Damon Fox croons and tickles the ivories for the band Bigelf. Bigelf was currently added to the Progressive Nation tour with one of my favorite bands, Dream Theater. Mike Portnoy even gave a resounding "thumbs up" for Bigelf. We loved the album so much it landed on our Year's Best list last year. We got a chance to talk to Damon and what happened was a 30 minute conversation that I had to break up into two parts. Here is part one.

BnR: You are about to embark on the Progressive Nation Tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa? That has to be a pretty exciting tour especially since Mike Portnoy seems to be a big fan of you guys.

Damon: It is a pretty big deal. It is something we have all been working toward pretty much my entire adult life, and the rest of the band. You know getting to play theaters and arena sized venues. I think in 1992 or something, the first time we played, someone said "Oh you guys need to play the Forum." Bigelf is an arena type rock band. Clubs are cool, but it is definitely an honor to do this with Mike and Dream Theater. We thank Mike for giving us the opportunity.

BnR: How did this tour come about? Did Mike personally ask you guys?

Damon: It's one of those small things. A friend passed Mike the cd and he contacted us. I thanked him because he gave us a shoutout on his blog. I invited him to a show we had in New York and he came down and talked with us for a few hours after the show about rock n' roll. Him and I are very similar, we are basically music geeks. He was listening to the cd and he felt good about it, so he offered us the European leg. Unfortunately, the Swedish bands didn't make the U.S. leg, so we get to jump in there.

BnR: Did you get their passports revoked so you could be on the tour?

Damon: [laughs] I would never do something so dastardly. But I have had dastardly things like that happen to Bigelf. I have been on that side of the coin and it really sucks. I felt bad for those guys. If you are in this business long enough you realize things happen for a reason. I have certainly been on that side of things, the bad part of things. You sit there asking, "Why, why is this happening"? Fortunately, I am on the other side of that right now. But I am not going to be a douchebag about it and not appreciate it. We are a bunch of hungry, hardworking, guys. We have been flinging it out for rock n' roll for well over a decade.

BnR: You deserve every success you get. Cheat the Gallows landed on our Year End Best list just because it is an absolute great record. Was the recording process difficult for that record?

Damon: It wasn't easy. Difficult in more of the terms of a rabbit hole. Cheat the Gallows is definitely going down the rabbit hole. You don't know when you are going to come out. Certain things that sound hard, insane, or complicated were probably easier than other things. It was definitely experimental. Not tripping out experimental, but just other directions we haven't been. That circus/carnival vibe has been on my mind a while. I had some songs that fit into that category and I thought this would be the one record to do it.

Rock N' Roll need to have that carnival every once in a while. It has to have the Sgt. Peppers, Alice Cooper. That kind of vibe is totally dead in rock. It doesn't breathe. I guess you have that sort of shock rock thing with Marylin Manson and Rob Zombie, but it's not quite the same. This is more of the psychedelic twist. When you put those words together people are going to balk, hiss, and wheeze. That is what it is for, it is supposed to make people aggravated. Hopefully it will make someone go be more creative. Maybe they will say "Bigelf is doing a shitty job at that." then they will go do something. [laughs] I feel that it is sort of a lost genre in rock.

BnR: I blame Nickelback and the watering down of it all.

Damon: It's all good, modern rock, everyone is out there doing it. That is totally fine for me. I just feel the rock n' roll part of it is just fading away or faded away. Yea people still have guitars cranked through Marshalls, but it just isn't what it was. It doesn't have to be what it was, but it would be nice. Everything else has come back. Why can't classic rock and prog rock rear it's ugly head and have a comeback.

BnR: I think you guys are on the forefront of bringing it back.

Damon: We will see. I am just happy to get out there. I know there are a lot of fans of classic rock. Whenever you say classic it gets categorized as dinosaur, but I just mean old school rock n' roll. There are a lot of people out there that like that sound and they don't know about Bigelf. It is great to get in touch with those people and have them know that this little genre still exists. There are a bunch of genres out there and it keeps getting harder and harder to get your music out there. It doesn't matter how good you are or how many elephants and cannons you bring into the tent. It is pretty tough.

BnR: We have talked to a few bands who draw inspiration from strange places. Some are personal experiences and that is not all that strange, but some have pulled from Spam mail they have received in the mail. Where do you typically draw inspiration from?

Damon: A lot of inspiration comes from not succeeding. You succeed on a personal level by making your music, but not getting out there and not bringing the music to the people. People telling you, you can't do that kind of music. That definitely inspires me. Bigelf has had a tough road. It's not quite as bad as Badfinger, but we have had some ups and downs. We would have an interesting Behind the Music.

I draw inspiration from pain. I definitely get inspired from emails. When I get an email from Israel, Ireland, or Vietnam and people are just discovering your music. There is always some story in those emails and it makes you feel good. It makes you feel like you count. There have been many times where things weren't going well and you get an email like that and you say "Ok I know there is more than just one person out there thinking that. So let's just keep it going." It sounds like violins are going to come out at any minute. [laughs] I have been at this for a while now.

BnR: Well speaking of that, you guys have spent a lot of time on the road since releasing Cheat the Gallows. Do you have any follow up material written?

Damon: Yea, I already have a couple of records in the can.

BnR: Records?! That is very prolific.

Damon: Yea, well like I said, when you are not actually out there like the Foo Fighters touring and releasing records to a huge fan base, songs pile up. I write a bunch of skeletons of things and ideas then we hash them out as a band and get arrangements down. We definitely have one or two bodies of work set. As soon as the Gallows juggernaut lands and takes a rest, I guess we will see what happens with that.

I am not one of those guys who picks up a guitar on the tour bus and writes what he sees. Until recently, I rarely write lyrics down. I keep stuff in my head then it comes out at night or when I am at home at the piano.

We picked up a cheap guitar on tour. Everyone was noodling on this little Fender Strat and I don't think I touched it once. I am just not that guy. I am not going to the hotel and if there is a piano in the lobby and tinker around with it. I am just not one of those guys. I got a lot of music in my head so I just enjoy silence. Then when the madness has to come I unleash it.

BnR: You are on Linda Perry's Custard Records. Did she personally sign you guys?

Damon: Linda Perry personally signed us. She is a long time friend and a long time fan. She has been a friend since the Hex album. She has followed us for years. She has always been interested in Bigelf. She has always been supportive and trying to get this music out there. I was telling her about the concepts for Cheat the Gallows she got excited. She was a big fan of Hex and didn't get a chance to put that out. She said "if you can do another Hex, let's do it." If it could be that good. So I said, "yeah, I can do it." Then she put Hex out anyway just because it never came out in the States. So that was cool.

Linda is a real rock n' roller. She is a song doctor for the pop elite and she has done really well. Mostly because she is ridiculous talented and prolific and a tremendous singer. But she at heart is a real rock n' roller. She has a passion for [Led] Zeppelin and [Pink] Floyd. She took us to see Roger Walters at the [Hollywood] Bowl. She is just a fanatic. I read a lot of stuff on the net "Linda Perry, Prog Rock, What?" But for me, it is totally correct. Linda Perry liking Bigelf makes complete sense to me.

BnR: I don't understand who would have a problem with that? People have various tastes in music.

Damon: Well ok, not just liking the music, but putting it out. Bigelf is a weird band. It's not, as you said, Nickelback. It is not a David Archuletta or something that is totally pop mainstream. It is weird. I think a lot of people are like "why would Linda put this out?" Honestly, most people don't know anything. They write so much stuff on the net and they don't know. I have heard some stuff that Hex and Cheat the Gallows were the only two records we released and how could dare we be as bombastic and crazy as we have been for only being out for two years. I think, "are you crazy? We have been doing this since 1992." People have to do their research. If you do enough research on Linda you will see there is some rock n' roll there. She is an awesome lady that I am indebted to.

BnR: In her honor, have you ever decided to cover What's Up live?

Damon: No we were going to cover Beautiful live because I played on that. I played the piano on that track. I did DJ a roller skating party and I got a rave version of What's Up and that was quite the annoying hit. I was just watching a YouTube clip of her and Pink performing that song at some arena. Pink was singing the "Hey Hey What's going on'"back and forth with the crowd. It was amazing the whole crowd knew the song. It has that universal appeal. Everybody knows it. When we were touring in Europe it comes on the radio all the time. She's lucky. I want one of those. I though "Money is pure evil" was going to be one of those. But it turns out it's too much of a buzzkill.

BnR: Yea, but you don't want to be known for just that.

Damon: That's the thing. You get a song like that is huge and you get your band going. But Linda has so much more. Was she able to get it going in band or artist form? No, but she is able to use her talents in another way. She is so well respected in the music industry. I have seen it first hand. She is one of the only rebellious industry entities out there.

We want to thank Damon for taking time to talk with us. Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of our exclusive interview where we get answers to such hard hitting answers like "Which Lord of the Rings character would you be" and what Damon thinks my penis should be named since Bigelf is trademarked. In the meantime, check out Bigelf's MySpace site and their official site for tour dates, news, and merchandise.