The Potential of BLUEOX in the Rock World

By John Gamez
Music Journalist

Psychedelic rock was born in the late ’60s and has made its place to stay for generations to come. Bands like The Doors, The Beatles and Pink Floyd are most widely known for birthing this new style of sound. A half-century later, epic guitar solos are still going strong as heard and covered in BLUEOX’s latest EP, Fearless.

Titled after Pink Floyd’s track, the “Fearless” cover by BLUEOX is back to remind you of those head-bobbing riffs without the ending crowd noise. From the start of the song, the soundbite of “Speaking to what I know to as an increasingly trying time” fits perfectly into the 2020s in conjunction with issues 50 years ago.

Pink Floyd’s era of war, civil rights movements and emerging new ideas have always been present and are expressed through music. The fundamental sounds of psych-rock are to mimic the feeling beyond the physical self. Artists would use mind-altering drugs to unlock this new art-form of electric guitars and echoed vocals on melodic drum patterns.

With or without synthetic drugs, it is still all possible to invoke the feeling of celestial consciousness. Being without fear means to rise from the naysayers chiding, bringing you down. Finding yourself going to the clouds, climbing steep hills are some of the metaphors found in Fearless.

BLUEOX also released a music video with the cover that included over 3,700 individually painted frames. A lot of careful work was put into both the song and video, as BLUEOX describes the project as “…a timely deep-dive into the psyche of an artist with heaps of eye candy and technique.”

Quite literally painting a picture both visually and mentally share the same intended effect; going deeper to understand the individual. In this case, a plethora of colorful visuals and lyrics paint the band’s canvas.

Aside from the great cover, the rest of the EP is a tease of what rock fans could expect from a full album release. “Fly On” is the last track on the EP and is saving the best for last. A song that could help free the soul from everything weighing it down. A recurring theme of longing is found throughout the band’s music but they use it well, even on their single, “Ten Feet Tall.” Ready for the ride to nowhere, BLUEOX will guide one well on their journeys.

With a handful of singles and an EP, they very well should make a stir for fans from any rock era. The question would be what is next for the band and how long we will wait for a full-length album release. There has to be a future for the band and the only way is up from here.