OC Music Awards 2012: Foxxhound Create A Beautiful “Musical Marriage” With Edgy Acoustic Music

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ The fruits of my labor are worth endeavoring upon because I put it back in the band. It's worth investing in.
” Daniel Morones of Foxxhound Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“The fruits of my labor are worth endeavoring upon because I put it back in the band. It’s worth investing in,” said Daniel Morones, the older half of odd-couple acoustic duo, Foxxhound.

Morones, in his early 30s, after poetically likening his career to an agricultural triumph, does his best to sip on another agricultural triumph: a giant beer in a thick glass goblet, so medieval that the singer and multi-intrumentalist jokes that he needs a “horse and a sword” to accompany it.

His other half, the pretty, fashion-forward college freshman and cellist, Lizzi Murtough, laughs at him mischievously in that kind of way one does when you know someone really well. When you’ve gotten to that point where you can enjoy (and embrace) their quirks on a deeper level.

“I make mistakes and she gives me those accusatory eyes,” jested Morones when we start talking about his dating life. Murtough replied lovingly, “And then I judge them.”

“Would you expect to see us together a year later?,” joked Morones, taking a jab at the duo’s age difference.

Murtough just started college and is majoring in cello performance. Morones, who said he doesn’t go out a lot, has spent 2011 focusing on working, the band, and his kid.

“ We're the best that we've ever been. I'm very brazen sometimes, but only because I feel that way.
” “It’s not a very glamorous life per se,” admitted Mornoes. “But we’ve landed a couple nice gigs. We’re going to go up to the Bay Area and play up there…I’ve been in bands that went nowhere and this isn’t it. This isn’t one of those situations.”

“It’s the first time I’ve had someone who built up my confidence and it was a safe trusting environment. It just kind of made both of us really good,” continued Morones. “Lizzi’s singing lead vocals on songs right now and writing lyrics. We’re the best that we’ve ever been. I’m very brazen sometimes, but only because I feel that way.“

“ The more comfortable you are with a person...And the more that person knows about what's going on in your personal life, they'll get it a lot more and they can relate to it better. If you can relate to something better, you can perform it better.
” Murtough agreed, explaining further:  “We’re writing songs more together now than we ever did before…Now we’re writing new songs so everything is more of our sound rather than just an older sound.”

Both of them confessed that, personally, 2011 wasn’t a fabulous year for them, but that they considered their music with Foxxhound to be a “refuge.”

“It was the one thing that I could just put my energy into without thinking about all the other sh*t that was going on, ” said Murtough sincerely.

“The more comfortable you are with a person,” the young cellist continued, “And the more that person knows about what’s going on in your personal life, they’ll get it a lot more and they can relate to it better. If you can relate to something better, you can perform it better.”