Matt Fox (musician)

Last updated

Matt Fox
Mattfox shaihulud.jpg
Fox in 2008
Background information
Birth nameMatthew Ian Fox
Also known asThe World Devourer (on The Fall of Every Man )
Born (1973-04-28) April 28, 1973 (age 50)
Smithtown, New York, U.S.
Origin Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S.
Genres Hardcore punk, progressive metal, metalcore, crossover thrash, horror hardcore, ska punk
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, bass, drums
Years active1990present

Matthew Ian Fox (born April 28, 1973) is an American musician, founding member and a current lead guitarist for the hardcore punk band Shai Hulud and his side project Zombie Apocalypse.

Contents

Fox writes the most of the Shai Hulud's musical and lyrical output. He has also played guitar in many other rock bands, like Planet X, The Murrychesstoes, The One Eyed Kings, Unwillful Demise, S.F.B and Bingo Mut. [1] [2]

Metalcore term

Fox is credited with popularising the "metalcore" term in the late 1990s/early 2000s, identifying bands like Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity as metalcore bands, [3] even calling Shai Hulud a metalcore band back then as a tongue-in-cheek term with his friends. However, in some interviews, he has stated that he no longer considers Shai Hulud a metalcore band, since the term "has lost its original meaning", i.e. hardcore bands with a "heavier" sound. Fox called the genre "trite" and "shallow music", "made by people that imitate it rather than love it". [4] As of 2015, he refers to Shai Hulud's sound as "Shai Hulud Unincorporated". [5]

Ides of March and At Dawn We Wage War

In 1999, Fox founded the independent record label Ides of March, releasing music by bands like Glasseater, Brother's Keeper, Destro and Poison the Well. Fox secured an exclusive distribution deal through Revelation Records, to which his band Shai Hulud was already signed. Ides of March was originally scheduled to release Shai Hulud side-projects like A New Found Glory, Boddicker and re-issues of obscure Shai Hulud material, but shifted instead to releasing music by close friends. In early 2003, after having put out twelve releases as Ides of March, Fox changed the name of the record label to At Dawn We Wage War, announcing the release of a Shai Hulud compilation. The label however only released a handful of things under the new name and by 2005, it had faded out. The Shai Hulud compilation evolved into A Comprehensive Retrospective: or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Release Bad and Useless Recordings , which was eventually co-released by At Dawn We Wage War and Revelation Records in January 2005.

Personal life

Although Fox practices a drug- and alcohol-free lifestyle, he is not part of the straight edge movement, as stated in many interviews. [5]

Fox's favorite group is the thrash metal band Metallica. [6] He also has been influenced by many other hardcore punk, metallic hardcore, thrash metal, punk rock and progressive metal bands.

Fox has stated that he suffers from coulrophobia, a fear of clowns. [7] Fox also has an extreme love for the Muppets, stating that Kermit is his favorite. [5] [8]

Bands

Discography

  1. "Nuclear Door"
  1. "Stop the Bus It's Russell Epstein" - 3:22
  2. "I Can Own the World" - 2:22
  3. "Amir Bacollie" - 2:13
  4. "I'm Done" - 2:27
  1. "For the World" - 3:02
  2. "This Wake I Myself Have Stirred" - 2:54
  3. "Hardly" - 3:28
  1. "Just Until Sundown" - 3:14
  1. "To Bear the Brunt of Many Blades" - 3:45
  2. "We Who Finish Last" - 3:15
  3. "If A Mountain be my Obstacle" 3:22

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shai Hulud</span> American metalcore band

Shai Hulud is an American metalcore band formed in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1995, and later based in Poughkeepsie, New York. The band is named after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert's novel Dune.

<i>Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion</i> 1997 studio album by Shai Hulud

Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion is the first full-length album by American hardcore punk band Shai Hulud, released on November 4, 1997, on Crisis Records. Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion received positive reviews and became very influential in the emerging metalcore scene of the late 1990s.

<i>A Profound Hatred of Man</i> Extended play by Shai Hulud

A Profound Hatred of Man is an extended play by hardcore punk band Shai Hulud, released on February 18, 1997, on the independent label Crisis Records. In 2006, Revelation Records released a remastered version of the album which also includes the material from all of Shai Hulud's split records with bands Indecision, Boy Sets Fire and Another Victim, and some B-sides and covers.

Embodiment 12:14 were an Australia Christian metal band formed in Adelaide, as Embodiment in 1992, initially they performed death metal. They released two albums, Elements of This Man-Made Man (1998) and Inroads Out (2005), before disbanding in 2006.

Zombie Apocalypse is an American crossover thrash/metalcore band, formed by current members of Shai Hulud, Shallow Water Grave, and The Risk Taken, as well as former members of the 1990s New Jersey band Try.Fail.Try. In 1998, Shai Hulud members Matt Fox and Chad Gilbert created a zombie-themed band project, called Boddicker. They recruited ex-Poison the Well guitarist Russel Saunders. Boddicker recorded a two-song demo in 1998 that was never released. Those two songs are now Zombie Apocalypse songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Kleisath</span> American drummer

Steven Lee Kleisath is an American musician and has been a drummer for PULL, Strongarm, Shai Hulud, Further Seems Forever, and En Masse. The band PULL was originally called Friend or Foe. He also currently plays drums for the band The Darling Fire, who released the record Dark Celebration in 2019.

Means was a Canadian Christian post-hardcore and melodic hardcore band from Regina, Saskatchewan.

<i>That Within Blood Ill-Tempered</i> 2003 studio album by Shai Hulud

That Within Blood Ill-Tempered is the second studio album by hardcore punk band Shai Hulud. It was released on May 20, 2003, through Revelation Records on CD and 300 pressings on LP format. A picture disc was released through Matt Fox's At Dawn We Wage War Records on March 30, 2004, with 1100 pressings. The album title was confirmed on November 12, 2000, and the recording and mixing was finished in May 2002, but due to artwork disagreements, the record was not released until a year later. This record is the only full-length album released with Geert van der Velde on vocals.

<i>The Fall of Every Man</i> 1998 EP by Shai Hulud and Indecision

The Fall of Every Man is a split EP featuring songs from hardcore punk bands Shai Hulud and Indecision, released on September 15, 1998, on the Revelation Records' subsidiary, Crisis Records, in CD and 10" clear green. It is now sold through Revelation Records. The Shai Hulud tracks were included in a remastered/remixed form in A Profound Hatred of Man (reissue).

<i>A Whole New Level of Sickness</i> 2000 EP by Shai Hulud and Another Victim

A Whole New Level of Sickness is a split EP featuring songs by hardcore punk bands Shai Hulud and Another Victim, released on June 27, 2000, on Trustkill Records and, in Europe, Good Life Recordings, in CD and 12" various colors from brown swirl to purple. Shai Hulud tracks were included in A Profound Hatred of Man (reissue). It also is the debut of Jared Allen and Geert van der Velde.

<i>A Comprehensive Retrospective: or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Release Bad and Useless Recordings</i> 2005 compilation album by Shai Hulud

A Comprehensive Retrospective Or: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Release Bad and Useless Recordings is a compilation album by hardcore punk band Shai Hulud. It is a collection of live recordings and early demos and was co-released via the band's own record label, At Dawn We Wage War Records, in collaboration with Revelation Records, on January 25, 2005. The title is a play on the film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damien Moyal</span> American musician (born 1976)

Damien Zev Moyal is an American vocalist, lyricist, musician, songwriter, and designer. Born in Amstelveen, North Holland, Netherlands, he moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Miami, Florida, where he notably fronted such hardcore punk, metallic hardcore, and melodic hardcore bands as Shai Hulud, As Friends Rust, Morning Again, Culture, Bird of Ill Omen, and Bridgeburne R. Moyal has been based in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2006, and is the founding member of the semi-eponymously named gothic rock/post-punk band Damien Done.

<i>Crush Em All Vol. 1</i> 2000 EP (split) by Shai Hulud and Boysetsfire

Crush 'Em All Vol. 1 is a split EP by hardcore punk bands Boysetsfire and Shai Hulud, released on March 24, 2000, on Undecided Records, 7" purple, grey, clear red, and Detroit Fest press black. The Shai Hulud cover song "Damage, Inc." was included in A Profound Hatred of Man (reissue). Shai Hulud and Boysetsfire each cover a Metallica song. This 7" is the first record of the ongoing series of Metallica tribute records. Steve Kleisath returned to play drums for Shai Hulud on this recording.

<i>Misanthropy Pure</i> 2008 studio album by Shai Hulud

Misanthropy Pure is the third studio album by hardcore punk band Shai Hulud, released on May 26, 2008 in Europe and May 27 in the U.S. through Metal Blade Records, the band's first record release by that label. It has been described as the blender between 1997's Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion and 2003's That Within Blood Ill-Tempered, by Shai Hulud's guitarist, Matt Fox:

The sound.. it's hard for me to answer it accurately, it would be better to ask somebody who is listening to it. If you ask me, when I listen to 'Hearts Once Nourished..' our first album, I think it's very rhythm based. It's very very melodic, but it's definitely more rhythm based. When you listen to 'That Within Blood Ill-Tempered', it's clearly more melody based... so a lot of my friends said: 'If you guys could combine the drive, the rock, and the aggression of "Hearts" and the structuring, the melody and the intelligence of "That Within Blood Ill Tempered", you might have my favorite album of all time.' So again, because I can never answer a question just directly, to answer your question directly, what we try to do is combine both albums. We wanted to make it smart, and heavy, we wanna make it sound great. We wanted to give something to people where they could groove along to it and rock for more than a second and a half without changing, but we also wanted to maintain some technical intelligent aspect, and the melodic nature of our last album. So if you take both those albums, throw them in a blender, I think you might have something that resembles 'Misanthrophy Pure'.

"It's faster, slower, more metal, less metal, more rock, more progressive, and less progressive than anything we've ever done. It's like that movie 'Deep Blue Sea'. The tagline on the DVD box is 'Bigger. Faster. Smarter. Meaner.' That's how this record is. Is it the best thing we've ever done? I don't know. We'll leave that to those who listen."

Strongarm was a five-piece Christian and straight edge hardcore band, formed in Pompano Beach, Florida. They were one of the first "Spirit-Filled" hardcore bands, along with Unashamed, Overcome, Focused and Zao.

<i>Not Without a Heart Once Nourished by Sticks and Stones Within Blood Ill-Tempered Misanthropy Pure Gold Can Stay</i> 2009 EP by New Found Glory and Shai Hulud

Not Without a Heart Once Nourished by Sticks and Stones Within Blood Ill-Tempered Misanthropy Pure Gold Can Stay is a split EP by pop punk band New Found Glory and hardcore punk band Shai Hulud. This limited edition EP was only available at shows on the "Not Without a Fight" tour with New Found Glory, Bayside, Set Your Goals, and Shai Hulud. This tour spanned from March 25, 2009 to May 10, 2009. However, the EP was not available until the March 26 show in San Diego. Shai Hulud's song featured on this release originally appeared on the band's album, Misanthropy Pure. New Found Glory contributed their song, "Truck Stop Blues" to the release, featured on their last album, Not Without a Fight, produced by Mark Hoppus from Blink-182.

<i>Reach Beyond the Sun</i> 2013 studio album by Shai Hulud

Reach Beyond the Sun is the fourth studio album by hardcore punk band Shai Hulud, released on February 15, 2013, in Europe and on February 19 in the U.S. through Metal Blade Records. It has been met with positive reviews.

Sleeping by the Riverside is a Christian metalcore band that originated in Tampa Bay, Florida. The band formed in late 1996 and disbanded around 2003-2004. The band has had several lineup changes. Since leaving the band, members have joined bands such as, Underoath, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, The Sugar Oaks, Affix Bayonets and Carry the Dead, who the band also did a split album with.

Spirit and the Bride is a Christian hardcore and metalcore band from Cincinnati, Ohio. The band formed in 2010.

Tension was a Christian straight-edge hardcore punk band that formed in 1993.

References

  1. Strongarm Biography Archived December 7, 2002, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Rockfreaks.net - Interviews with Shai Hulud 28.11.2007
  3. "Shai Hulud, interview with Punknews.org - 05/28/08". Archived from the original on February 18, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Metalsucks.net - Interview with Shai Hulud guitarist Matt Fox
  5. 1 2 3 Fox, Matt (July 11, 2015). "Episode 26 - Matt Fox". Interviewed by Billy Power. Urban Achiever. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  6. TheHvScene.com - Interview with Matt Fox 3.13.04 Archived February 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ruleeverymoment.com - Interview with Matt Fox in 2003 [usurped]
  8. Fox, Matt (December 11, 2019). "175. Discuss Metal Episode 003: Matt Fox". Discography Discussion. Interviewed by Daniel Terry and Joseph Renn. Retrieved February 4, 2021.