Essential 8: Fox and Bones

Courtesy of the Artist

Lauded by Pop Matters and Glide, Folk-pop duo Fox and Bones released their latest outing, Better Land, today, October 19th. The ten-track project features reflective songwriting alongside jovial sing-alongs, moving ballads, and brass-tinged bluesy hip swayers. Here, Sarah and Scott answer their Essential 8 where they talk their biggest success, eating healthy on the road, hot springs, heroes, and more!

What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
Sarah: Play music, all the time. When I started out, I was so hungry. I bought tons of books, signed up for online courses, attended open mics, met people in the local scene, set “informational interviews” with big hitters in the business. I lived and breathed the music industry, soaking up everything I could. Networking is everything, and I think the best way to start is doing at least one, if not multiple, open mics a week and meeting other musicians. I find that as you grow your network, people start asking you to play shows with them, or ask you to play at their bar, or whatever. I worked as a bartender in a small town when I first started out, and I’d always bring the guitar to work and sing for my patrons, so I became known as the singing bartender. One of my customers told a local venue owner about me, and he ended up hiring me for my first paying gig that turned into a standing monthly gig for over two years! Just work hard, and meet everyone you can, make a reputation for yourself as someone who gives it their all. Oh, and learn how to write a good email! Check spelling and grammar, get to the point quickly, be polite, and thank them for taking time out of their busy day to read your email. You’d be surprised how many musicians don’t have these basic skills.

Which song of yours gets the best crowd response?
Scott: We play a version of our song “Lay You Down” and at the end of it we ask for word suggestions from the crowd and we then make up a verse about the suggested word. Our improvisational skills are moderate at best and it usually ends in some form of nonsense but the audience loves it. There is something communal about being silly and willing to embarrass yourself for the sake of entertainment.

What has been your biggest success?
Scott: Our biggest success is completing our most recent record “Better Land.”  The amount of time and money that goes into making a record can be overwhelming, especially while touring constantly. With the help of producer Dominik Schmidt and engineer Matt Greco, we were able to gather the perfect musicians together to make something that we can truly be proud of. We’d plan a week off in between tours and camp out at The Rye Room in Portland, recording as much as we could before we had to head back out on the road. After the dust settled, Better Land is the record we always dreamed of.

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What’s your favorite/”go-to” food on the road?
Sarah: I’m a big health nut, so eating on the road isn’t exactly my favorite thing. I’m really obsessed with green juice and acai bowls, so everywhere we go, I always type “Juice Bars and Smoothies” into my maps app and cross my fingers something comes up. I usually only get lucky in the cities, rural areas don’t seem much into smoothie bars, but if we can find one, I always prioritize them. I’ll eat them for any meal. Portland has so many healthy food options, so it’s hard to compare, but if nothing else, Jamba Juice and Tropical Smoothie Café are everywhere and while I wouldn’t normally choose those places at home, they are a godsend sometimes on the road when the only other option is fast food!

Is there anyone you would love to collaborate with?
Scott: We’d love to do a song with Portland artist John Craigie. His lyricism and wit are top notch and he is writing some of the better songs we’ve heard in the past few decades.

Do you have a favorite thing to do on a day off?
Sarah: I have a thing for hot springs and spas and it’s kind of become a tour ritual that whenever we have a day off or are near a place that has a natural hot spring, I always make a point to go. Sometimes it’s a full hot spring resort, sometimes it’s as simple as a gym with a sauna or steam room, but hot springs and saunas are my favorite ways to relax. I’ve been to some pretty amazing ones, there was Wiesbaden Hot Springs in Ouray, Colorado, where they legitimately had an underground cave with a 108 degree hot spring pool, and my favorite one recently was in Bad Blumau, Austria, which was a full compound with multiple pools at different temperatures, 10 different saunas, spa services and restaurants. It was paradise. I ended up spending like 11 hours there. We’ve also played shows at a couple hot springs, and I’m hoping to at some point to book Fox and Bones for a hot spring tour of the west. Scott’s not nearly as into them as I am though.

Do you have a favorite gift from a fan?
Scott: We were playing Volcanic Theater in Bend, Oregon at the start of our 2017 US tour and after the gig, a fan approached us with this beautiful color drawing of a fox holding bones in her mouth. It was absolutely gorgeous. A week later, she sent the full image to us over the web and we printed it and put it on our kick drum and made stickers!

Have you met any of your heroes? If so, how did it go?
Sarah: I once flew to Albuquerque New Mexico because I won a meet and greet with the Zac Brown Band. I’d been putting my name in the hat for all his meet and greets around the country and that one worked out! So I flew out there for less than 24 hours, just to see the show. I had just released my first album, and I wanted to make an impression, so I wore a tiger onesie to the meet and greet. What Zac Brown Band actually does is put on “Eat and Greets,” where the bands chef makes food for everyone and then the band serves it to you, so you just meet them briefly while you are going through the food line. I had written Zac a note thanking him for being an inspiration to me and explaining how his music led me to travel, and there I decided to become a musician. When the band first walked into the room, my tiger onesie caught his eye and he laughed and gave me a thumbs up. When I went through the line, as he handed me food, I told him he’d inspired my album and handed him a copy, with the hand written note. He thanked me and I saw him take it out of his pocket later on to check it out. Looking back, and being a full fledged musician myself now, I’m kind of embarrassed, it was a pretty bold move. But I always appreciate when fans are inspired by our music, so I like to think he was at least honored, even if he never listened to the album. I signed the note off with, “you’ll definitely be hearing my name in the future”…again pretty bold move, but that I do still believe!

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