The Skinny: Zox is a band that hails from Rhode Island and labels themselves as a violin-laced rock reggae punk band. The band is currently on SideOneDummy records and has two studio releases: Take Me Home and The Wait. Zox consists of: John Zox (drums and band namesake), Eli Miller (guitar, vocals), Spencer Swain (violin, vocals), Dan Edinberg (bass, vocals.)

The Date & Place: 10-6-2006 at Oktoberfest in Farmville, VA

The Review: Even though this band wasn’t the featured band of the night, you couldn’t tell by their level of energy. Zox put 110% into their show and the result was a great blend of musical genres twisting their way into something pretty special.

The first thing that struck me was the sheer talent of this band. Their drummer John was ridiculously technical, throwing in irregular beats all while hitting his mark. Even though he didn’t have a Danny Carey-type of drum set, he mastered and used the full range of what he had. The lead vocalist/guitarist Eli had a really good voice that harmonized well with the rest of the band. He also had the uncanny ability to not miss a beat when his guitar string snapped. Dan the bassist also had skills, shifting in and out of rhythm and lead tracks. He also did a very good job of interacting with the crowd. Shifting focus now to Spencer the electric violinist (yes you heard that right) who used his instrument in a very lead type of way. There was one amazing part where he jumped up towards the end of the stage and played so fast his fingers blurred. Yes, they actually blurred to the naked eye. It was intense.

Zox also positioned themselves on stage where nobody was really front-and-center. This allowed everyone to easily step forward and take a lead, or to interact with the crowd. And on interacting, the band was really personable after the set, signing autographs and generally just hanging out. They were also selling their CD’s 2 for $10.00, which is worth mentioning because I ran across their latest CD, The Wait, in a music store for $16.00 by itself. While discussing their CD, I thought they sounded a bit different in person than the sound they have on their recordings. The little sticker on their album says “For fans of Jack Johnson, Sublime, and The Pixies” and while that may be true, their live show had a distinctly different feel. The sound was more intense, drum-heavy, a bit tighter, and in all honestly it was a bit better than the feel I get from their albums. I don’t know if this was because of the energy they put into their live shows, or because they knew they were opening for Flogging Molly and had to be on top of their game. Whatever the reasoning, they had a good live sound and I would recommend you (yes YOU) go see this band perform.