Joby Fox – Songwriter & Musician

Local boy done good - Joby Fox supporting Damian Dempsey at Feile an Phobail 10th Aug 2013.

For Joby Fox this is a kind of homecoming as he was one of the first musicians to play at the inaugural Feile an Phobail / West Belfast Festival in 1988. As it is the 25^th anniversary of the festival it is fitting that he should be performing at the festival. Joby is looking forward to putting on a special show for the community in West Belfast.

Singer/songwriter and filmmaker Joby Fox launched his ‘End of the War’ project in 2012. The album comprises beautifully crafted tracks and soundscapes that reflect on life, love and the complexities of inner and outer conflicts.

“The songs on offer are high on melody and fuelled with human emotion, resulting in each one carrying a powerful, social and political message while at the same time being beautifully wrapped up for mass consumption like an iron fist in a velvet glove.” (John Kearns, The Irish News)

Tickets for the event are £10 and available online from the festival box office

I’m delighted that the End of the War show is part of the Cities of Memory conference at Brian Friel Theatre, Queen’s University. The event is also part of the Identity & Places programme that started in early March with Maj Hasager’s ‘Past Upon Past’ exhibition in Red Barn Gallery.

The show at Cities of Memory conference is on Thursday 4th April and starts at 9pm. Free Admission.

End of the War show at the Black Box in Belfast – Fri 8th Feb, 8pm – £8.5

Support by Antoin Glackin

Tickets available from the Black Box box office – 02890 244400

An intimate gig with Joby and his JWE Band – a rootsy, folky, jazzy crew of fantastic local musicians. Using poetic visuals to set the mood, Joby will also screen his short film ‘Lost Commandos’; A rare opportunity to see this thought-provoking production. The End of the War show was successfully launched last year. The album and the short film was met with much critical acclaim The single of the album “I Love You” was one of the most radio requested songs up and down the length of Ireland  An artist of long standing, Joby has wasted no time and is back in the studio writing and recording.

Joby’s show deals with the realities of coming face to face with yourself. In the meeting between inner personal conflict and a troubled society in which he grew up. Joby challenges his audience to travel inside on a jorney into the sou to discover we are much more than the labels we are given.

Antoin Glackin will support Joby on the night

October Newsletter

Things are picking up for the Autumn and I am thankfully being distracted from the cold rain by a busy schedule. In the past few weeks I have started re-recording ‘Belfast’, the first song I ever wrote and made famous by Energy Orchard. I have added a third verse, not so much as a conclusion, but a comment on the three decades that have passed in our city – and my life.  Keep an eye out over the coming month…

The first End of the War show in its complete format will be  shown in the Queen’s Film Theatre on 29th Oct as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s. I am especially excited about this show as it is taking place in an actual cinema with a full live band, and our Lost Commandos short film will be shown on the big screen too. This will be a very very special evening for me also because I get to introduce my favourite film of all time ‘Fistful of Dynamite’ after the live show. End of the War was inspired by Sergio Leone’s work and indeed the music by Ennio Morricone. The two shows are inextricably linked so if you can, try and come along for both. If you are interested it is a good idea to book your tickets in advance as there are limited seats in the theatre. (£6.20/£5 through the QFT’s box office)

Finishing off the season will be our Soulful Saturday at Cafe Hero, Royal Avenue, Belfast during Music Week, Saturday 10th Nov, 1pm-2pm. My label SOJO Music & Film is taking over the cafe for the afternoon to let lose the top talent and beautiful, powerful voices of MamaKaz and Ria Maguire. I will join them also for a short set.

Check out the show in the Provoke section in the Belfast Festival at Queen’s programme:

“This unique music and film project interweaves Joby Fox’s (The Bankrobbers, Energy Orchard) songs, soundscapes, and the short film, Lost Commandos, into a memorable immersive experience.

Realised in collaboration with local film talents and partially shot on the Stormont Estate, Lost Commandos is an eerie and gritty urban story about four commandos caught in a (mind)trap.

End of the War Show is a reflection on the complexity of inner and outer conflicts and the possibility of transformation – not from a political but a humanitarian point of view.

Specially chosen by Joby Fox to accompany The End of the War Show Fistful of Dynamite AKA Duck You Sucker, Sergio Leone’s explosive spaghetti (or should that be chilli?) western, sees James Coburn as Sean Mallory, an IRA explosives expert on the run from the British government in Mexico.

Befriended by bandit leader Juan Miranda who sees Mallory’s skills with explosives, Juan asks Sean to join his gang and help raid a bank but before long both men are caught up in the Mexican revolution.”

Our launch in Parliament Buildings on 3rd May went very well. Our first release through SOJO – both film and album – and we could’t have wished for a better start to our venture. Thanks to everybody who made it down – and made our day! And thanks to our amazing crew; Kaz, Graham and Damian.

Now we are putting the finishing touches to the show in Culturlann, Belfast on Sat 12th May 2012, 8-10pm. Tickets are £5 through WeGotTickets.com. Mama Kaz is supporting me and we are also showing Lost Commandos (6mins) as part of the visuals.

Photos by Jim Corr

This is a musical journey – and one very brilliantly strung together – but, it isn’t just that; It is an artistic and personal statement from singer songwriter and war veteran of the music industry, Joby Fox. The thing is, he doesn’t care what anybody thinks. It is here. Take it, if you can, and if you do, there is no doubt that you will enjoy it and find something of yourself in the words and melodies. His music draws from folk, country and western, punk and pop, and Irish traditional.

Joby’s album is self-produced and self-financed with help from online crowdfunding. Generous people from across Europe and as far as Canada who saw the value and potential of the project have pitched in to secure the last stage of the process. Not only does the music reflect a journey, but the creation of it was indeed a journey in itself.

“The album is a play on my personal growth and the conflict which raged around me in my youth. I hope it provokes some thoughts around the subject… Conflicts don’t always occur in the outside world, but also occur internally. We don’t always know what is right and we struggle for the answer that, sometimes, just isn’t there.”

On this journey with him has been his co-conspirator, artist and cultural entrepreneur, Sophie Rasmussen, originally from Denmark. Along side the album they have developed an idea of Fox’s which led to the production of the short film Lost Commandos – This film is like a never-ending cycle; Entrapment in a situation of which you are not the master, caught in a mindset. Where End of the War offers a resolution; a positive ending, Lost Commandos does the opposite. Together they offer a reflection on the many complexities of conflicts.

Both the album and film, released under their joint artistic banner of SOJO, are a comment and tribute to life, love, war and peace and all the strange scenarios that humanity dishes up. It is about the absurd situations we can all wind up in – unwillingly and willingly.

This work, masterly written by Fox, will in years to come be a defining piece of the times we live in now – a cathartic experience for us, and one of hope and inspiration for future generations.

Fox’s musical heritage, enourmous energy and professionalism is carried through from his Good Vibrations teen-band The Bankrobbers in ’79-’81 to the international fame of Energy Orchard, of which he was the main catalyst. He penned their hit single Belfast. This song has for many of his generation become the unoffical anthem of his hometown, and Terri Hooley’s favourite song.

The single of the album, I Love You is available through the online launch from 1^st Feb 2012.

End of the War is available for download from the usual online stores from 1^st March. The cd can be bought from www.jobyfox.com. Lost Commandos will be released with the launch of the album tour in May 2012.

Strange thing, Life! I was in Belfast City Hall last night performing for Mayor Tom Bates of Berkley, USA and Californian Senator Loni Hancock. There I was: me, wee Joby Fox, playing  “Belfast “, the song I wrote when I was 17. Belfast was a pretty scary place then. It was ’79 and with all the sectarian tit for tat killings and what ever else the thought of getting pick up or picked off was always in the back of your mind. I remember realising back then that things were not normal where I lived!
Punk had just been and gone, and I was falling in love with music. The idea for the song ‘Belfast’ came to me on an old guitar that my brother Hugh had left behind. It was my first song.

Last night at the Mayor’s chambers I expected it would be full of people I wouldn’t have anything in common with, but to my surprise I knew half of the people in the room, and most of them were people I had shared a little something with somewhere a long the way. It pleased me! There was a good down-to-earth open and easy atmosphere. This is Belfast in 2011. A more relaxed place, not all pomp and ceremony – a million miles away from the hopelessness of the past. And we have a mayor who is 26 years old… That’s great!

Playing ‘Belfast’ last night was a moment for me to afford myself a wry smile and a wish that
I could pass the feeling back to that 17 year old lad: ‘wee Joby Fox’, who loved his city so much he wrote a song about it!

End of the War, is the title track of my first solo album – The album is  a play on my personal growth and “The Troubles” which raged around me in my youth. I hope it provokes some thoughts around the subject of conflict.

Conflicts don’t always occur in the outside world, they also occur internally. We don’t always know what is right and we struggle for the answer that sometimes ‘just isn’t there’

Understanding the principles of cause-and-effect is something I became interested in growing up in the troubled streets of Belfast. There was even a term “tit for tat killings” which took hold in the local vernacular. It seemed there was some natural law which was playing out – whether that was so or not. The thought captivated me and led me on a journey into the soul.

Have a listen to the main album tracks here for a flavour of what is on the cd I’m releasing on 3rd May 2012…

JOby

Joby is performing with the Inishowen Gospel Choir in the historical Berry St Presbyterian Church,  Bank Sq, Folktown Belfast.  As part of the main events at the Belfast Fringe Festival 22nd – 24th Oct 2010  he will be performing a 45 mins set and then perform his well loved song ‘Belfast’ amoung others with the Inishowen Gospel Choir. He will also be performing songs from his forthcoming album End of the War.

The performance will take place Saturday 23rd Oct at 8pm in Berry St Presbyterian Church, Folktown. (You’ll find the entrance at the side of Castle Court) Doors open 7.30pm. Coffee and tea available. Price: £7