WHO NAMED THE BAND: King of Foxes fierce and fragile

Posted on February 6, 2019 By Mike Ross culture, Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, Music

Olivia Street decided to come up with a band name rather than use her own as a way to “protect the art” – and also to avoid the stigma of the singer-songwriter. It’s there. Sorry about that.

King of Foxes is a good band name. It works on many levels. “Fox” is slang for a beautiful woman, but then there’s a gender flip. It’s not Queen of Foxes (which might make a good name for a country singer). It’s King of Foxes.

Street says she chose the name because she likes foxes, “I always think of the fox as being a hunted creature, with the stereotypical English fox hunts and whatnot, and I just thought: What a beautiful animal, so wild and free – and fierce. It’s both the hunter and the hunted. That’s the image that stuck with me, something that’s both fierce and fragile. I like thinking about that certain quality in our music the same way. I love rock, I love stuff that’s got grit to it, and at the same time I’m aware my own voice is quite feminine. I don’t want to say fragile, but there’s an airiness, and I really like the juxtaposition of things, the hunter and the hunted, the fierce and the fragile.”

Picking a band name is hard enough. Living with it is the trick – because the band name itself can begin to affect the creative process. Depends on the band. Depends on the name. What kind of album is Metallica going to make next? What about Nashville Pussy?

King of Foxes has been kicking around Edmonton for five years now, scoring a 10K20 radio grant, releasing three records, earning rave reviews. The latest, Salt & Honey, comes out Feb. 8.

Street says, “When you take on a name, you can take in a different persona, and I feel like that comes across in the music. I was working hard on this album to be a little bit more vulnerable. I feel like sometimes I’d surround myself with aggressive guitars. Rock is in my blood. I wanted to step out from that a little bit.”

The first single Backsliders sounds like a lighter departure, more pop, less rock (see video, below). No surprise Street’s favourite band is Steely Dan. This is a catchy, happy tune about people sliding “back” into sin, a common idea among born-again Christians.

Interesting back story: Street, daughter of noted Edmonton saxophonist William Street, went to church every week as a kid, different churches and denominations. She got her musical start in church, playing violin. She’s been to Sunday school. She’s read the Bible. “And then at some point along the way everyone in my family became atheist, including my parents,” she says. “So I think it was an experimenting process. I think it’s good to be exposed to things, and then make your own decisions.”

The Streets never went to the sort of hardcore church where one could be admonished for being a backslider (which would be a good name for a very tiny sinful hamburger) – “but it was phrase I took on for myself,” the singer says, and makes her opinion on the matter clear: “The song goes, ‘I am no fighter.’ I can’t ignore the urges, I can’t fight them.”

King of Foxes plays its album release show in Edmonton at the Aviary on Feb. 15.