Five Firsts: Sly Fox of Sly Fox & the Hustlers

NAME: Sly Fox
BAND AFFILIATION: Sly Fox and the Hustlers
INSTRUMENT: Lead Vocals/Guitar

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … Jimi Hendrix’s “Smash Hits” and Led Zep #2 on cassette. I bought both on the same day on the advice frrom my father after I said I wanted to play guitar like my older cousins that lived downstairs from me in Troy. I was nine years old.

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … Motley Crue with Whitesnake, 1987 at the RPI Fieldhouse, Troy. I was 12 years old. It was the Girls, Girls, Girls tour, and it changed my life forever. I was bitten by the Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll bug and fell in love with the lifestyle on display. I went with my father and my cousin, and I remember my father pointing out (as he noticed me taking in the sights) that there were two reasons to go to concerts:
1. The music
2. The girls
and not always in that order.
I had never seen girls dressed like that, and it was right at the same time as my coming of age and wanting to rebel and chase girls, etc. I honestly feel like I haven’t changed much to this day from those teenage years. A little wiser, I’m sure, but the same things still turn me on.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … Guitar, age nine

4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … My first real show ever was at Saratoga Winners in ’93, opening for Cry of Love. Our band was called Dionysus with me on guitar and my oldest of friends Sean Rowe on bass and vocals. It was all original music, and we opened with a song called “She’s So High.”

5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … Savage Youth (’89), which morphed into Dionysus (’92) and then the Clockwork Orange (’96). The constant members being the songwriting team of myself on guitar and Sean Rowe on bass/vocals. Sean and I grew up across the street from each other in Troy, and we were best friends since we were seven or so. When I got my first guitar, he got a bass two weeks later, so we could have a band. We started writing original music at about 10 years old, and we are both still going to this day.

Sly Fox & the Hustlers will be celebrating the release of their debut album, “The Low-life,” with a party and performance at Red Square in Albany at 9pm on Saturday. Sean Rowe opens the show.