The Faux Minx Story

So Far…

The Faux Minx got their start, through a couple of providential phone calls, in February of 2008. The idea to form a Jazz band came from the bassist, David Green. David had been playing with an accomplished Jazz pianist all through the Holidays and enjoyed the new territory he was discovering. He went out in search of a couple other accomplished musicians that might be willing to try their hand at Jazz with him. Those musicians were, Darrin Pirkle, Ryan Shenk, Mike Mink and, a little more down the road, Matt Heller.

The first time they played together it just felt right, as David Green would recall. They started out by learning some standards from some of their favorite Jazz artists like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis. Their first rehearsal took place in February at David’s studio. However, not everyone knew each other very well, so everyone was a little uneasy and somewhat worried about playing this genre of music. The band recalls David easing the tension by saying something like, “Look guys, we all know that we are probably going to suck at this and that’s why we are here. None of us know what we are doing, so let’s figure this out together, no egos or attitudes; No fear of playing badly, let’s just play!” Suffice it to say, they had a great time together and decided to make it a permanent Tuesday night gathering.

In March of 2008, David met Tony Nies. Tony is the co-founder of a (at the time) new architectural art venue on North Queen Street in Lancaster called Building Character. Tony had a dream of starting a “Music Friday” every third Friday in Lancaster City for local bands to play his venue. David was asked if he knew of anyone who might play and David promptly said yes.

David offered the services of his newly formed band to play some Jazz numbers. After their first gig at Building Character, Tony Nies liked the band so much, he asked if they would come back for the following months and eventually play “First Fridays” as well.

Since the band had been playing twice a month at Building Character, they had received many requests for a CD or downloadable MP3. It became obvious that they needed to record some of their original compositions and it seemed like a natural fit for The Faux Minx to drag their recording gear out to Building Character, along with Manager Joshua Cranmer and Engineer Tony Guyer, and see what they could come up with. These recording sessions at 342 N. Queen Street, Lancaster, became what is known today as, “Volume Blue”, the very first installment of a series of EP’s for The Faux Minx. The Faux Minx plan to release EP’s throughout 2009 and beyond until the “color scheme” compilation is complete. And so the story continues…

David – “We need to come up with a name.”
Ryan – “Yes we do and I have been thinking of some but none really stick.”
David – “Me too and they are all crappy.”
Ryan – “I don’t feel comfortable with having any reference to jazz in the name out of respect for the legit jazz players.”
Group – “Agreed”
Now it gets sketchy from hear as to who said what but the following is close to the conversation that was had:
“What about Mink Coat since Mike (the piano player’s last name is Mink)?”
“Oh yeah, like Mike’s last name – maybe”
“How about Faux Mink – like we don’t take ourselves too seriously?”
“That could work”
“Wait wait. how about Faux Minx? with the x thing…”
“Isn’t a minx a cat?
“I think so”
“And we’re kinda like fake jazz cats”
“Right… so that’s a pretty good fit”
“Right. ok? Faux Minx?”
“Ok”