You say you’ve had it with pretty boys who can’t play. Well, check out Britny Fox. Just a few short months ago those guys were slogging away on the Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania club circuit. Then Columbia Records stepped in and signed them.
Here’s a band on the way up, and lead singer “Dizzy” Dean Davidson talked with us about his group’s dizzying success.
Q. I recall reading a review of Britny Fox’s demo in an underground magazine, and the reviewer really tore the band apart. What made me laugh was when he said your guitarist was 36 years old, with an exclamation point. I guess he figures he should be in a home somewhere. But if you guys are in your 30’s, should that be held against you?
A. It’s like a jealousy thing. Somebody always has something to say, but we know where we’re at, and we know what we’re going to do. The farther you get in success, the more people are gonna say stuff. They don’t know, until they meet you in person. Everybody in this band is like middle 20’s. O.K. And that’s the truth. We’re all like 25, 26.
Q. I don’t know where they got 36 from.
A. Well, what it is, is a lot of people are out to wreck this band. There’s a lot of musicians we’ve run into. The more they do that, the more they’re helping us, because we’re gonna do that much more, and put more into it.
Q. Why the jealousy about Britny Fox?
A. It’s just been that way, for the past 2-3 years, just from day 1 when this band started, we’ve been running into people like that. We just blow it off. A lot of bands act that way with us. We don’t know why. It just comes off that way. Me personally, I’m not the kind of guy who swags on bands. There’s no reason to, ’cause all the music is great. All the bands are great.
Q. Where did the money come from to finance your 7 song demo?
A. We played out of a club that had a recording studio, the whole 9 yards. Then, our manager worked there and he helped us along. We did the demo just to get attention. Then
the demo just got out of hand and started selling, through the club on a little label. Finally things started taking off from our manager, and he really got in there with us and we all worked together on it.
Q. And how did Columbia hear about Britny Fox?
A. Again through our manager. We showcased. We opened for Cinderella down in Wildwood Convention Center. We did it. It went over.
Q. Your booking agent (WBW Entertainment) also handles Billy Joel and Debbie Gibson. Why not choose an agency that specializes in hard rock, like D.M.A. or Premier Talent?
A. Well, at the time, it was the right thing to go with, because there’s not that many acts out there, so all the time can be devoted to one thing in that category. O.K.? They can do it just as well, instead of concentrating on 15 other acts.
Q. Kerrang! gave Britny Fox a 6 page cover feature in their April 21st issue. Why would they do that? Are you popular in England?
A. We have a lot of press over there and airplay here and there for the past year and a half. They just stuck with us over there. They’ve seen the band climb. They know what we’re all about and what we want to accomplish. It’s just great.
Q. You were a drummer who wanted to be a frontman. Is that correct?
A. Yeah. For years.
Q. So you locked yourself away and practiced guitar until you thought you were good enough to come out.
A. Right.
Q. Who says you have to play guitar to be a frontman?
A. That’s just the way it just worked. I was writing songs for 2-3 years, when I got off drums. I had the name for the group, Britny Fox, since I was 12, from my family tree. So, I had that whole thing, now I had to have the songs. I just went away and started writing. As I was writing, I was getting the rhythms down like a machine, gettin’ ’em down really tight, and all the moves with the guitar, like the real loose dancing type stuff, like a Paul Stanley type thing. A lot of influence from him. Prince. That kind of movement. It just caught on that way. Plus, it’s a two guitar band. It’s real solid rhythms and then Michael takes all the leads.
