rontwoman KRSY FOX, of the the alt-rock/electronica band KNEE HIGH FOX, is determined to take listeners on a roller coaster ride with the release of their new album JAWBREAKER. In looking at the title of the album, I was immediately reminded of the 1999 black comedy cult film JAWBREAKER starring ROSE McGOWAN as the villain in a tale of high school bitchery that escalates to murderous proportions. It turns out I wasn't too far off the mark, as FOX cites the film as an inspiration for this new album. In fact, cult 90's films such as THE CRAFT, FOXFIRE, GIRL INTERRUPTED and even more high brow films as AMERICAN BEAUTY have and continue to inspire FOX's music making giving the woman and her band's blistering, primal sound a bit of cinematic intrigue. When you're a band with an appreciation for high drama and moving images, you can only imagine how that makes any live performance all the more exciting. ROCKWIRED had a chance to speak with KRSY FOX regarding the bands new album. Here is how the interview went. 

The album JAWBREAKER is out there for everyone to hear. Now that it's out there, how do you feel about the finished work?
I'm actually very proud of it. We spent a long time making sure it was right and that the songs were right and developing the  journey that I wanted this full length album to take someone on. Or myself on. We're really proud of how it turned out and it gives you a really good idea into our process and our videos and our live shows.  I wanted the tracks on this album to take you on a roller coaster ride because that is what we aim to do with our live show.


And I've read of your fondness for 90's cult films and when I saw the title of this new album, I immediately thought of  the 1999 film JAWBREAKER before I even knew about you liking the movie.
It's funny. All of those 90's cult movies. THE CRAFT is one of my favorite movies and it still is to this day. I take inspiration from things that I liked as a kid growing up and I relate it to my real life. It's become this mishmash of reality verses the things that inspire me and the visuals of it. It was fun to do a record like that where I got a chance to play into all of that.



And you do kind of resemble FAIRUZA BALK.
Thank you! That is such a huge compliment. She really made that character NANCY come to life.

So far, have there been any reactions ot JAWBREAKER that have surprised you or that you didn't quite see coming?
We're just starting to get reviews coming in and thoughts from friends. I never do cover songs and that was one of the last minute things I did for this album. We did a cover of the song LOVE FOOL by the CARDIGANS. That was  song that I really loved as a kid. I think it might've been the first song that I ever sang karaoke to. I always thought the lyrics were very dark and menacing sounding so we set out to make this version a very dark and sinister sounding one. People are responding to that song more than I thought they would. For me, that was more of a selfish thing I wanted to do at the end of the record but people have really responded to that. And for the album's opening track, we've been getting a lot of exciting responses to that one. We've been getting to play a lot of the new stuff live and it's been exciting to see people respond to it. People who know our band and like the songs BLACK WIDOW and VALENTINE have really responded favorably to the new stuff. The  new songs almost get a bigger reaction.

And who all helped you guys behind the recording console for this album?
We co-produced the album with GREG JOHNSON. He is a fantastic producer out of Temecula. We actually recorded the album at my house which was pretty unique. I also worked with TYLER CONNELLY of THEORY OF A DEAD MAN for the song PEEPHOLE and he also helped me produce the single RELAPSE as well. It was a really cool experience and it was nice to do it out of my home. It was more comfortable. It was something different. It was a good time.



What was your musical experience before KNEE HIGH FOX?
I actually started as a songwriter. I was an actress as a kid and then took up songwriting. It was this passionate fun thing for me to do but through that I found myself working with THEORY OF A DEAD MAN and we ended up writing songs like BAD GIRLFRIEND and HATE MY LIFE. This song blew up overnight and before I knew it I was getting phone calls from other bands to write songs with them. I've had the pleasure of writing with bands like HALESTORM and POP EVIL and it just took off from there.  I kind of put acting to the side and started focusing on music and then realized that I needed a creative outlet that was more selfish to keep what I was doing fresh and exciting all of the time. So that was when KNEE HIGH FOX started to come together and all of my movie inspirations and my visuals came into play. I was always a big fan of theatrical bands such as MANSON and ALICE COOPER. I really wanted to incorporate that kind of aesthetic  but at the same time do something a little different. So that's kind of how it all started.

Talk about the other members of the band and what you think each of them brings to the table.
My original partner is SIMON NAGEL and he is the bass player in the band. He actually moved down from Canada to Los Angeles and started the band. He's been my rock from the beginning and he and I see eye to eye when it comes to musical influence and inspirations for the band. He has always been my rock and then HARLEY joined the band as our drummer. He brings a different element to the band. He's very young and really energetic and such a  hard hitter. He's down for anything. If I told him to wear a thong onstage, I think he'd do it because he's that guy - very positive and hard working. SAM is an amazing guitarist. He can shred and do all of these amazing things with the guitar that I can't even understand. His musical inspirations are different form the rest of us but it brings a different flavor into the band. It' slike another element of darkness. I feel like everyone has been very importantto the creative process and adding ot the band's sound.

Describe the songwriting process for you. How does the process work for you?
Every single song is really personal. It's about something that is really real for me. I always start a song with the title or a concept. For a the song RELAPSE, I thought that it was a really cool title but what would a song with that title mean? For me, I felt the song should be about a relationship that you keep going back to. It's like a really bad drug or a drinking problem that you keep falling back into. You know that this person is bad for you but the passion is so overwhelming that you keep falling back into the darkness. I think it's a song that people can really relate to and it is definitely something that I've gone through.  I kind of look at every song that way. The title track for JAWBREAKER was actually the last song that I wrote for the album and it's kind of a crazy story. As I said, I'm a big fan of these nineties cult films. I fell asleep one night and it was the last night that we were recording and that movie JENNIFER'S BODY was on while I was sleeping and I just had this really freakish nightmare that was like JENNIFER'S BODY meets JAWBREAKER meets VERY BAD THINGS and all of my friends were in it and somebody died in the nightmare. GREG the producer came over the day after and I told him about the night mare and I started writing the song. Songwriting is a weird thing. A lot of times it just depends on what is going on inside my head. If I go in thinking that I'm going to write something then I usually end up writing something else based on my mood or the other persons mood in the room. It's kind of hard to explain. It's all really based on a feeling. And some good lyrics hopefully.



What songs off of the album have you the most excited to get people to hear and why?
That's a  good question! I'm really excited by the song WITCH. It's a combination of the movies and myself and all of these cliches that are scary and fun and visual. I knew that it was going to be a great song to play live and I incorporated my cat into the lyrics of the song because she's my favorite thing. She's actually at the end of the track so I'm really excited to get people to hear that. This album has been like a journey for us so once people press play I want them to go up and down on this journey with us. Also, the song THOSE GIRLS is extra close to me. It's about me and one of my best friends TUESDAY. When we get together, we're dangerous but when we've had a few drinks, we're scaring everybody. I thought it was a funny idea for a song. That song is very literal and tells the story of us. I was pretty excited about that one.

And talk about the reaction to the new music in a live setting.
Before the album came out we did a short run and we went through Idaho and that kind of  area. We played RELAPSE and we played WITCH and those two songs got this enormous response.  I don't want to say that  RELAPSE is mellower because it picks up on the second verse and gets pretty manic, but it is a mellower song and you never know how people are going to respond to that.  It seemed to me that people responded to that one better than they responded to our older stuff. We've been playing AMERICAN BEAUTY for a while and once again that was a more mid tempo kind of song and that one goes over really great. I've been happy with everything that we've played live on the new record.

Now that the production that has gone into making JAWBREAKER is out of the way, what is next for the band musically?
A lot of touring.  We've got some shows coming up. We're playing Vegas and Salt Lake City  this month and then May is going to be a hectic touring month. We're going to be shooting a music video for WITCH next week which will be exciting. We just want to get out and tour it.  In the meantime, I'm always down to collaborate with other artists and bands and friends. I do that a little bit here and there and that is always fun thing to do to take you out of your own project. But with the album out of the way it's going to be touring and playing live  like crazy and getting this music out there.