Idol Chatter & Voice Views

 

So, you want something wonderfully different in terms of post-Voice music?

Then you need to check out the new album from Chevonne and the Fuzz — 12 tracks of flat-out-fun, riotous, rollicking rock and roll.

Chevonne Ricci fronts the band and is the former Voice contestant.

She was 26 when she auditioned for Season 3, landed a spot on Team Cee Lo and advanced to the knockouts before being ousted in a match against De’Borah, a Top 20 finisher that year.

Ironically, Chevonne said it’s that knockout round performance of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” that provided her post-Voice musical direction.

She says something clicked as she was running around the stage “feeling so free and confident.” She wanted to sing rock music. But definitely not all by herself.

“Almost right after I got home, I started scheming on which of my friends I could convince to start a band with me,” she tells Voice Views.

Chris Ricci, then her boyfriend, now her husband, quickly agreed. So did guitarist Chris Bookstaver. Add Doug Hoekstra and Nick Potters and you have the New Jersey-based Chevonne and the Fuzz.

Next came a Kickstarter campaign and the band’s 2013 debut EP, “Fire At Will,” which certainly hinted at the fun to come. Just check out “Heels” and “Babysitter.”

it’s on the new album, released last month, that the band found its signature sound, says Chevonne.

“This album is definitely harder sonically,” she explains. “The music is more intricate, the lyrics are much more confrontational and bold, and the riffs are gloriously dirty … This is a cohesive record with a signature sound the whole way through.

“And I’m using all of my range, including some gritty screaming and really moody low-, mid-range stuff that folks have never heard me do before. Chris is also featured a lot more, which speaks to what we do live with our on-stage banter and antics.”

Chevonne says producer/engineer Mike Ferretti at Architekt Studios deserves credit for pulling off exactly what the members of Chevonne and the Fuzz were looking for.

“We wanted realism and authenticity over slickness and post-production trickery, and he delivered that way above and beyond. I credit him for helping us become the band we’ve always wanted to be with this album.”

As for the songs themselves, they’re a collaborative effort, with everyone in the band contributing. Chevonne points to “Kill It in the Real World” as an example.

She showed up one day with lyrics for a new song. Nick showed up the same day with an arrangement, but no melody or lyrics.

“He started playing it and I started freaking out and looking around at the guys. Chris was kind of laughing at me like, ‘What is wrong with you? Are you okay?’ I paced around the room like a crazoid, saying, ‘Oh my God!! That fits exactly with the lyrics I brought! This is f—ing nuts!’

“He played his stuff again, and I sang my parts over it — it was uncanny how perfectly it fit. Chris wrote the bridge in two seconds, and that was it. In the words of Tenacious D, ‘Next. Song.'”

target="_blank">“The Higher the Hair (the Closer to Heaven).” And who better to sing a song with that title than Chevonne, with her signature red curls?

Then there’s the delightfully fun “Red Ride,” a takeoff on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It’s without doubt one of the best post-Voice songs recorded by any artist in any genre so far in 2016.

And the music is delivered in a way that leaves you thinking Chevonne and the Fuzz would be even more fun to watch live.

“Our music is just a good time,” says Chevonne, herself a former background singer on Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour. “We’ve got big choruses, the yummiest guitar work, amazing pocket, and of course the male and female vocal interplay between Chris and myself brings tons of intensity.

“We’ve had a lot of people tell us that they’re not at all fans of rock ‘n roll, but they love the album because of the journey it takes them on. You can feel our joy.”

You can keep up with Chevonne and the Fuzz through their Facebook page. On Twitter, follow @listen2chevonne.