Poxy

Montreal is turning into the sleaze rock capital of Canada, with One976, Paradise, Bordello, the Cherry Persuasion and the Snitches all bent on blowing you away with a lipstick sneer and a killer tune. Caféine used to top that list, and two of its expatriates are back in Poxy, the pet project of singer, songwriter and sleaze-monger Xavier Caféine, whose back-up band includes former band-mate Nicotine, as well as One976 friends Pat Sayers and Alex Crowe. Poxy's palette is strictly guitars, bass and drums, hardly the electro act it was rumoured to be. In fact, their highly anthemic, punch-in-the-air tunes and sing-song back-up vocals veered more toward pop while maintaining all the trashy trappings of old. From the man who once sang, "There's a cock in my pocket," the lyrics took a familiar seedy turn with "downtown city boys" and "Hong Kong babies" as the main characters, and a cover of Bowie's "John I'm Only Dancing" slid easily into the energised set. So, with a vaguely hackneyed, nearly radio-friendly sound and built in fan base, who knows where Poxy music could go? Hey, if Robin Black can do it…