The sun had finally appeared on the second day of Shabang, just in time for Foxtide’s set. Stationed at the main stage, Laguna Lake, the band drew in a large crowd migrating from all around the festival grounds.
This was my second time seeing the band live. The first was at Brick and Mortar in San Francisco. More than doubling their audience this time around, Foxtide kept everyone engaged with their commanding presence on stage and expressive performance style.
Learn more about the band through our interview below!
How do you feel after your first festival set?
Oey James
Really good.
Ian Robles
Awesome.
Elijah Gibbons-Croft
Pretty fired up. Ready for another one.
Ian Robles
We’re playing again.
Elijah Gibbons-Croft
Yeah, we got the bug. The sun is coming out!
Oey James
That was the first time I think we’ve seen the wave of people jumping. Some people were out of sync [laughs].
Have you had a chance to explore SLO while you’re here?
Oey
I’ve been here a couple of times. My godfather lives in Pismo Beach, and I’ve been passing through here since I was a kid. I have some friends who went to Cal Poly, so I’ve been here a bunch. I love it here.
Ian
This is my first time.
Elijah
This is my second time.
Congrats on your first headline tour this past December. What was that experience like?
Ian
Honestly, pretty surreal. We’ve been supporting tours for so long. Now it’s like, oh, people are only here to see us.
Oey
Like, the climax of that was Austin because it sold out. That was a really good show, good energy.
What was it like the first time seeing fans singing back to you?
Elijah
Doesn’t make sense. I didn’t even know really what to make of it. I was like, whoa, people know our music like that. Just amazing.
Congrats also on releasing your debut album, Chaos. You mentioned in a previous interview regarding your first EP that you didn’t like recording because of how tedious it was. How was the process this time around?
Elijah
It’s a lot better because we into it as a piece of art and expression. It felt more natural. Felt really coherent, too. Days at the studio are tough sometimes, but after an eight-hour day, you feel really good. Feel really accomplished.
Oey
It’s the best feeling. It’s like, “Oh, I did what I was supposed to do; make something.” I love the studio.
Elijah
Something I realized with this album is that it’s not going anywhere. What you’ve just released is permanent. That was a crazy realization for me.
Oey
And it holds more weight than an EP or singles. Those are cool, but an album? An album is an album. When you look at any artist over time, you look at their albums.
Do you feel like you’ve honed down your sound with this album?
Ian
I think we’re still experimenting. Getting more into our groove.
Elijah
It’s more of a path of discovery. It’s like, okay, we did that. Let’s do the next thing. It’s still going to be coherent because it’s us doing it.
For your set today, what was the decision behind playing “Keep You in the Palm of Her Hand” acoustically?
Oey
It was Ian.
Ian
It was?
Elijah
Initially. We were like, No. And then we were like, yeah.
Ian
Oh, wait, you’re so right! It was!
Elijah
We were looking for one to do an acoustic that we haven’t done before. And he had suggested that one. And we were like, ” I don’t know, man. It’s a pretty grandiose, rock kind of tune.” But
Oey
We were thinking about which one of our songs has a repeating line chorus throughout, and a point where we can all come in hard? “Keep You in the Palm of Her Hand” fills both of those. It was cool to go from acoustic to the full band.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Elijah
This year we have the Arcy Drive tour. And we’ll see where we go. Maybe some headlining shows, more festivals too, if the weather permits. Making more music. Whenever we return from being on the road, I feel like we walk into the making side of things.
Oey
In the past, we were like, “Oh, now we have to go home and make the album [negative].” Now we have to go home and make the album [positive]. That’s a great thing. That’s also my favorite thing, too. Stoked for that, stoked for more music.
Foxtide
