Moxy - Ridin' High in 2001
by Martin Popoff
Surprise of all surprises, Canadian hard rock legends Moxy are back after a 20 year absence with a new studio album, line-up pretty much intact except of course for a new singer ("Max" Maxim), given that the band's original belter Buzz Shearman died in a motorcycle accident also some 20 years ago.
The new record is called V (as in Five, the band's fifth album) and is a shakedown throwback to the hard, gritty '70s rock stylings of their four albums: '75's Moxy, '76's II, '77's Ridin' High and '78's Under The Lights (see
Guitarist Earl Johnson talks about the new album. "There's a lot on there, I don't know, some AC/DC and Led Zeppelin type stuff, some of what you would call American rock. It's definitely a bigger, fatter sound, very guitar-oriented and it's basically '70s or '80s rock with a bit of a new sound. Basically there are three writers involved with it and we all write differently. We were going after more of an edge, a fair amount of attack on the guitars with some heavy attack on the drums."
In terms of original members, Earl explains that "drummer Bill Wade did all the engineering and Buddy Caine and myself and Bill are the chief writers. My stuff might be a little more raw than Buddy's. Bill, he's hard to describe. There's good variety. Bud's stuff is more mainstream and Bill's got more of the Zeppelin influence. Buddy surprised me and has gotten heavier though. That used to be just my domain."
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