Rock band SUNFLOWER FOX AND THE CHICKEN LEG have a handful of songs out there, with all new songs in the works already, an album expected soon enough. The band talks about writing more music, planning out some shows, with a whole lot else in-store.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Kaity Heart-Vocals, James Gross-Rhythm Guitar, Mike Schmidt-Lead Guitar, Al Berg-Keys, Kyle Primus-Drums, Craig Holets-Bass
We’re all professional session players and jobbers, so we had a lot of time during the pandemic to write since our gigs were canceled! It was rough not making any money-but we got a band out of the deal. Kaity asked James (who have been very close if not best friends for the better part of 15 years) if he was interested in just helping her put together a writing project with some other displaced, talented local musicians and Sunflower was essentially born.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Kaity had an idea for a name that had something to do with nature as so many themes out of 70’s music have nature allegories. So she had Sunflower Fox in mind-but it sounded a little too soft and indy. Kyle called his drumsticks ‘chicken legs’ ….get it!? And we tacked it on. We thought it was just ridiculous enough to stick.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We’re based mainly out of Minneapolis, MN-widely known for Prince and the funky Minneapolis sound. It’s kind of bred into all of us if you grew up here-every rock band has a little bit of funk in them. The rock and funk scene here is pretty great-we’re very proud of all our friends-especially those who have sung backup for us! Check these folks out: Letitia Rae-Slave Raider, Zippy Laske, Jaki Blue, and Rocket Club.
4. How would you describe your style?
It’s like Heart, Led Zeppelin and Cheap Trick drank a bunch of Hamms and had an unholy love child in the back of a carpeted van.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
We’ve released 4 original songs, and a cover of ‘Brandy’ by Looking Glass in the style of Cheap trick. We are frequently compared to Heart, and Zeppelin-which tracks as we are working with Ron Nevison who worked with both bands. We adore the 70’s and this is essentially a love letter to that era with all the great things that came with it: Live room recording, letting the music breathe and not making things perfect. This is about passion. Not about perfection.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
We have 3 more songs for this current self titled album, the second album (7 songs is currently being mixed by Ron Nevison) and the third album is in pre-production. There will not be any lulls in new music for the next two years.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
We are in the infancy stages of planning a tour in 2024 for the UK-so we’ll see how that goes!
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Keep writing, keep finding fans, keep meeting people who think like us-people who want to see real music back. Whether it’s rock, country, R&B…whatever. Just real talent and not computers. Not that there isn’t a place for that-but sometimes we feel like we’re losing our soul the way music is starting to head.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
We are on all streaming platforms! Especially spotify! You can head over to our linktree to find all of the things! https://linktr.ee/sunflowerfoxandthechickenleg
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
We’re doing this live. We are all in a room together-we don’t do overdubs unless we have to. We’re trying to bring back the magic that happened in these iconic studios. It’s one thing to record in our basements (where honestly, we totally could-the technology is totally there) but it’s a whole other thing to go to another part of the country, and be in the same space as Kansas/Stevie Wonder (Studio in the Country) or Nirvana/Live (Pachyderm Studios) or Sublime/Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Sonic Ranch) and feel that energy. That’s what they did in the 70’s and that’s what we’re doing now.
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