Fuzzrod: II - The Album Release Show
On February 22nd, 2023, Rochester, New York based band, Fuzzrod, dropped their sophomore album “II”. That next Saturday, I attended their album release show at the Bug Jar in downtown Rochester. I was lucky enough to be able to not only photograph the show, but to interview the band before the show that night. After you read , make sure to check out the gallery to see the pictures of the show!
Question: How did you guys come up with the name Fuzzrod?
Answer: Karrah - Oh, I came up with the name. We had a name, but it had some associations with Chicago gang culture, so we were like “Oh no don't do that (we thought we were being cute but we weren't).” I actually was looking at a list of words that sounded like band names but were actually words, so Fuzzrod is an old slang term for cop car. I think I had a couple of other ones, but that's the idea that everyone hated the least. It grew on everybody though, it sounds a little phallic. I think it kind of influenced the sound of the band as well.
Q: Favorite part of creating the new album?
A: Steve - Oh boy, I think just writing the songs, honestly. I think we have an interesting writing process. Sometimes we’ll come with an idea, sometimes karrah will come with a song fully formed, and other times it starts as a bass part that Brandon is riffing on. We just kind of all gel together; Phil will come in with some random vocals and so each of the songs kinda reflect the different personalities of how we write on this album which I think is just how we do things, it's a part of our process.
Karrah - This record in particular, has been in progress for a long time, some of those songs were written a while ago, like 2019. So it was kind of like a weird pandemic-y time too, so that might be the reason that some of the songs sound a little different. We also went really ham on the recording process, one time Phil said “Hey, I’m going to do a string arrangement for this part and we were all like ‘yeah, go, do it’.” We didn't intend to bring any of it into our live performances, it was just fun. I think we all just really like making Steve do stuff.
Image by Emily Yancey
Q: Favorite song on the album
A:
Karrah: My Convertible Steve: Fleetwood Trash Phil: No Bones Brandon: Don't Go
Q: Favorite part of performing together?
A: Steve - [Performing] live, I've been in bands my whole life and this is the most fun I’ve had in a band because it’s always just a good time.
Karrah - I think we all bring a lot of energy and emotion, and especially when we play live, we like really unleash it. That’s just fun for all of us.
Steve - See, Brandon has said very little in this interview, but when he starts playing bass he’ll go to the front of the stage and bring all of the energy.
Brandon - Yeah it’s really fun. It’s the best part about it, honestly. [There’s] very little pretense, [we] just want to have a good time and play good shows that are fun for us.
Q: How did you guys all meet?
A: Steve - Well, we all played in different bands in the scene and we all played on the same shows with our different, various bands,and around the same time all of our bands kind of broke up, roughly the same year. It started with me talking to Phil and then Karrah was like “can i come jam?”
Phil - So then Karrah and I wrote a song in the basement and when Steve heard about that he was like “well, who’s drumming for that?” and I was like “Well, we were playing in a basement and it wasn’t even a real thing but then it all just kinda became a real thing.”
Karrah - We were all friends, but Brandon is my husband so I didn't want him to be left out, so I was like “Do you want to be in this band?” and he was like “As long as I can play bass”. So I said, “Yes, because that’s the only instrument left for you” since there were already two people playing guitar [everyone laughs at this].
Q: If you could pick one artist to play with dead or alive, who would it be?
A: Karrah - Patti Smith, 100% dead and alive.
Phil - Arthur Russell. I would go into the studio with Arthur Russell.
Steve - I’d probably say Sam Cooke.
Brandon - Probably like Iggypop or The Stooges
Q: What is your dream venue to play?
A: This ones very easy.. Red rocks in Colorado 100%. Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, that would be the dream.
Q: Pick one: Pirates, ninjas, or robots.
A: Steve and Brandon - Robots, I don't like pirates.
