Foxy move for melodic rockers

Midland melodic rockers Dante Fox will go unplugged when they play on BBC Radio Shropshire next week.

The five-piece band will perform four numbers during a session on Friday June 20 on The Friday Night Gerbil Show, from 7pm.

It promises to be a busy year for Dante Fox, fronted by singer Sue Willetts and her partner, guitarist Tim Manford.

Not only are the couple settling into their new home in Apley, Shropshire, after moving in six weeks ago but they are due to go on tour later this year with Survivor singer Jimi Jamison, not only as his support act but as his backing band too.

The band, formed in 1989 by Manford and Willetts, has released three albums - Under Suspicion, The Fire Within and 2007's Under The Seven Skies, garnering glowing reviews in the melodic rock press and radio as well as support slots with the likes of ELO, Kip Winger and Danny Vaughan, plus festival dates in Britain and Europe.

The band, which also features Mike Dagnall on bass, Mick Hales on drums and Roman Wieckowski on keyboards and guitars, plays huge sounding, melodic, soulful rock with big harmonies that also feature a harder edge.

Manford likens it to a mix of Heart, Journey and Whitesnake, mixed with some of the guitar flash of his heroes John Sykes and Gary Moore.

He explains that having moved into county from the Black Country they were encouraged to send some MP3s of their music to BBC Radio Shropshire.

"They went mad for it! They really liked it," he says. "It's different for them, not the sort of stuff they usually play."

The decision to go unplugged for the session followed a similar successful broadcast on the online rock radio station ARfm last year.

It represents quite a challenge for powerhouse singer Willetts, whose voice has often been likened to Ann Wilson of Heart.

"It's all down to control," says Manford. "We have such a big sound that she has to rise above that. But she can be as soft and heartfelt as she needs to be and then let it go with a hard rock situation."

With 80s rock bands like Def Leppard, Journey and Whitesnake back in the charts and filling British venues again, it seems as though there's a genuine rock renaissance in the air after a few years in the wilderness - that's something Dante Fox want to take advantage of.

"Things are definitely different now," says Manford. "Even Radio One is noisier than it used to be. We think we appeal to a larger audience than we did 10 years ago."

And he wistfully wonders what might have happened if the band had formed just a little earlier, when radio, in particular, was more open to rock.

"If Dante Fox could have delivered some of the material in the late 80s that we did in the 90s things could have been different," he says.

Things could have also been different for Manford and Willetts if they had married, as planned in September 1996. But then the small matter of a support slot to ELO came up and they hit the road instead.

The couple remain "happily unmarried", still busy setting up home and getting ready to rock the airwaves.

Listen to Dante Fox on BBC Radio Shropshire 96FM on June 20 or online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/shropshire

You can also catch up with the band's sounds at www.myspace.com/dantefox and www.dantefox.com

By Ian Harvey