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OXES

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Not to be confused with "oxen", the plural of "ox".
OXES
OriginBaltimore, Maryland, United States
GenresMath rock, heavy metal, instrumental rock
Years active1999–present
LabelsFriends Records
MembersMarc Miller
Natalio Fowler
Christopher Freeland
Website[1]

OXES is an instrumental rock band from Baltimore, Maryland. Its music has been called math rock or post-punk.

'OXES' is a part of what is known as "The Baltimore Rowdy Collective" which stages practical jokes, usually involving a confrontational and outlandish racket in public places. These happenings are comparable to the Lettrist scandals and Luther Blissett.

Biography

Live shows

In all of the band's early performances, guitarists Marc Miller and Natalio Fowler both stood on large black boxes (or pedestals) towering over the audiences, a nod to the superiority complexes of rock bands. They would occasionally step down from the boxes to walk into the audience and stand in front of individuals in the crowd (while still playing) in an attempt to make them feel uncomfortable. This was later aided by the much self-publicized acquisition of wireless guitars. Drummer Christopher Freeland would intermittently get up from his set and barge around the stage, mumbling incoherent babble, only to sit back down and lunge into another song. Miller and Fowler are noted for having the birth and death dates of Jimi Hendrix respectively.

While the band retained its use of the large black boxes and wireless guitars, its later shows were marked by lesser accepted ideas of showmanship. However, they still maintain a certain level of audacious and silly stage presence. After their 2002 South by Southwest performance, Entertainment Weekly named them the "Blue Man Group of rock."

In late 2004, the group began doing an encore that consisted only of a reenactment of the opening scene for 2001: A Space Odyssey, introduced by the drummer as a one-act play and a new direction for the band. The two black boxes where stacked longways to resemble the monolith in the film, and Miller and Freeland began a free jazz rendition of Also sprach Zarathustra. Fowler would slowly reemerge from an inconspicuous place in the venue, completely naked, bearing an object resembling or meant to symbolize a large bone. As the musical climax arrived, he would become increasingly enraged, much like the ape in the film, and eventually tear down the monolith and run off on all fours.

The most renowned performance came during the 2005 South by Southwest music festival. Here, the encore was performed beside the stage on a rocky waterfall constructed to look like a jungle, high above the audience. At the end of the performance, the boxes toppled down the tiered levels of vegetation into the audience. The press present at the performance documented the event in several articles across the country as saving an otherwise boring week.

The band was chosen by Les Savy Fav to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curate in December 2011 in Minehead, England.[1]

The OXES/Arab on Radar split 10"

Prior to the release of their eight-track album OXXXES in 2002, the band put out a 10" record, billed as a split EP between OXES and Rhode Island noise-rockers Arab on Radar. The A-side of the record was performed by OXES. However, the B-side was also OXES—this time convincingly impersonating Arab on Radar. The unusual idea allegedly came about during practice sessions for the record, whereupon OXES happened to write some songs similar to Arab on Radar's, subsequently recording and releasing the record as an OXES/Arab on Radar split, unknown to the latter band.

The Old Navy t-shirt fiasco

In the second quarter of 2006 the clothing company Old Navy released a t-shirt bearing the image of a flier for one of the bands non-existent previous shows. There was no official word on whether or not OXES or Monitor Records, the band's record label, endorsed this. However, as of May 2006, both OXES and Monitor's MySpace pages bore an anti-Old Navy picture bearing the slogan "Boycott Old Navy (if you feel like it)", as well as the comment relating to "Old Navy Clothing Store now stocking inferior quality versions of our t-shirts!". However, the seriousness of such a comment is thrown into question by a similar comment, "iTunes Music Store now stocking inferior quality versions of our newest record!" also appearing on OXES' Myspace page. The latter comment may, however, be a comment by the band on the use of unpopular DRM encoding which limits the quality and accessibility of digital music.

On August 9, 2006, OXES and Monitor Records filed a trademark infringement action in the U.S. District Court of New York, and are seeking monetary damages as well as a permanent injunction against Old Navy.

Members

  • Marc Miller – guitar
  • Natalio Fowler – guitar
  • Christopher Freeland – drums

Discography

See also

References

  1. ^ ATP Nightmare Before Christmas
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