ROCK LEGEND NEWS
ROCK LEGEND NEWS, FIRENZE, ITALY
BASS LEGEND SERIES FEATURING
Rik Fox
OF W.A.S.P., SIN, STEELER WITH RON KEEL & YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
ISSUE IV VOL. IV - JANUARY 2017
ROCK LEGEND NEWS ROCK LEGEND NEWS, FIRENZE, ITALY
ISSUE IV VOL. IV - JANUARY 2017
BASS LEGEND SERIES FEATURING
Rik Fox
INTERVIEW WITH HOLLYWOOD’S OWN RICK FOX - A FOUNDER OF W.A.S.P., FORMER BASSIST OF SIN & STEELER WITH RON KEEL & YNGWIE MALMSTEEN
HOLLYWOOD’S OWN BASS LEGEND
RIK FOX
INTERVIEW WITH ROCK LEGEND NEWS Bassist Rik Fox ‘The Winged Knight of Heavy Metal’, from Hollywood, California’s 80’s glam bands: SIN, STEELER and W.A.S.P. originally acquired by Rock Legend News for publication in Tempi-Dispari, Rome, Italy and Rock Legend News, Firenze, Italy in 2014. Rik Fox, originally from N.Y., began photographing glam bands of the 70s like KISS, The Brats, and The Harlots of 42nd Street, and befriending The New York Dolls and drummer Peter Criss of KISS before becoming a resident fixture on the NYC legendary Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s rock scene himself with The Martian Rock Band as well as performing six nights a week with VIRGIN, and an early version of SIN along with The E. Walker Band on the NJ / NY club scene, before going on to Hollywood to establish his own successful glam presence. Rik Fox is also known for being one of the hotly debated founding members of WASP. Rik took time out of his busy schedule to do an interview with Rock Legend News and here is what Rik had to say: RLN: You started on the path to glam rock of the 80’s by photographing bands like New York Dolls and KISS in New York. What attracted you to KISS and New York Dolls glam style? Rik Fox: Well, allow me to clarify, I didn’t photograph The New York Dolls so much as I did The Brats, KISS and The Harlots of 42nd Street, mostly at a club in Queens, NY not far from my home, called Coventry. It was a flourishing club across from Manhattan that showcased many of the Manhattan rock scene’s glam bands. I also hung out at the famous 82 Club where many of the same bands performed. In any case, while I was in high school
during my formative years between 1970 and 1974, it was a magical and evolutionary time in the history of rock music. Many bands were rising up from out of the ashes of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, and becoming something of a theatrical rock revolution. There was something very primal and attractively exciting about this; it was very different from what came before. Bands used to just stand there pretty much and just ‘play.’ Now, there was the incorporation of band interaction and movement onstage, a physical interpretation of the music in an energy coming from the stage. Bands began to incorporate wearing face make-up eye-liner, eye-shadow, lipstick, platform boots tight velvet or satin pants, and jackets, sequins and rhinestones began catching the stage lighting. There was also an element of androgyny, with bands like T. Rex, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Slade, The Sweet and Queen. This began to make its way to American shores and into the hard rocking punkish presentations of Detroit’s MC5 and Iggy Pop and the New York rock bands, like The Harlots of 42nd Street, The New York Dolls, Teenage Lust, The Brats, Luger, The Planets, Street Punk, Spike, and, of course, more notable bands like Alice Cooper, Silverhead and KISS. It was like the anger of punk meets the androgyny of glam. Since I had already become friends with KISS’ drummer Peter Criss before he was in the band, and began to go to watch KISS’ rehearsals in NYC, even before guitarist Ace Frehley was a band member, I was also a member of the photography club while in high school around 1972-73, so, I had access to all the film and developing materials I could get my hands on for free. My father had bought me a German-made Hanimex