Somewhere today, a hipster is going to proclaim this band — this band, right here — the best damn thing happening at SXSW right now. The Stone Foxes will be everywhere over the next couple of days in Austin, appearing some seven times between now and Saturday.
Here’s an example of why they are going to be killing it. Sounding something like the mixture of a forgotten FM deep cut and mid-period Black Keys, the Stone Foxes’ aptly named “Cold Like a Killer” hits you slightly lower than the typical classic-rock roundhouse to the jaw. It’s dark, chilled to the bone, like a felon’s hand closing around your heart. More particularly, they never stay in one place for long. Not within this song (which moves from half-lit portent to thunderous fury) and not out on the road (where they’ll be opening, somehow, for both Social Distortion and Gov’t Mule).
“Cold Like a Killer” is actually part of a cavalcade of new music being released by the Stone Foxes, arriving on the first Friday of every month. By the time they get to October, there will be enough for a new album, to be called 12 Spells. Led by brothers Shannon and Spencer Koehler (who both sing while playing drums and guitars, respectively), the Stone Foxes can also be found playing headline gigs at places like the Brooklyn Bowl while appearing all over the TV, from commercials for BMW and Jack Daniels to series like Elementary and Sons of Anarchy.
In other words, this dash through SXSW might be the last fleeting opportunity to say you knew them back when. Rest assured, it won’t be long before the Stone Foxes — this band, right here — is being proclaimed as the best damn thing happening anywhere right now.
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