SNQLX: Take us back to the beginning — how did The Mox actually come together?

MOX: The Mox originally came together after I (Vince) moved out to Austin with the purpose of making a record. Throughout the process of getting the idea developed, the desire to be in a band grew until i finally began looking for members and reshaping the idea of what this album and this vision would look like. It took a while but once all the right pieces came together, everything started to fall into place quite quickly.

SNQLX: You spent close to a year playing shows across Texas before releasing anything publicly. What were those early shows like before anyone in the room knew who you were?

MOX: The early shows were an experience for sure. I think of it as a trial run. The line-up at the time was very different, as well as the songs. The rooms ranged from pretty decent crowd sizes to the smallest of stages with nobody there, we even ended up playing at a convenient store once which was funny. It was deffinately a journey, but little by little the pieces started falling into place.

SNQLX: Building something from the ground up in a city where you’re still finding your footing — what was the hardest part of those early days that nobody saw from the outside?

MOX: It was very hard to get a band up and running in a city I was new to. I didn’t really know anyone who I could invite to shows at the time or to help me navigate through the Texas music scene. I still find it difficult to do so, but somehow we’ve been able to make it this far and have met a lot of amazing people along the way

SNQLX: Said, Carl, Alec — was there a moment where it clicked for each of you that this was the real thing and not just another band you were trying out?

MOX: For me (Said),  being the first time I met up with them.  We started jammin’ like we’ve been knowing each other for the last 5 years. I don’t remember really practicing the songs until the 2nd or 3rd practice. 

Instant connection.

I guess I’m saying it takes bands years to develop something that took us, as a whole, like 2 weeks. That’s what stood out to me. 

SNQLX: The visual identity strips color out entirely. How did that become a shared language for four people rather than just one person’s instinct?

MOX: We’re a band that values storytelling a lot in our music, and every desicion we make, weather that be sonically or visually is made to be able to fit into this storyline that we’ve built. The record “Sorry For Your Loss” follows a character who has 2 different sides fighting for control, and as he suppresses it all down he feels numb and the colors around him die down.

SNQLX: A lot of this album existed before the full lineup was locked in. What did it mean to finally hear those songs played back by the people who ended up being The Mox?

MOX: Once the lineup really settled in was when the record really started taking shape. The ideas were always there lyrically and in story, but when everybody started sprinkling in their own personality into the songs was when it really started to feel like something special.

SNQLX: This record came with a film. What story were you trying to tell that music alone couldn’t carry?

MOX: It’s not so much that we don’t think that the album told enough of the story, its more so bringing the story to the origin of its creation. The story began as a screenplay first before being adapted into an album, and we’re working really hard to create the pure form of the original vision in a way that hasn’t been done yet and that our fans will enjoy. This record has been given a lot of love from our audience and we want this to be something extra we can give back to them.

SNQLX: You’ve said you want to tell a story across multiple records that eventually paints a complete picture. Do you know what that picture is yet, or are you still building it as you go?

MOX: Both. The story is mostly already thought out, but this story is as much fictional as it is sort of autobiographical, so as we keep living, more of the story will unfold and fall into this narative in one way or another.

SNQLX: “Bitedown” shuts rooms down every time you play it. Where did that song come from?

MOX: “Bitedown” is honestly a song i really love because it bleeds with the energy of what it was like growing up in my hometown of Brownsville, TX. Not only thematically, but also in the energy. It’s a love letter to my time there making music and playing in bands when I was in high school.

SNQLX: What does Sorry For Your Loss mean to you now that it’s actually out, compared to what you thought it would mean when you were making it?

MOX: The album now means so much more to me and all of us than it did beforehand, which is surprising. I worked on this record for 7 years and it became my lifelong goal to prove to everyone that I could create something that could impact people’s lives and tell a story that people could relate to. After it was released, it was given so much love that it gave us all so much hope in the future and a sense of fulfilment in being able to say “hell yeah…we did that”. It gave us all the confidence in the world to push as hard as we can and take this thing to the highest of heights possible.

SNQLX: You want to headline Reading & Leeds and Austin City Limits one day. What does The Mox look like at that level — same band, just bigger rooms?

MOX: We like to aim high, always have. We’ll work as hard as we need to in order to get to that point, and when we do, I’d say that everything that is important to us now will still be important then. We’re always gonna strive to give the best shows possible and write the best records we can and keep telling stories. The only difference is we’re gonna do it bigger, and better, and give everyone an experience they will never forget.