Gary James' Interview With Share Ross Of
Vixen



Their debut album was released in September, 1988 and produced the hit "Edge Of A Broken Heart" (#26). The following year they toured the world, sharing the stage with the likes of Bon Jovi, The Scorpions and Ozzy Osbourne, and doing a fair amount of headlining their own shows as well. July, 1990 saw the release of their second album, "Rev It Up". Back on the road, they opened for KISS and Deep Purple as well as headlining their own shows. The group we are talking about is Vixen. We spoke to original member, Share Ross about the history of the group as well as what they're doing these days.

Q - Share, the obvious question, is there still a Vixen as we're talking?

A - Absolutely. We play gigs all the time.

Q - And so, where are you performing?

A - All over the planet. This year (2018) we're all over America, Sweden, France, England, Germany, Belgium. There's talk of some other countries which I'm not going to mention in case we don't go there. Yeah, global.

Q - That must mean people still remember the name Vixen.

A - Yeah, absolutely. I'm always amazed at the turnouts at the gigs. We're playing Sweden Rock this year with Guns 'n' Roses and Ozzy. It's gonna be great. 2018 is actually looking like the best year we've had in awhile. We reunited about five years ago. It's just been getting better every year.

Q - And yet, if you tune in to one of these award shows, like The American Music Awards and The Grammys, the type of music you're playing doesn't seem to be represented at all.

A - (laughs) Isn't it amazing. Just look at the brand The School Of Rock. They're exploding. There's so much turnout and demand for Guitar Rock and Guitar Selling guitars like crazy. And yet, nowhere to be seen in terms of Grammys or radio stations. I have no idea. I don't understand the music business. I just play Rock 'n' Roll.

Q - How did Vixen get their big break? Did you send in a demo tape to some record company? Were you performing in a club someplace and an A&R guy saw you?

A - We were playing around Los Angeles and had acquired management. They started to set up showcases and eventually one of the record labels, which was E.M.I. agreed reluctantly to sign us to their label. Reluctant because they thought nobody would like that kind of music played by chicks.

Q - Wasn't there a group out at the time called Madam X?

A - Well, Roxy was from Madam X, but not at the same time. When she left, Madam X ended.

Q - Vixen opened for KISS. That had to be one tough gig. How did you get through that?

A - You know what? It wasn't any tougher than any of the other tours. It was great. We always walked onstage and one 'em over in the first song. It was good. We were definitely nervous about KISS and Ozzy in particular 'cause Ozzy fans are very loyal. But in both cases we would walk out onstage and you just see they were like, "Oh, no." The within the first song, maybe two songs we we woud win 'em over. So, definitely nervous walking out, but then really excited to win 'em over. So, it was great.

Q - Was Vixen the first all female Rock band from St. Paul, Minnesota?

A - The founding member was from St. Paul, but the rest of us are not from there.

Q - That was a big deal back then, to be in an all female band. If Vixen was starting out today, I don't believe that terminology, "all female band" would be used. Do you agree?

A - That's a good question. I don't know. Very good question. I'd like to think it's not that big of a deal anymore, that's for sure. Back then it certainly was. That's probably the biggest difference. Back then it was like, "What? Females playing instruments? What are we talking about?" Nowadays it's not a big deal.

Q - You're a Rock 'n' Roll Life Coach. What's that?

A - I'm a Life Coach where I help people go from basically being good to great. I help folks who sort of feel stuck. I would say most of my clients are over 40 and reaching a place in their life where they're waking up and saying, "Is this it? Is this my life? Is there more to me? Is there more to my life?" They want to sort of dive deep and figure out what that is. So, I help people a lot of times pretty much get fearless and tap into their true courage and their true calling.

Q - These aren't people who are necessarily in the Rock 'n' Roll business then, is it?

A - No. The only part about that that's Rock 'n' Roll is my branding. 99% of the people that I help are in the corporate world. It's straight up life coaching, but I have a Rock 'n' Roll approach to it because of who I am and what I've done with my life. I'm gonna drop F-bombs and I'm not gonna wear a suit and tie or anything like that.

Q - You're also an adventurer. Does that mean you take exotic trips around the world?

A - I have done a lot of crazy trips around the world. I've just always had a mad adventure of a life. I sort of view my life as one long adventure and I'm not stuck into any one thing per se. I've done a lot of crazy stuff in my life. That's all.

Q - You're an advocate for de Terra essential oils. Is that your company?

A - That's not my company. I just support their products and I'm happy to talk to people about essential oils. I do a lot of different things, Gary.

Q - I see that.

A - I'm also a licensed realtor here in South Florida. I have another album coming out with my husband in about six weeks or so called "Twin Flames Radio", which we've publicly funded through Pledge Music.

Q - And the name of the band is what?

A - Twin Flames Radio, which is also the name of the album as well. It's like two flames that are burning at the same time. He and I have done several albums together and we've been writing songs together for over twenty years and this is a little more of a departure in terms of instead of just saying, "Okay, let's have a band and get these songs recorded," we sort of took more of an approach of let's call on our deep '70s influences and make this into a sonic experience that you can listen to these songs hopefully over and over again and start to hear other things that you never actually heard before. So, we've really gone a little bit crazy on some of the production. He and I did everything this time without a band. Just sort of allowed ourselves to explore the unexpected influences. We've heard what other people have said, which is they've heard references to everything from Pink Floyd to Mott The Hoople to David Bowie to 10cc to Fleetwood Mac to Betty Davis. All these different, very diverse influences on this album. So, we're pretty excited about that. It's very different. Definitely a departure.

Q - Didn't you and your husband have this group called Bubble?

A - Yeah, we had Bubble as well. That was more inside of what I would say was the Punk/Pop sort of thing. We did three albums and three EPs with Bubble. We had a great time with that. We had a lot of cool successes as well. We had songs in movies and won Song Of The Year in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with one of the songs on the first Bubble album. I guess Twin Flames Radio was sort of like the next thing after Bubble because Bubble became sort of a solution to where you're at in your life. Twin Flames Radio is ten years after the Bubble album and things have changed, so the music kind of changed as well.

Q - You left Los Angeles for Florida. What kind of a music scene does Florida have, specifically where you're located?

A - (laughs) Pretty much nothing that I know of. I don't want to be mean towards people here who think there's a wonderful music scene, but when you've lived in Los Angeles and hung out in New York and spent time in London, there's not much of a music scene here. I think it's only because of the internet that we felt comfortable moving here.

Official Website: VixonOfficial.com

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