Also this issue:

The Hangman
James Lewes is documenting a very perishable part of the local rock scene.
-Patrick Rapa

Where They Were Then
From Studio to salon to saloon, old-heads recall the scene they can¹t exactly remember.
-A.D. Amorosi

Punk Calling
Diary of a man in a local band (or two) in the early 䢔s.
-179Frank Blank² Moriarty

Getting to the point
the bryn mawr club knows where it¹s going, and where it¹s been.
-Mary Armstrong

Those were the frickin¹ days
Rolling stone¹s david fricke remembers the main point
-Patrick Rapa

The Lowdown
Peaks, valleys and what finally put a fork in The Low Road.
-Lori Hill

Deep Thoughts with The Low Road

October 17-23, 2002

cover story

long way back

the boys of philly clam roc, britny fox, are back in heat.

by Patrick Rapa

Much like the way Socrates inspired Plato who in turn inspired Aristotle, so did Bon Jovi introduce the world to Cinderella who gave us Britny Fox. The succession was decreasingly effective in terms of popular and critical achievements, but each step brought the rock closer to home. Started in 1985, Britny Fox was a Philly band, a bunch of lion-haired glam rockers: singer-guitarist “Dizzy” Dean Davidson and bassist-vocalist Billy Childs, along with lead guitarist Michael Kelly Smith and drummer Tony “Destroy” Destra (both formerly of Cinderella). Sadly, just as their demo, In America, started getting them noticed, Destra died in a car accident. Johnny Dee (a.k.a. John DeTiodoro), fresh out of the U.K. band Waysted, took over on the skins. The band released Britny Fox in 1988, which went gold on the strength of the hit “Long Way to Love” (the video knocked Def Leppard from the top spot on Dial MTV) and the skanky follow-up, “Girlschool.” The screeching vocals and wailing guitars epitomized the metal of the day, and they found themselves touring with the likes of Poison, Ratt and Joan Jett. The subsequent albums, Don’t Hide and Boys in Heat, sold successively worse until Dizzy Dean quit to form Black Eyed Susan (more Stonesy than Kiss-esque). The Fox regrouped with a very similar singer, Tommy Paris, put out Bite Down Hard in 1991, and disbanded in ’92. But it’s not over till it’s over, of course, and the boys reformed in 2000 as a hungry little indie metal band with lots of experience and a brand name. They put out Long Way to Live, a live record of old and new stuff. Drummer Johnny Dee, writing from Germany where he spends a lot of time playing with Doro Pesch, says the Britny Fox comeback has begun and the band is writing and recording their first studio CD since Bite Down Hard.

City Paper: What is your sound like? Have you changed much?

JD: When the four of us get together, there is definitely a chemistry and a unique sound. Everyone knows their place and we all gel. That's what a true band sound should be. Even when we hadn't played together in years and did the live CD, it was still fat and slamming.

CP: How did Britny Fox get the "L.A.-based" label?

JD: We've done videos, recorded our third CD and played some gigs there but we were always a Philly band, and still are to this day. Michael, Billy and I still live in the Philly area. Only Tommy lives in Las Vegas.

CP: Any chance for a reissue of the old Britny Fox albums?

JD: It's a shame that the stuff is out of print. I get so many requests from people looking for those. That was initially what got us talking to Spitfire. They wanted to re-issue our catalog but CBS wouldn't give them the rights. So, we did a live record instead. Then, last year John Kalodner put out the Best of Britny Fox on Portrait [Sony].

CP: What was it like when you started?

JD: That was just a great time for rock music in Philly. It was all about having fun. The band started at the Galaxy in South Jersey and then became a regular at the Empire Rock Room in the Northeast. There weren't tons of places where you could play, but those places were packed. The Empire would get so crowded, because they would do all-ages shows, that we would do two shows in one day. In the summer, it would be like a sauna in there but no one cared. All the bands always shared bills with each other. When you weren't playing, you were hanging at the same places checking out other bands and hanging with lots of good people.