#timfoxeslore

[ansicred]

ODD FOXES + MUSICAL ABILITY

Here's a little breakdown of each of the Foxes' musical (including vocal + other skills) abilities and an idea of how they ended up with the sound they have.

ART

All of Art's instrumental ability is self-taught - he bought an acoustic guitar from a music shop when he was about ten (after saving his pocket money for weeks), and found a chord book at the library and taught himself. The tin whistle and harmonica came a little later when he was about thirteen, after acquiring both at a market in Basildon and teaching himself how to play them. His vocals came naturally and is a touch lower than his baseline voice tone. He'd practised singing by learning his favourite songs and singing along. Once he felt he was good enough at playing guitar and singing, he tried his hand at songwriting when he was fifteen with his strongest skill being his lyricism. Reg wanted him in Odd Foxes' original line-up because of his songwriting and vocal skill but was pleasantly surprised to learn that Art could also play guitar. His main influences are: punk, blues, and general rock music - all of which he actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

FRANK

Like Art, all of Frank's instrumental ability is self-taught. Unlike Art, it was due to him having access to all three instruments at home and learning how to play folk songs (specifically Welsh folk songs). He started with the violin, which is rarely used on Foxes' songs but it is used, it's him playing it, then moved on to the guitar after becoming obsessed with Top Of The Pops and wanting to be a 'cool guitarist'... The bass became his main instrument because he preferred the sound of it and he was gifted one for his thirteenth birthday, so it was his most practised instrument of the three. Frank learned how to sing early because of his family encouraging it and teaching him old Welsh folk songs, and the tone of his voice matches his normal speaking tone. His only other skill is related to singing, which is his ability to sing in multiple Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish, Scots, etc.) - the others don't know the languages at all, while Frank grew up in a Welsh family and eventually learned other non-English Celtic songs as he grew up. His biggest proficiency (obviously) is in Welsh. His main influences are: punk, blues, folk, and funk - all of which he actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

JAMES

Of all the Foxes, James has the most musical ability - not that people would really know that. He's been playing the drums from the age of six, having lessons through school, but he also had private piano and violin lessons - both of which, he's graded in (grade 3 piano and grade 2 violin). He learned the guitar, bass, flute, and harmonica for fun in his late teens. Vocally, James is a tenor, which is just a touch higher than his normal speaking tone and this skill had been hidden from Foxes fans until after Frank's death and they released Polaroids as a single - on which, James sings the second verse. His other skills all revolve around the studio-end of things: production, arrangement, and composition. He is self-taught in these skills, having learned them over time whilst making records. His main influences are: punk, blues, prog-rock, folk, funk, thrash, and general metal - all of which he actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

TIM

In the original line-up, Tim was the most qualified musician, but since James joined, they're the second-most qualified. Synth keyboards are his favourite instrument to play, but his ability comes from a transferable skill in the form of his grade 1 piano - which they'd had private lessons for as a child until his parents couldn't afford the lessons anymore, but they kept at it. Guitar he picked up at Frank's and taught themself to play, while the melodica he had bought at a toy shop and purposely learned to play "properly" so that Foxes could use it in their music. Tim's vocal ability was something he learned from growing up in a relatively musical family and being around Frank and his family from the age of about eleven - they're a higher tenor than James is and it's higher than his normal speaking tone. They are the highest vocal tone in the Odd Foxes line-up. His songwriting skill they picked up whilst helping Art writing the original Odd Foxes songs early in the band's life, production and composition he learned similarly to how James did - on the job while making records. His synth programming skill, however, comes from Tim's obsessive special interest in synthesisers and learning exactly how they work and why - it's his most proficient skill in the studio. His main influences are: punk, blues, funk, disco, pop, prog-rock, and glam rock l - all of which they actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

[ansicred]

ODD FOXES + HOLIDAYS (XMAS EDITION)

ART

Art loves Christmas -- it's his favourite holiday. Between 1979 and 1987, he'd be at home home in Basildon with his immediate family (parents, Rob, and Laura) and he'd follow a routine schedule every single year that includes: a drink at the pub with the lads on the last Friday before Christmas, a visit to Frank's house on Christmas Eve for folk songs and fun, Snowball for a hangover cure, followed by presents then dinner on Christmas day, and turkey sandwiches from Boxing Day to New Year's Eve. With Mandy, he'd go to her family's, with his second wife, they'd stay at home, and with Layla, they'd switch every year. From around 2010, Art has spent his Christmases with JJ and they (video) call Layla together. They have dinner at Laura and Dan's, and they drop in on the other Foxes on Boxing Day. Yes, he's very excited about Doctor Who Christmas Special this year.

TIM

Tim doesn't particularly like Christmas (it's loud, the lights are too much... it's a sensory overload for them), however, he does enjoy certain parts of the holiday season. Until his mother died, Tim would spend every Christmas with his parents and the aunts and uncle who live in the UK. They'd have Christmas dinner first, then open presents after the aunties and uncle had (finally) left to go home, then spend an hour on the phone with his Nigerian grandparents. As he got older, they'd go to the pub on the Last Friday Before Christmas with the lads and go over to Frank's on Christmas Eve for the folk songs as well. In the last ten years, Tim's had his father, Agwe, come to them and they spend the day together (with James having prepped a Christmas Lunch for them and dropped it off with Suzy the night before). They like the quiet contemplation and watching Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out - he plans to do the same this year.

JAMES

James has mixed feelings about Christmas -- on the one hand, it's nice to spend time with family but, on the other, it's stressful for him and he struggles maintaining the happiness/excitement. Before he and Frank moved in together, James would usually go to his mother's with Dan, Stella, and Anthony. It'd be a mix of Australian and English Christmases because that's how their grandmother had managed to help Stella, James, and Anthony adapt (back) to UK life when their mother left their father and brought the kids back to Acton (before moving to Hammersmith). After Frank moves in with him, James became the Christmas Host and everyone comes to their flat in Acton/their house in Shoreditch for the festivities (and James cooks the dinner). Frank's tradition of singing folk songs on Christmas Eve is also blended into the mix. This year is James' first Christmas without Frank and he and Suzy plan to carry on the traditions in his memory.

FRANK

Frank only liked one day out of the entire Christmas period -- Christmas Eve, and that's because of the Thomas family tradition of singing folk songs together. Before moving in with James, he'd do the pub thing, the Christmas Eve tradition, and then spend a very awkward and tense Christmas Day with his family. He'd usually pretend to fall asleep during the Queen's Speech after dinner so that he wouldn't have to talk to anyone. After moving in with James, he relished in being a co-host and after they adopted Suzy, he loved watching her little face light up at the idea of the 'Patio Santa' and, as well as the dinner James makes, he particularly liked cuddling up with Suzy and James on the sofa to watch The Snowman, Wallace & Gromit, and Doctor Who.

[ansicred]

Tim + Engineering

This is Tim's biggest "thing", and he's been interested in it ever since he was about 4 years old and had "helped" his father fix up the family car one summer holiday. His main related collection is car manuals/schematics because he likes seeing the process of how they're built while his other collections are bits of computers (including synths) and tools. He has filled a good amount of his bookshelves with the manuals, with only certain schematics being framed and put up on his wall, and has boxes of computer parts literally everywhere. His interest in computer engineering came about while he was at school and had been offered the chance to do Computers/ICT as an A Level subject (a rarity) - which he had planned to go to university with, but his joining of and success with Odd Foxes sort of put it on the back burner. He became obsessed with synthesisers specifically after he'd bought his first one, taken it apart, and put it back together again. The obsession only grew with the synth's popularity in music and he's, essentially, an expert on them. He doesn't just play them, he fixes them when they're broken, he customises them, and builds his own (in 2023 he has 3 modular synths he's designed and built himself that he named Huey, Dewey, & Louis (Hu3y, D3w3ii, & Lo-1s). His idea of a break from work is to work on his little computer projects and mess around with computers in general, of which he has roughly 4 going at once at any one time - with one over-arching one being a synth-pc combo he lovingly nicknames his Wonderchips Project that he's spent a good deal of his free time on trying to make it work (and often using his bandmates as guinea pigs for user-friendliness testing). Aside from computers and synths, he's sometimes spent time on 'smaller' projects that involve customising music players (like a boombox he'd customised for Frank as a birthday present), fiddling with car radios, and building up a car (... despite the fact that he can't drive). He always has a small toolkit on him for emergencies and makes a point of making sure that there is a bigger one wherever he's going (one at the studio, one as part of the tour gear, one at home, etc), you know, just in case something happens that requires him to fix something.

[ansicred]

at home [they feel like tourists] | tim & art's flat circa 1986 (rough plan)

Final flat/house plan (for now) is Tim & Art's flat as it was in 1986. There's direct access into the entryway & the laundry room through the main door from the street but the actual front door is at the top of the stairs and then... Then you have to navigate the junk in the L-shaped hallway. Tim has the biggest room because he moved into the flat first. Directly across from his room is Art's room and the bathroom. At the end of the hall is the living area, which is relatively small and bunched up in a corner is the TV area. There's a table in the middle of the room originally used as a dining table but Tim's taken it over for projects - and there's a little reading nook just to one side of the open archway that leads into the kitchen. The kitchen has an island and a smaller dining table where Tim and Art usually sit to eat. The cooker has a big ring for pots but they usually use it as a rest for the frying pan. There's a small cupboard in the bathroom and a small airing cupboard in the living room, the diagonal in the hallway is a shelf (that's been filled with stuff).