Project Description

Interview with

FOXIE KELLY

and

RONNIE SIMMONS

from

THE HOTS

by Vicky Hebbs

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“Their debut single “Before You” is a flame-throwing, arena-sized head banger. Lead singer Foxie Kelly relinquishes a monstrous vocal that tears and claws its way over sizzling electric guitar, masterfully orchestrated by band mate Ronnie Simmons” – B-Sides & Badlands (Read Here)

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How did you first get into music? When did it become a serious concern?
We both grew up in the pubs of Australia with Aussie rock music as a constant soundtrack. Foxie’s dad is a drummer so she was born into a musical environment, getting piano lessons from age three and then learning guitar and joining bands in her teens. Ronnie has been a full time working guitarist in bands since he was 15 and a music career was always the goal for both of us. There has never been a second thought or doubt for what we have both wanted to do in our lives and that’s why this band works! We have both been working hard over the years to get to this point in our music careers.

What kind of music did you grow up on? What artists inspired you and which do you still look to now for ideas?
We both grew up listening to Hard Rock classics like AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and The Angels as well as Punk acts such as The Ramones, Sex Pistols and Joan Jett. Foxie has always looked up to the late and great Aussie rock front woman Chrissy Amphlett of The Divinyls. Her unique vocals, lyrics and tough/sexy dismissive attitude will forever be inspirational. Ronnie was influenced by Johnny Ramone and Mick Cocks, so playing guitar with Richie Ramone and Rose Tattoo meant a lot to him and you can hear their influence as guitarists in our music.

How did you two meet? When did you decide to start making music together? 
We met many years ago on the Sydney rock scene and were always good friends. Ronnie left Australia to work overseas touring with Motley Crue, Alice Cooper and played for Richie Ramone. It wasn’t until years later we reconnected when Foxie was working on her own music out in LA. It all started really naturally, we just started writing songs together and it all clicked, we fell in love and now here we are.

Your new EP has just been released. Can you share the concept or inspiration behind the EP?
We set out to make an authentic hard rock record that best represented how we actually sound, with no click track and no computer tricks. We were inspired by the classic rock albums from Alberts Records produced by Mark Opitz, Harry Vanda & George Young, so getting to work with Mark Opitz was a dream come true.

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If someone had not yet released to The Hots, what one song from the EP would you suggest they listen to first? 
‘Please Me’, it was the first song we wrote together, it’s the first track on the EP and it’s the sound of us coming together as a band.

Your music video “Before You” has recently been released. Did you enjoy the process of making a music video? Would you make one again? 
Definitely, we got to pull out all the stops we always wanted to put into a music video. We shot the performance footage at Backlne Australia – Marshall Amps Sydney HQ until Ronnie’s fingers were bleeding and I was sore and bruised! The driving footage was definitely a bucket list moment for us. It’s not often you get to drive a 1978 Trans Am over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was our salute to our hometown and symbolized our journey to the USA! Yes we are in the process now of making a follow up video for ‘Please Me’ out here in LA.

How do you navigate working together and your personal married relationship? Is that ever difficult? 
Honestly we are both such workaholics. When we first got together Ronnie was out touring the world with Richie Ramone and we had to do a lot of our songwriting via correspondence. Having to spend so much time apart in the start of our relationship really put into perspective how much we love being with each other. Like anything worth doing, life gets tough at times, but we both have the same goals and outlook and are grateful to be able to share our career with someone we love.

Who are your major music inspirations? 
We are really inspired by bands like The Divinyls, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and AC/DC, so getting to work with Mark Opitz on our EP who produced all those bands meant a lot to us, as well as working with Tony Mott who photographed them all.

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If you could pick absolutely anyone to bring on tour with you, whom would you pick and why? (Dead or Alive)
Richie Jackson the skateboarder. As well as being a good friend of ours, he has a great taste in music and knows how to rock.

What are your major goals or aspirations together as a music duo for the next year or two?
We’re going to gig more, put out another video for ‘Please Me’, a lyric video for ‘Shame the Devil’ and then look to making another EP. With the success we had with US and Canadian radio stations playing the first single ‘Before You’ ,we definitely want to get out and tour. Ideally we’d like to get a support tour in the US and then head overseas to share our music with the world.

Do you have any longer-term goals?
As well as tour the world, we would ideally like to bring onboard a team of people to work with us to help elevate things to the next level, as we are running everything independently ourselves and there are only 24 hours in the day. Whether that would be singing with a record label or hiring people as contractors, at this point we are figuring that out and time will tell.

Finally, this is a paragraph dedicated to some quick discovery. Really corny, but for the fans, can you tell me your favorite album, artist, movie, place, drink, meal and person (living or dead) and some brief reasons why? Answer some or all please?
Foxie:

• Favourite Album: Desperate by The Divinyls because it’s the best female fronted rock album of all time.

• Favorite Artist: Alice Cooper because he is the ultimate performer. His music, stage show and persona is a work of art!

• Movie: Anything by Russ Meyer or Tarantino

• Place: The Sydney Opera House steps because Ronnie proposed to me there after a Suzi Quatro concert.

• Meal: Avocado on anything and everything.

• Favorite Person: Ronnie because he laughs at my jokes and isn’t emasculated by my musical ability.

Ronnie:

• Album: Blues Brothers soundtrack, it inspired me to become a musician.

• Artist: Karl Kaufmann & Mattoo, I’ve been all over the world and no one else can tattoo as bright and bold as the work they’ve done on me.

• Movie: Back To The Future, Marty McFly inspired me to become a guitarist.

• Place: Onstage, it’s what we do.

• Drink: Coffee, it wakes me up.

• Meal: Breakfast, it tastes good.

• Person: Foxie, makes me happy.

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AMNPLIFY – DB