the ROX are Laura Kelly, Roxie Hunt, Kristina Jones, Dan Dean

Band members, instruments

and day jobs:

Roxie Hunt (vocals, guitar) —

Mom, stylist and owner of

Mayapple Salon

Kristina Jones (drums, vocals) —

Mom, strategic planning

technician

Laura Kelly (bass, vocals) —

Mom, farmer, architectural

designer

Dan Dean (guitar, vocals) —

Architectural designer

Band born: Our first show with this lineup was at the Mayapple Salon Grand Opening on November 1, 2008. But Roxie first played these songs with Dan and her man Dagen at the Dino House May 18, 2008.

Type of music: We play catchy rock with strong harmony vocals, occasional Happy Monkey Drums, melodic bass lines, fake-shredding leads and crunchy hollow-body power chords.

Originals or covers: Mostly originals, though we do a Ska version of “Diamonds and Rust” and occasionally cover “Pearl of the Quarter”

Sounds like:

Dan: Rainer Maria with a little

Lungfish and Sarge, dancing on

the roof of Empire Records.

Laura: Each song sounds like

something different from Death

Cab for Cutie to Metallica to Rilo

Kiley to The White Stripes.

Roxie: Maybe The Fastbacks a

little bit … depends on the song.

Kristina: Rock ’n Roll donning

a hair-net.

Songwriter’s muse: Motherhood, sisterhood, childhood, the Oregon Country Fair, among other things … .

Influences: Dan might not have ever made music at all without the encouragement of his brother Dave. Laura’s bass playing is influenced by him as well as by Kristina, Kelly Mulhollan and Flea. Kristina likes the rhythm sections in Seam, Sleater Kinney, Fugazi and Sloan. For songwriting, we look to a broad range of writers, from Loretta Lynn to Kurt Cobain to Shunryu Suzuki.

Accomplishments: Just getting together to make music after a hard day’s work feels like a major accomplishment sometimes.

What kind of crowd do you draw: So far, it has been friendly, fun-loving, dance-happy types of all descriptions (and a few lovably jaded scenesters).

When and where do you practice: We practice at Mayapple about once a week. We all live on the same street, though, so if one of us gets a song idea or wants to work on a part, it takes about a minute to walk over and play.

Any albums: We just finished recording a 10-song CD with Dwight at the Listen Laboratory that you can get at our shows or at Sound Warehouse.

Total number of tattoos and piercings: Roxie is the only one of us with tattoos, but she has us covered in terms of quantity. Kristina has four piercings. Laura had one once. Roxie says it’s none of your business! Dan has a piercing whine when he doesn’t get his way.

Back stage ritual: Roxie uses “hair product” to help the style-challenged member of the band look as much like a pseudo-rock-star as possible. In return, he polishes the instruments so we sparkle in the stage lights.

Funniest or strangest thing that ever happened during a performance:

Kristina was once replaced by Tommy Lee for two songs and nobody noticed.

Plans: The best ones often go awry, so we’re just making it up as we go along.

Goals: We just want to continue having a good time writing songs together and playing shows with and for awesome folks.

New Projects: Roxie is a songwriting machine, so there’s always new material to perfect.

Upcoming shows and tours: Our CD release party will be at the Smoke and Barrel Tavern on Friday, August 15 with The Good Fear. It’s a logistical challenge to play out-of-town, but we may be able to swing a few shows close by.

Dream act to open for: Laura wants to open for Ferron or Leonard Cohen. Dan wants to play the next Police reunion tour. Roxie wants to open for Beyoncé. Kristina would be overjoyed if Fayetteville’s own Dig would reunite for a show and let the ROX open for them, but if not, Junior Brown would do nicely.

Last CD purchased:

Laura bought Scythian’s “Dance at the Crossroads” the other night at George’s

Dan: “Mouthpeace” by Still on the Hill

Roxie: Queens of the Stone Age “Lullabies to Paralyze”

Kristina: Jellyfish “Spilt Milk”

Most played song/s on your iPod?

Dan: Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious”

Roxie: “Joan of Arc” by The Melvins

Kristina: I powerwalk to Sloan “Action Pact” with my, ahem, sports-discman.

Laura: Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee”

Web site:

www.myspace.com/theroxsongs

Upcoming shows: Aug. 15, Smoke & Barrel with The Good Fear.