Remember Foxy Shazam? A mic check with Cincinnati's Queen-tastic glam rockers

In recent years, the most critically recognized bands coming out of Cincinnati’s criminally underrated music scene are The National, Walk the Moon and glam rock group Foxy Shazam. The latter’s latest album, “The Heart Behead You,” was released in 2022.

Contrary to Foxy Shazam lead singer Eric Nally’s operatic onstage personality, the distinctively mustachioed frontman is gently urbane in polite conversation. In advance of the band's New Year's Eve show at Andrew J. Brady Music Center, I spoke to the (Freddie) Mercurial band leader about the group’s evolution, his viral collaboration with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and the band’s experience with renowned producer Steve Albini.

Q: Do you have any advice for a young, aspiring local musician who's trying to make their career sustainable?

A: I don't know the answers. I'm always learning. You're never focusing on the next move – those things happen naturally as your story unfolds. If you're passionate about it, then as long as you put your focus on that, everything else just happens. Making smart decisions is a big part, but that's all relative. As long as you're working from the heart on the music, it'll take you wherever you're supposed to go.

Q: Foxy formed in 2004, but you and Loren Turner were playing in the metal band Train of Thought for a while. When you and Loren got together, what influenced you to make metal music?

A: The big thing was Korn hit, but that was a little before my time. We got into My Chemical Romance – bands that were around at the time. I don't know if that influenced anything, but when we were forming, the idea of just being in a band is the biggest takeaway.

You could put that scenario in any time, and I would have been doing the same thing. It would have been influenced by what was happening then. I spent a lot of effort trying to find someone who felt as dedicated as I did. Loren was always sure that we just got together and worked on the band.

Q: Obviously, Queen influenced the Foxy sound, and The Darkness and My Chemical Romance were around during Foxy's conception. After Train of Thought, what was the impetus to reenvision the sound from metal to a more theatrical aesthetic?

A: Listening on a different level is what made me, as a musician, become interested in a wider variety of melody and chords and tones. Train of Thought came from what was happening – and cutting my teeth. Everybody has that time, which is very valuable. It was the time to find the right people and work through things. When Foxy started to grow our sound and book shows, we were still figuring things out.

Q: It's almost the 20th anniversary of "The Flamingo Trigger," and you released "The Heart Behead You" a couple years ago. How has your perspective on songwriting and the industry in general evolved?

A: When I started, I would open my mouth and let things come out. Sometimes they wouldn't even be real words – just gibberish. The gibberish becomes the words.

Q: Like taking words from the ether – letting the lyric work itself out?

A: I still do that to this day. In some cases, it sounds like I'm saying “I'm sitting on a cloud” or something. It's fun to say it, and then once it's there, start to mold it and see what it wants to be. You feel surprised as much as the listener.

What I've been doing over the course of my career, hopefully, is just being an unyielding, creative, expressive guy. I can express feelings pretty well through my voice and my emotions. That was raw and crazy when I first started and still is when I capture it.

I'm learning to wield it and make it more clear – more thoughtful – to recognize how valuable that raw emotion is and what it’s brought to my musicianship. The further I go, I can bring them together. I always try to break those limits and not let anything define us.

Q: You recorded "Gonzo" with Steve Albini. He's a big deal. How did you get that opportunity, and what was your experience with him like?

A: That was a pivotal point. At first, people were stunned by it. The process of that record was what made it so pivotal. We did our self-titled and "The Church of Rock and Roll" on huge major labels, and we had a budget. But all that stuff started to fall apart.

It's hard to free yourself from that mentally and just be an artist. We broke off, got in the practice room for a year, wrote the album and practiced it in sequential order, and really lived it and got it in our muscle memory. Then it was as simple as having confidence because confidence is what gets you in the studio with Albini.

He doesn't change or polish anything. He records it beautifully and purely. But you have to be happy with what you sound like because he just captures what's in the room. We did it all live and recorded it to tape like he does. It was a great learning process.

Q: Shortly after "Gonzo," you got to collab with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. They seem like a fun and intimidating duo to work with.

A: They're independent, believe it or not. Their success was monstrous at the point they came to me. It was right after that album, "The Heist." They were making their second record, and working on the song – it wasn't called "Downtown" yet. They thought it would be cool to have a vocalist that had a rock-edge energy.

Budo (Joshua Karp), who is a producer for Macklemore and Ryan, had seen Foxy play years before. We had a friend of a friend. The next thing I know, I'm flying out to Seattle, we're working on the song together, and we did the video in Spokane. That experience has been very valuable.

Q: You and Sky White are now the most consistent members of Foxy. The lineup has changed a lot over the years. How do you deal with personnel changes?

A: That took a lot of time to work out. It translates to life in general. There might be trial and error, and some people that work well at certain times, and then next thing you know it's just not working. There's always going to be struggle and disagreements.

There are so many people I've worked with that I still love. If we’re not working together anymore, it's still very valuable time that we had together. Being open for the circle of people to develop or change or not change is the key, I think.

Foxy Shazam: New Year’s Eve 2023, with Tweens

When: 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 31.

Where: Andrew J. Brady Music Center, 25 Race St., Downtown.

Tickets: $20-$69.50; bradymusiccenter.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What happened to Foxy Shazam? Mic check with Cincinnati's glam rockers