Ten Questions with Bob Friend from MINX

1. Hey Bob, welcome to Kickacts. com. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’ve been playing music since I was 6 years old. I have been in a band playing the club scene since age 14. I’m married and we have 3 children. I like working, Nascar, golfing and making guitars.

2. You play guitar in the band Minx. Tell us about the band and who is in it and the website address.

Bob Friend – Lead Singer, guitar, keyboards / Bobby Barnes – singer, drummer / Preston Buzzard – bass / Russell Mcgregor – lead guitar and we have a myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/minxrocks. I have my own myspace also at http://www.myspace.com/bobfriend67.

3. What type of gear do you use?

My guitar is one I made it is a Friendly Guitar. Line 6 Pod Pro preamp, Carvin 50/50 tube power amp, Sonic 212 Cabinet loaded with Greenback Celestion speakers, Peavey 31 band eq, Yamaha Psr 500 Keyboard, Mic is an EV 967, No effects.

4. You guys have been gigging together for quite a long time. Unlike most bands that rise and fall in a year or so, you maintain, whats the secret?

First a band is like a marriage, it is give and take. Russell and I have played on and off for 25 years. It appears him and I are the only ones that can put up with each other. We like to have fun and love to play music.

5. Do you have any “greatest gig” stories to tell?

Every weekend we play is special to me. But one stand out was when we opened for Firehouse and Vixen.

6. And in the same vein, got any “worst gig ever” stories to share?

No certain one comes to mind, but the nights with equipment failure and brain fart for words tend to be the longest nights.

7. You guys pretty much ruled Double Dukes for years and were their main band until they recently closed. With that gig came some hate or jealousy from other bands that couldn’t get in there. There were some pretty mean spirited messages on band nut about your band. Want to address that?

I don’t ever read band nut. We just make noise and have fun. I feel I’ve something to learn from every band out there. There are a lot of clubs that we can’t get into due to band and management relationships. That’s just the politics of the business.

8. Who are your heroes and what inspired you to take up playing?

I love all genres of music. No one hero stands out.I grew up playing with moms Ventures, Elvis and Three Dog Night records (real vinyl). As for my inspiration, my Grandfather played bass in a band and got me started playing.

9. You are also into building your own guitars. How did that get started? Ever thought about building them and selling them?

It all started when I inquired about have a custom guitar built. I looked into several manufactures such as Brian Moore, Godin and several others. It was going to cost around $9500.00 for a make to my specifications. I figured I could build it cheaper. Boy was I wrong. Just kidding. Yes I would consider building for others but it is all hand craftsmanship and they wouldn’t be cheap.

10. # 10 is called “Shout it Loud”. It’s were you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about.
So go ahead Bob, and “SHOUT IT OUT LOUD”!

Loved or hated I plan on making noise until they lay my body to rest. I don’t understand why all of us musicians can’t just get along. We all have one common intrest, MUSIC. Minx members don’t make a habit of bashing other bands. We like to see other bands and learn from them. I feel every band has something special to give. “It’s BEER O’CLOCK!!  1, 2, 3 GO!!!” Because “the more you drink the better we sound.”

Thanks
Bob Friend

Ten Questions with Preston From MINX

1. Hey Preston, welcome to Kickacts. com. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, I have been playing bass bass with Minx for about 10 years now, I have 2 beautiful daughters that I spend as much time as possible with, and I am also in to photography.

2. You play bass guitar in the band Minx. Tell us about the band and who is in it and the website address.

Minx is Bobby Friend on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Russell Mcgreggor on Lead guitar, Bobby (Skeeter) Barnes on drums and vocals, and myself on bass. The four of us have been together now for over 5 years, and it has helped solidify our sound, while at the same time, we have gained so much confidence in each other, that we can go out and just have fun! We are using our Myspace as our primary site, the address is www. myspace. com/minxrocks

3. What type of gear do you use?

I have a Modulus Flea Bass (still haven’t learned to play like Flea though:), an SWR 350 head and an SWR bass Monitor. I like to keep things simple.

4. You guys have been gigging together for quite a long time. Unlike most bands that rise and fall in a year or so, you maintain, whats the secret?

We all get along great and most of all, we all love to play music! I think that keeping the same lineup helps tremendously, and we have a following that has become like family to us! Without our fans, we would be nothing. I have met so many wonderful people along the way, and I cannot thank them enough for supporting us and just being our friends!

5. Do you have any “greatest gig” stories to tell?

Ahhh, Hogrock several years ago, we had the prime spot and I knew that we would have a killer crowd. I had planned before hand to buy a cheap $79 Kramer bass guitar and ignite it with fireworks, and smash it to bits on our last song! Everything was perfect, the crowd was rockin’, my adrenalin was flowing, and so I lit the fireworks and smashed the bass at the end of Freebird! The crowd went wild, and I was on top of the world! Wow, what a memory for only $79 bucks … uh, then I realized that I left my $300 dollar wireless plugged in to the bass that I had just demolished on stage! Lol! It was still a great memory though, and 4 years later, a woman came up to me and said ” Oh my god, you’re that guy that smashed your guitar at Hogrock, I still have the neck hanging on my wall!” so that made it all worth it!

6. And in the same vein, got any “worst gig ever” stories to share?

Haha, there are several, but one that comes to mind was years ago, when we were really desperate for gigs, we went to a bar outside of Paducah, and they told us they were looking for southern rock, and I thought we could pull it off, but our version of southern rock was way different than what the owner had in mind! We got shut down while playing Rocky Mountain Way, and they made us pack up and go home! Lol!

7. You guys pretty much ruled Double Dukes for years and were their main band until they recently closed. With that gig came some hate or jealousy from other bands that couldn’t get in there. There were some pretty mean spirited messages on Band Nut about your band. Want to address that?

I don’t know why people would be upset at us for playing there so much, after all, we were just trying to stay booked, and Double Dukes was a good gig. I could see where they might take offense at the owners or management for not giving other bands a chance though.

8. Who are your heroes and what inspired you to take up playing?

I have always liked bands that put on a show! Alice Cooper is one of my favorites, but I also grew up with Kiss, Queen, REO Speedwagon, and too many others to mention. I just love music, and will pretty much listen to anything.

9. You are also into photography. How is that going? Do you do it professionally or as a hobby? Favorite things to shoot?

I am so glad you asked that! I have really gotten serious with my photography in the last few months. I have set up a studio in my house and have been doing portraits. Thanks to the power of Myspace, I have been getting emails every day asking me about taking some pics! I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I am getting better at it, and hope to take it to the next level! If anyone wants to check out my work, it can be seen on my Myspace site www. myspace. com/minxbassist or my Taltopia page www. taltopia. com/minxrocks , hope you will take a look!

10. # 10 is called “Shout it Loud”. It’s were you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about.
So go ahead Preston, and “SHOUT IT OUT LOUD”!

Just want to say thanks again to all the people that support the local music scene, keep it up! And thank you Kickacts, you have a good thing going! See ya soon!