Veteran Foxx Hunt member says new bassist adds a ’round-out sound’ to the band’s upcoming EP release

Caitlin Sirse | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: DKS Editors

Sinking into the semi-comfortable chairs by Jazzman’s in the basement of the Student Center, the band members of Foxx Hunt sit quietly, waiting for guitarist/vocalist Bill Manke to join them from picking up his fix of caffeine.

Manke, junior fine arts major, steps over and smiles broadly with his brew in hand, taking a seat. He takes the edge off of the silence almost immediately and dives right into what this up-and-coming band has to offer.

Fully forming a year-and-a half ago, Foxx Hunt has been working together since 2007 to create music inspired by Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones and The Cars.

The band began two-and-a-half years ago with Manke and Corey Jenkins, junior hospitality management major. They started under a different name, 20 Go To 10. Inspired by Keith Richards and Eddie Cochran, the two friends created music that reflected the classic rock ‘n’ roll sound of the 1950s and ’60s.

“We write songs that are catchy,” Jenkins said. “We sing about rock ‘n’ roll stuff . girls and sex and having fun.”

But attempts to build up the band were delayed by a “revolving door of drummers,” Manke said.

In 2007, Manke and Jenkins found freshman exploratory major Drew Seli to fill the beat-keeper void. Seli said he adds a “no-frills” and “feel-good” sound to Foxx Hunt.

At the end of October 2008, Foxx Hunt’s first bass player up and left with a simple note reading: “I quit Foxx Hunt. -Nick.”

Manke and Jenkins simply said he left for personal reasons.

By the end of November, Foxx Hunt was able to find a replacement bassist in Jon Gould, junior fine arts major.

“Jon added a lot to the band’s dynamic,” Manke said. “We were limited on what we could do.”

Gould’s deep, blues-rooted bass tones and Seli’s rhythms gave the band a “round-out sound” and a new way of playing.

Practicing in Manke’s Kent basement, jokingly deemed the Foxx Den, the band has been using mixing boards, practice amps and borrowed microphones to record its self-made, currently untitled EP, which the band said is almost done. The band members have put some recordings up on their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/foxxhuntband.

Although this will be the band’s first album, the members of Foxx Hunt have kept a few songs they’ve already written, tweaking them slightly.

“Songwriting changes as you change,” Jenkins said. “With new band members, everything changes.”

Performing live in and around Kent, Foxx Hunt aims to please.

“We have guitar solos,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins and Manke agreed many bands don’t have guitar solos anymore and said Foxx Hunt isn’t afraid to mess them up.

“We want to take it back to basics: dancing and having a good time,” Jenkins said.

Ultimately, Foxx Hunt just wants to have fun. Hoping to tour in the south near Nashville, Tenn., the band members wouldn’t mind being picked up by Blackheart Records or Downtown Records, who produce with Gnarls Barkley, Eagles of Death Metal and Mos Def.

“We’re just trying to build and get better to the point where we can make attempts (at getting a record deal),” Manke said. “It takes a while.”

Bringing their music back to the basics of rock ‘n’ roll, the members of Foxx Hunt add their own personal experiences and views of music to create an updated version of classic rock.

“A lot of music is now disposable,” Jenkins said. “We play the stuff that’s time-tested but add our own spin.”

Contact all reporter Laura Lofgren at [email protected].