Audio By Carbonatix
We’ve seen our share of bands that have little going for them aside from a gimmick meant to widen their fan base. But Austin’s Foot Patrol might have one of the most unique ones that we’ve ever encountered — an unabashed focus on human feet.
Lead singer and keyboard player TJ Wade, one half of the band’s founding members, is quite open about the fact that he has a foot fetish, and he embraces it fully through the music of this funk band.
But one thing: These guys are actually quite talented — the gimmick just gets their foot in the door (pun intended). Most who’ve seen or heard them will agree that they can hold their own with any funk band around.
And then there’s this: Wade’s been blind for most of his life.
Now, in tandem by the band’s co-founder and bassist Hung Nguyen, Foot Patrol has added a full band to their mix. And, in advance of the band’s show at 2826 Arnetic tonight in Deep Ellum, we caught up with Nguyen to talk about Foot Patrol’s upcoming release, Pussyfootin’, and the band’s unique history.
You guys operate out of Austin. Has Foot Patrol ever played North Texas before, or is tonight a first?
The band itself has never played up there, but I’m actually
from the D-FW area. I grew up in Fort Worth and went to Dunbar High
School. It’s exciting for me to take the band back to my home town.
Hopefully, some high school friends and some relatives will come out.
It’s a whole different world here in Austin. I’m excited to take what
we’ve been doing down here to the Metroplex.
Is the whole band into feet?
TJ’s the only one who has the foot fetish. I started the band with
him mainly because we were doing hardcore music with a band called
Terroristic. There was a very limited audience with that kind of genre,
so I wanted to do something a little more accessible. And I thought
about the idea of doing funk music. He didn’t really want go in that
kind of commercial direction. But I said, “It’s gonna be fun, and we’re
gonna make it about feet, and you’re gonna get some.” So that was pretty
much why it went in that direction. Foot Patrol has been around for
five years now. At this point, it’s not just me and TJ. We have a full band
with drummer, guitar, horn section and backup singer. I play bass and TJ
plays keyboards and sings. It’s usually anywhere from six to eight
people on stage.
I read that you’re upcoming release Pussyfootin’ is going to be your
last collection of exclusively foot-related material. What is the
reason you’re getting away from that?
This will be our sixth release of foot songs. And they’re all about
feet. So, you know, we’ve had enough. Originally, we wanted it to be this
really insane concept of this band that just sings about one subject.
And that was fun for a while, but at this point we’re a little tired of
it.
What direction are you gonna head into? Are you still going to play foot-related material live?
Oh yeah, we’ll definitely play the foot stuff live. It’s just, as far
as songwriting, we’re still gonna retain the essential elements that
make Foot Patrol songs popular or fun — the wacky sense of humor and
wordplay. We’re just not gonna be limited to one subject. It’s still
gonna have that silliness to it. The subject matter will just be a
little more varied.
Any chance of the edge from your former band Terroristic coming back into the fold?
In Terroristic, we did hardcore rap and gangster rap. But we also did
a kind of progressive metal band thing as well. We play as that band
from time to time just to get some variety. We have three of four rap
CDs and one rock CD. Musically, it’s different. But the aesthetic is
kinda coming from the same source as far as subversiveness and left of
center.
I’ve read that part of your live show includes a lot of skits and a
campy musical theater-type fun. Where does that inspiration come from?
Actually, the roots of that particular approach is in classic hip-hop
albums. De La Soul, for example, did a lot of skits on their stuff. TJ
and I are both children of hip-hop, so that’s bound to come through in
our music.
Listening to Pussyfootin’, I hear a lot of the Minneapolis sound and
Prince influence. Have you ever wondered what Prince would think
of Foot Patrol?
We’re always curious about that. From what I’ve head about him, I
would say that he would think we were copycats. I’m friends with the
band Grupo Fantasma, and they’ve actually opened up for him in a couple
of places. So I got a vicarious view of what he’s like through them. I
don’t know if he’d take it seriously.
Would you ever consider the possibility of trying to get your stuff in front of him?
For sure! Since our manager also manages Grupo Fantasma, we’re
hoping that maybe we could still use some of those contacts. But I admit
that the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
Adrian Quesada from Grupo Fantasma actually mixed Pussyfootin’. What was it like to work with him?
It was great. I’ve known Adrian for years, so the comfort level was
high. This is the first album that we didn’t mix ourselves. I wanted an
independent set of ears to do the mixing and he really added a lot of
his own aesthetic to the pot. I gave him free reign and we were really
happy with the results.
The whole concept of a foot fetish can be considered kinky or taboo.
What are some crazy reactions that you guys have gotten?
Actually, when people come to see us, the reaction is great. They are
initially attracted to the gimmick of it because it’s amusing and it’s
wacky. But when they see the band, they realize that we’re actually
really good musically, and that overshadows the gimmicky nature of it.
But it is really amusing to see what the reaction is when we’re shopping it
around to various radio stations, for example. Some people love it, they
think it’s hilarious. Other people are grossed out by it. Some are
freaked out by it. This one person, she refused to even work with us:
“Feet! Gross!” It’s just that most people don’t think of feet as being
erogenous, and for us to be so up front about it is a little bit jarring.
I mean, some of the songs are really explicit. But it kind of goes back
to our hardcore history. The draw to subversion is what attracts us.
We touched on you guys doing skits in the live show earlier. I hear
that TJ has some alter egos that he incorporates into the act. Can you
talk a bit about these characters?
TJ is a very good mimic when it comes to music and voices. We threw
that element in there for some extra added entertainment value. We’ve
come up with a handful of characters that have come into each of the
recordings. We have Chrissy, who is the dumb blonde foot fetish model
who’s really superficial, snooty and materialistic. TJ can do that
blonde girl’s voice to a T. We also have Mistress Monica, who is a black
girl from New York who’s a dominatrix. She’s a real mean, tough girl.
There’s a couple others that we’ve also come up with, strictly out of
boredom, really.
For the ladies that will be headed to the show, what is TJ’s preferred footwear for them to wear?
He loves either sandals or open-toed shoes. In fact, we have a
couple of songs about open-toed shoes. One of them is on
Pussyfootin‘, and it’s called “Welcome Me.” So there you have it.
Foot Patrol performs tonight at 2826 Arnetic
