The most intriguing and exhilarating rock band of the 21st century, Foxy Shazam is an outlandish, singularly spectacular legend. Over 21 years and nine albums, the genre-fluid Cincinnati sextet has stretched what can be done with rock music to the point of redefinition with its elatedly eccentric, maniacal mélange of soulful glam/rock/pop, acrobatic vocals, theatrical instincts, and incomparable stage presence. Foxy Shazam’s hugely-anticipated tenth album, Box of Magic is due in October 2025, preceded by a trio of singles.
Formed in Cincinnati in 2004, Foxy Shazam strutted to fame with a string of increasingly accomplished albums and famously frenetic, utterly enthralling live shows centered upon force-of-nature frontman Eric Nally – an astonishingly elastic performer (vocally and physically) likened to a lovechild of Freddie Mercury and Noel Fielding. Nally’s somersaulting, rafters-climbing, cigarette-eating (seriously) stage performances, punctuated with surreal stage banter, helped make the nuanced but irresistible “Foxy lure” a worldwide word-of-mouth phenomenon.
Foxy Shazam’s 2005 debut album, The Flamingo Trigger married piano-powered post-hardcore to glittering rock ‘n roll, its diverse dynamic bonded by Nally’s consistently mesmerizing combining of clever, lighthearted lyrics and breathtaking vocal chops. The record’s widespread acclaim spurred two years of nationwide touring, ambushing astounded audiences with Foxy’s rare...
The most intriguing and exhilarating rock band of the 21st century, Foxy Shazam is an outlandish, singularly spectacular legend. Over 21 years and nine albums, the genre-fluid Cincinnati sextet has stretched what can be done with rock music to the point of redefinition with its elatedly eccentric, maniacal mélange of soulful glam/rock/pop, acrobatic vocals, theatrical instincts, and incomparable stage presence. Foxy Shazam’s hugely-anticipated tenth album, Box of Magic is due in October 2025, preceded by a trio of singles.
Formed in Cincinnati in 2004, Foxy Shazam strutted to fame with a string of increasingly accomplished albums and famously frenetic, utterly enthralling live shows centered upon force-of-nature frontman Eric Nally – an astonishingly elastic performer (vocally and physically) likened to a lovechild of Freddie Mercury and Noel Fielding. Nally’s somersaulting, rafters-climbing, cigarette-eating (seriously) stage performances, punctuated with surreal stage banter, helped make the nuanced but irresistible “Foxy lure” a worldwide word-of-mouth phenomenon.
Foxy Shazam’s 2005 debut album, The Flamingo Trigger married piano-powered post-hardcore to glittering rock ‘n roll, its diverse dynamic bonded by Nally’s consistently mesmerizing combining of clever, lighthearted lyrics and breathtaking vocal chops. The record’s widespread acclaim spurred two years of nationwide touring, ambushing astounded audiences with Foxy’s rare musicality, second-nature showmanship, and effervescent charisma.
Swiftly snapped up by Ferret Music, Foxy Shazam’s 2008 sophomore album, Introducing had them hailed as among “100 Bands You Need to Know” by Alternative Press. High profile touring with the likes of The Strokes, The Sounds, and Panic! At the Disco followed before the inevitable overtures of major record labels spawned a deal with Sire Records.
Helmed by mega-producers Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Linkin Park) and John Feldmann (Blink-182, Avril Lavigne), Foxy Shazam’s self-titled third album gatecrashed the Billboard chart in 2010 and put them on Spin magazine’s list of “Ten Bands You Need To Know.” With their soaring vocals, stacked harmonies and sheer sonic ambition garnering lofty comparisons to the likes of Queen, Meatloaf, and My Chemical Romance, Foxy performed at Lollapalooza 2010, and the following year were named a Spotlight Band on the hugely popular Van’s Warped Tour.
They built upon the momentum of their watershed third album with 2011 follow-up, The Church of Rock and Roll. Praised by Paste for its “ballsy rejection of modern pop stereotypes,” this climbed even higher up the charts than its predecessor, with all three of its singles making the U.S Active Rock top 40 and “I Like It” also peaking at #5 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Along the way, Foxy’s sassy, shimmying songs snagged prominent placements including the Super Bowl XLIV telecast, video game NHL 11, Cartoon Network’s Tower Prep, and a series of MLB Network commercials. Nally even co-wrote songs alongside Darkness frontman (and Church of Rock and Roll producer) Justin Hawkins for the legendary Meatloaf.
In 2014, Foxy Shazam announced a hiatus, during which Nally featured on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ global hit “Downtown” and its accompanying video, as well as repeatedly joining the Grammy-winning duo on stage, including a characteristically charismatic performance at MTV’s 2015 Video Music Awards.
Since reforming with a revamped lineup in 2020 – Nally alongside pianist Sky White, trumpeter/backing vocalist Alex Nauth, bassist Existential Youth, guitarist Devin Williams, and drummer Teddy Aitkins – Foxy Shazam have been more prolific than ever, releasing four albums on their own EeeOohAh label and touring relentlessly to enormous acclaim.
The title of Foxy Shazam’s 2025 ninth album Animality Opera is a nod to a spiritual throughline reaching back to the band’s earliest days (“The French Passion of Animality Opera” is the opening track on their 2004 debut). “There’s these certain little energies that have been circling around my whole career,” Nally explained. “‘Animality’ is just one of those words … it’s stuck around.”
Animality Opera earned a 5-star New Noise review that gushed over its “raw, animal-like passion combined with theatrical elements held together by Eric Nally’s … near opera-range voice,” while Rock ‘N’ Load enthused over its 11 tracks blending “nostalgia with futuristic soundscapes, capturing the raw, unfiltered spirit that has made Foxy Shazam legendary.”
Lately, Foxy Shazam is casting its spell over whole new audiences in the 2025 Superman movie and Peacemaker TV series – on soundtracks and on screen. They recorded “The Mighty Crabjoys Theme” for director James Gunn’s blockbuster Superman saga, in which Nally makes a cameo alongside actress/singer Lou Lou Safran in fictional band The Mighty Crabjoys.
“Having the opportunity to work with James Gunn and Lou Lou creatively on music was really special and very complimentary,” said Nally, who shared the red carpet with Safran at Superman’s L.A. premiere. “The whole notion of The Mighty Crabjoys and blurring the lines of how a band can exist is really exciting.” [Replace with a new/unique Eric quote, if possible.]
Cinematic, escapist, and larger than life, Foxy Shazam is right at home in the DC Universe, with Superman and Peacemaker director Gunn declaring them, “my favorite band in the world, that is objectively the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.” Foxy’s “Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll” featured in the first episode of Peacemaker and reappears in Season 2. The band also makes an on-screen appearance in the new season, which boasts their 2010 single “Oh Lord” as its theme song.
Foxy Shazam’s imminent tenth album Box of Magic displays an intriguing yin-yang relationship with Animality Opera. Recorded at Hollywood’s storied EastWest Studios (Beach Boys, Michael Jackson etc.) and featuring a cameo from Corey Feldman, the 9-track Box Of Magic is introduced with the timeless, Foxy-ified rock ‘n roll of propellant first single “Magic” on Aug. 8.
Building upon the huge success of Foxy Shazam’s 2025 Rock N Rolla Coast Tour – described by one reviewer as “Freddie Mercury getting an adrenaline shot straight to the heart and being set loose on a pop rock-infused acid trip at Coney Island” – the band will be promoting Box of Magic with their inimitable, super-inclusive stage show at Chicago’s Edgewater Music Fest in September and on Waterparks’ Prowler Tour this December.
