“When I listen to a Foxy Shazam record I think of Evel Knievel, Bruce Springsteen, my childhood, Van Morrison, my old friends from high school I don’t talk to anymore, Elton John, the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and beyond, Iggy Pop and my first kiss.” - Eric Nally,

As far as introductions go, lead singer of Foxy Shazam Eric Nally hits it directly on the head. Their new album, The Church of Rock and Roll, is a mish mash of musical sounds ranging from way way back to the present. There are faint to blatantly obvious traces of Led Zeppelin, Meatloaf, Frank Zappa, Elton John, Queen, Motley Crue, Cake, with the humor and flash of The Rocky Horror Picture Show for measure mixed into the albums make up. Be sure to head over to the bands official page, which I have linked up top, to grab yourself a free download of “I Like It”. The song is a perfect example of the bands ability to take influence and just blend it together. Think Led Zeppelin meets Queen with a bit of funk slapped onto it.

As the album moves on your either going to enjoy the change up in styles or your not. For me Last Chance At Love took a couple of rounds to get used to but eventually I came around. It felt more radio pop then the rest of the album, which sounds incredible, but at its core it maintains a rebel mannerism that defies mainstream. Last Chance At Love felt like maybe it’s one of those tracks you toss to the stations as exposure strategy. Still, as a whole the album seems to transcend expectations. Production really sounds great offering up the slightest hand clap or necessary reverb their own channel to shine through so nothing is drowned out by main instruments or vocals. That seems very important considering how busy the bands sound is from lead and background vocals, guitar, drums, bass, horns, piano, etc. For final praise let me just say that in some bands there is always a couple of superstars, weather it be guitar or vocals or drums (sorry not to many bass players aside from Getty Lee, Cliff Burton, and Les Claypool that really come to mind), Foxy Shazam seems to be made up entirely of superstars. In the parlance of our times, It’s all good.