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80's Hairband World
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jverner@sbcglobal.net
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Britny Fox were a typical glam-rock
bar band transplanted to L.A. from their home base
of Philadelphia. After making the move in 1985, they
soon met
Michael Kelly Smith (guitar) from up-and-coming
band
Cinderella, and before long the guitarist had
defected from his former band to join the Philly
boys' ranks. Naming themselves Britny Fox after one
of singer
Dizzy Dean Davison's Welsh ancestors, the band
copped
Cinderella's theatrical look and recorded their
first demo,
In America, with other members including
Billy Childs on bass and
Johnny Dee on drums. To show that there were no
hard feelings,
Cinderella helped the band get a record contract
with Columbia, who released their self-titled debut
to great acclaim and near-platinum sales. Lead
single "Long Way to Love" made heavy rotation on
MTV, but the equally rocking follow-up, "Girlschool,"
failed to ignite even in the specialized format of
the video station's
Headbanger's Ball. Nevertheless, Britny Fox won
Metal Edge magazine's Best New Band award in
1988.
For their second album, the group tried to
incorporate a rootsier vibe into their sound,
bringing in new producer
Neil Kernon in search of the diversification
that would free them from
Cinderella's looming shadow. The approach failed
to win them many new fans, and with sales lagging,
Dizzy Dean left to pursue other interests. Just
when it seemed the band had spent its fifteen
minutes, Britny Fox came cruising back with
Dizzy Dean soundalike
Tommy Paris. Unfortunately, the songwriting had
failed to progress one iota, and with the declining
public taste for Hollywood glam, the band folded
before their new album had time to hit the cutout
bins.
I had the pleasure of interviewing
bassist Billy Childs in which he will give us a
little bit of what's going on with Britny Fox these
days.
80sHW:
Billy, welcome to 80's
Hairband World. What are you up to these days?
Billy Childs:
Just taking a break from
the first leg of the tour, and waiting for more
dates to be finalized so we can continue. Smoking
a lot of weed, playing ball and just waiting,
basically.
80sHW:
How was the First
Annual Rocklahoma Festival?
Billy Childs:
It was great, I saw a lot
of guys I hadn't seen in a long time, and the vibe
of the whole thing was really cool. Backstage
everybody seemed to be getting along well, and it
was just a good time. The crowd was great also, a
lot of people there.
80sHW:
Did you get to hang
out with old friends that you haven't seen in
years at Rocklahoma?
Billy Childs:
Yes, there were a lot of
guys I hadn't seen in many years and it was good
seeing them again. Much good bud was smoked,
that's a fact!
80sHW:
Are you excited for
next year's Rocklahoma Festival?
Billy Childs:
Yes I am, I hear that
we're being added, should be a blast and I'm
looking forward to it already.
80sHW:
Billy, I heard there
might be a new studio album in the works.
Is there any way you can tell us aard that
there bout this?
Billy Childs:
Right now we're really
just concentrating on touring, although Tommy and
I are fooling around with a few ideas. Nothing
concrete yet, but I'm sure we'll get to it. We
recently worked with Gilby Clarke, and he's our
first choice to produce at this point.
80sHW:
Where would you like
to see Britny Fox in next two years?
Billy Childs:
Successful, maybe?
Really, I'd be happy if we could be successful
enough to just record and tour without having to
deal with outside projects. I'd rather not have to
do outside gigs or record with other people, just
have this be the only thing we do.
80sHW:
Will you guys be
putting a DVD together in the future? Like maybe
some bonus features that might include all the
music videos.
Billy Childs:
Nothing's been discussed
yet but it does sound like a good idea. We'll have
to talk about it and see if we think there's
enough interest.
80sHW:
When you go out on
tour, do you like to play in arenas, clubs, or
both?
Billy Childs:
Arenas are great because
of the bigness of the whole thing, but for me I've
always liked how close the crowd is in clubs. It's
really two different things, basically two types
of performing. In clubs it's much more personal
and I enjoy that more. Good thing too, because I'm
not doing many arenas these days!
80sHW:
What is the most
craziest Rock N' Roll moment you have experienced
back in the Day?
Billy Childs:
I guess it would have to
be going over Niagra Falls in a barrel. Wait, let
me think..... maybe it was the time I jumped a
motorcycle over the Grand Canyon. Uuuh... I can't
decide. Really though, the same shit as all the
other guys. We all basically did the same things,
I've been arrested as much or more than most of
them and just leave it at that. That's a pretty
crazy world to live in, and every day is an
adventure. You get the idea.
80sHW:
How did MTV help
Britny Fox's career in the 80's? (The single "Long
way to Love" was a major airplay on MTV)
Billy Childs:
It basically made our
careers happen. We never got much radio until the
very end of the 80's, so for us it was pretty much
getting on the big tours and the MTV exposure that
got our name out there. Actually, almost every
video we did received heavy rotation at MTV and we
were always in the top 10 viewer requests. I think
we get more radio now than we did then so MTV was
a huge help to us. Shit, we still get more than
our share of VH1 classic it seems, so they're
still helping.
80sHW:
Cinderella helped
Britny Fox's career. Do you still have contact
with Cinderella?
Billy Childs:
That's really kind of a
misconception. We're both from Philly, but they
had nothing to do with our first Columbia deal,
and we really only played together once or twice.
The one show we did do with them early on happened
to be the show where CBS decided to sign us, but
it really didn't have anything to do with them.
Not to give the wrong impression, there's no bad
blood at all between the two bands and I consider
Eric, Jeff, and Fred as well, to be friends of
mine. The only one I don't know well is Tom, and
we've always been cool. As far as contact, those
guys all live in Nashville now I believe, but I
have run into Jeff a few times in Philly over the
last few years and we've always hung out. They're
just nice guys.
80sHW:
How did you feel when
the grunge movement came in the early 90's which
put hair metal music and bands to a halt?
Billy Childs:
I always get shit about
this one, 'cause I was very conflicted about it. I
knew those guys were putting us out of business
but at the same time I really loved a lot of what
they were doing. I guess you could say, oddly
enough, I'm a much bigger fan of 90's music (STP,
Soundgarden, AIC, Nirvana, etc.) than I was of
most of the 80's stuff. My opinion from being
there, at ground zero so to speak, was that the
80's weren't so much killed by the 90's, the 80's
comitted suicide. What I mean by that is that by
the end of the 80's, early 90's, too many of what
were considered 80's bands were very inferior to
the bands that came before them. The scene was
bloated, overexposed and tired. People had just
had enough, and the grunge thing was a breath of
fresh air for them. The music business is nothing
if not cyclical, and it always will be. Maybe
that's why many of us are functioning again, which
was hard to do thru most of the 90's.
80sHW:
Explain one best thing
about recording each of these albums?
a.
Britny Fox-
It's your
first real album for a major label so what can be
bad? Dream come true, you know?
b.
Boys in Heat-
For me,
it was recording in NYC. I've always loved New
York and at that time the nightlife was out of
control and I was in my element.
c.
Bite Down Hard-
Having
Tommy as our singer and actually knowing that we
were finally gonna produce something where the
quality of the vocals wasn't an issue.
d.
Long way to Love-
("Long Way to Live!") This was our first live
album and the best thing for me was that it came
out sounding exactly the way I hoped we sounded
live. My favorite Britny album, by the way.
e.
Springhead Motorshark-
The fact that we actually got it done. We weren't
prepared to record at all, it was a label
decision, and there's not much I remember good
about it. That being said, I recently heard it and
it's not without its moments.
80sHW:
What do you like to
do in your spare time when your not on tour?
Billy Childs:
Smoke a lot of weed, play
a lot of ball, watch a lot of movies, play a lot
of video games, basically just hang. Also spend
this time laying down song ideas and hanging with
my girlfriend in Cali.
80sHW:
If you weren't a
musician, what would you being doing?
Billy Childs:
Professional basketball
player, or maybe alligator wrestler? Is it hard to
get those jobs? I really don't know as I've really
never done anything else. Probably nothing good
though. Maybe turd farming?
80sHW:
Is there anything you would like to say to
the fans out there before you go? Where can the
fans get all of the Britny Fox updates at?
Billy Childs: Just thanks for all the
support and allowing me to exist for all these
years doing what I love to do, don't know what
would've happened to me if it wasn't for that.
Best and latest info can be found at http://www.myspace.com/britnyfoxband and/or
http://www.myspace.com/billychildsbritnyfox.
They're updated very frequently and have
many pictures, reviews, news, etc. Thanks very
much for having me, hopefully see everybody on the
road soon. Bye, and thanks.
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