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Sound Circuit

Foxholes finds balance on new album

5/3/2017

foxholesIn 2012, Trevor Holt began putting together his band Foxholes while living in Ames. There were potential bandmates found (and later rejected) from Craigslist, but eventually Holt managed to pull together two steady members, guitarist Kyle Folvag and bassist Jessica Villegas. The trio (with no drummer) played their first gig opening for Holy White Hounds.

“I was a little nervous that first show, because I had never been in a band before,” Holt said. “We decided to do it as a three-piece, and it was a rough first show. But we got paid like $120.”

Not long after that first show, the band added drummer Ben Barndollar, and recently added another guitarist, Craig Bowers. Five years later, Foxholes is getting ready to release its second full length album “Foxholes,” with a show May 26 at Vaudeville Mews.

With its 2014 album “Can’t Help Myself,” Foxholes recorded in Iowa City, driving over from Des Moines to spend multiple hours plowing through the process in big chunks. For “Foxholes,” the band worked with Phil Young at Wabi Sound, working on the album over an extended period of time (Young’s band, Tires, is playing the release show).

“It helped because we’ve all known Phil for years, he’s a friend,” Villegas said. “It was all super collaborative, and this time we had another person (Bowers) helping us build on our music. More brains are sometimes better.”

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During the process of making “Foxholes,” Holt said he was drawn to the music of Nick Cave, The Strokes and The National, while Villegas and Folvag were taking in a lot of classical music and opera.

“It’s like a good diet,” Folvag said. “If you eat nothing but McDonalds, you’ll get fat. If you just eat chicken and quinoa, you’re a boring person. You need to find a good balance.”

Holt had originally hoped to have a new album follow shortly after “Can’t Help Myself,” but it ended up being a longer wait than expected. Foxholes is already working on new material, but Holt doesn’t want to jinx things by making a prediction on when the band will start recording again.

Foxholes has spent a good portion of 2017 on the road, with limited shows in Des Moines. They’ve played gigs in Kansas City, Iowa City, Fairfield and the Quad Cities recently, as well as recording their second Daytrotter session. The band is planning more weekend-warrior-style mini tours over the course of the summer.

“With our first album, we were trying to get ourselves established locally,” Holt said. “Now we’re trying to take that next step and go to places like Omaha and Minneapolis and get our name out there a little bit more in those places.” ♦

 

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