 Deviates
31 Overcharge for
tickets
34 Lennon's widow
35 Brown color
37 Relative to the
onion
39 Stage show part
41 Play a guitar
43 Path
44 Like a moray
45 Long-necked
bird
47 Way traveled:
abbr.
48 Station
51 Part of NLRB
53 Charles Lamb
55 Yearn
56 Parade fallout
60 Drizzled
64 Field
65 Sound
reasoning
67 Weathercock
68 Opp. of fern.
69 WW II plane,—
Gay
70 School jacket
71 If not
72 Hinder
73 Scatters seed
DOWN
1 Scarlett
O'Hara's home
2 Burden
3 Nuisance
4 Veer
5 Places of
learning
6 Physicians' org.
7 Utters
notice, resulting in the band's
signing to Warner Music Canada.
The first album, 1993's
Bargainville, went platinum while
the band toured sold out theaters
across Canada. The band even
garnered a Juno nomination for
group of the year. An extensive
tour throughout the U.S. and
Europe was to follow, where the
band became widely known for the
musicality, humor, and energy put
into their live shows. Through their
non-stop touring, Moxy Fruvous
developed a fanatical following,
known internationally as the
"Fruheads."
In 1995, the band released their
second album Wood, a more
intimate and personal record which
was highlighted by fluent
instrumental performances and
trademark four part vocals.
1997 brought about You Will Go
to the Moon for The Bottom Line
Record Company, a new label
formed by Allan Pepper and
Stanley Snadowsky, owners of the
legendary New York venue The
Bottom Line, and Hank Medress,
veteran producer and executive.
If first impressions were
everything, I would have punted
You Will Go to the Moon across the
apartment quad. The instruments
used are far different then anything
that I've ever heard before on a pop
album. The ever-harmonizing
voices of bandmates liar)
Ghomeshi, Mike Ford, Dave
Matheson, and Murray Foster are
frighteningly serene and even a bit
nauseating at times. But as much
as I kicked and screamed, the
album, and the Moxy Fruvous
sound, grew on me. Each song is
completely different from the next.
11.4010AFIAggl**C4944
"Get in the Car" are catchy, toe-
1997 Tnbune Media Services, Inc
All rights reserved.
8 Greek letter
9 Vaughan and
Purcell
10 Gain in size
11 Daddy
12 Finished
13 Pavilion
21 Affected
manners
23 Resinous
material
25 Profundity
27 Quantity of
medicine
28 Readied the
presses
29 Sheer fabric
30 Temptress
32 Memorize
33 Five: pref.
36 Of hearing
38 On an even ---
40 Bodoni, e.g.
42 Automobile
46 Ship of 1492
49 Bullfight cheer
50 Named
52 Pointed arches
tapping, pure pop masterpieces.
Then the band down-shifts to the
melodious, and almost hypnotic
"Lee" and the Middle-Eastern
seasoned "Sahara" and "No No
Raja." "Kick in the Ass" and the
title track "You Will Go to the
Moon" proved that Hanson and
Weird Al aren't the only acts that
can musically make their listeners
laugh.
See answers
Page
54 Make amends
56 Approached
57 Spoken
58 Promontory
59 " plenty 0f...
My only problem with the album
is that Moxy Fruvous tried a little
too hard to be different, but they
shouldn't be criticized for that. It's
bands like this, that stand like
barbarians at the gates of Rome and
shout "we will make you laugh.
We will make you dance. You will
go to the moon!"
On my classes-I'd-skip-to-go
see-them scale, Moxy Fruvous
receives an impressive 4 out of a
possible 5 out of pure respect for
guts and originality—and for the
fact that they covered the Bee
Gee's classic "I've Gotta Get a
Message To You," and did a damn
good job with it. Plus, I've got to
see what these guys try doing live.
For anyone interested in seeing
Moxy Fruvous live, they will be
performing November 29 at Top
Cat's in Cincinatti, December 2 at
Rosebud in Pittsburgh, and at
Styleen's in Syracuse on December
5.
MOXY FRUVOUS (shown
at right) has introduced a
unique and innovative style
of music to pop culture.
Band members include Jian
Ghomeshi, Mike Ford, Dave
Matheson, and Murray
Foster.
61 Western alliance
62 Sufficiently,
archaically
63 Lairs
66 de France
Features
Erie writer Rick Lopez
visits Behrend
The rewards and
difficulties of being
an artist in a small
community are
discussed
"I write to order this intense mess
that's going on in my head,"
believes Rick Lopez, an Erie artist
who visited Behrend this Monday,
"You can get rich entertaining, but if
you want to do art, you bang your head
against the wall until you die; you love
it, or you don't do it."
-Rick Lopez
Erie writer, musician and publisher
November 17, in the Studio
Theatre. Lopez, Erie's most
prolific long-term, small-time
publisher and renowned member of
Erie's artistic "underground," has
been involved with publishing,
writing and making music for
nearly twenty years.
In an informal, intimate literature
reading and discussion, Lopez
described the sacrifices made an the
rewards received from a life
immersed entirely in the arts.
While the money isn't exactly
good, Lopez feels compelled to
write: as a child, he wrote for self
indulgence; as a young adult, he
found writing to be therapeutic; and
now, as a grown man, he writes to
by Kristi McKim
features editor
The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, November 20, 1997 -Page 9
enact his "savior complex"—he
believes he could "save the world
if only [he] could find the right
words."
Such a mission he pursues in his
publication of the magazine
Baseball and the 10,000 Things. In
this work, he celebrates and
sentimentalizes the sport of
baseball—a theme which he
considers heavily in his work, as he
uses baseball as a metaphor for life.
"It's not about baseball; it's about
intellectual fervor. I'm ranting,
obviously," states Lopez. "If I can
explain to some guy who only
understands baseball not to hate
negroes, then my agenda is
accomplished." His "approach to
everything is to revere it and get
that crazy sort of holiness out of it."
His writing, itself, reminiscent of
the Beat generation's work
(particularly Kerouac), is full of
rhyme and alliteration. His essays
are deeply intimate, direct and
intensely driven; his work exhibits
a consciousness and directness
toward the reader, as his poetic
personal essays seem to plead for
understanding and appreciation of
the themes which he discusses.
In his establishment of his career
in the arts, he feels that it worked
to his advantage to stay in Erie, as
opposed to moving to more
culturally-renown cities (i.e. New
York, San Francisco). Here, he was
able to make important connections
and establish
relationships for such a career.
The only disadvantage to a career
such as Lopez's is the financial
struggle which accompanies the
rewards of artistic expression. At
one point, Lopez worked eight
hours a day to pay the bills, five
hours a day to earn money to eat,
and five hours a day writing.
Financing such an arts habit
requires supplemental jobs; Lopez
currently makes countertops for
Robertson's Kitchens. "My
obsession is such that the money is
almost an afterthought," Lopez
states.
Certainly, his obsession and
fascination with art is evident
through the intense reverence and
dedication he has toward his work.
The importance of expression is so
important to him that it cannot be
financially valued. He
philosophizes, "you can get rich
entertaining, but if you want to do
art, you bang your head against the
wall until you die; you love it, or
you don't do it."
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