Stone Fox (band)

Stone Fox was a band from Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States. The band was formed from a meeting between Rob Kistner, then 20 years old, and Jack Jeroe which took place in 1967 at the Mug Club in Cincinnati's Clifton rock club area. Kistner had already been in the Cincinnati music scene for several years as a singer with Little Caesar & the Romans, and later the founder of the Tritides, who put out a couple records on the local scene. At the time this, as yet unnamed band was being discussed, Kistner had been one of the lead singers in the duo The Bothers Royal with Dave Oakley. They were a "blue-eyed soul" duo in the Righteous Brothers vein working at the Inner Circle since 1965 as part of the The Casinos Review.

The still unnamed band began to take shape at the Indian Hills home of drummer Gene Utz, who was at that time still in high school at St. Xavier. Bass player John Hargus formerly of the Daybreakers was the next to join, followed by John Henry, the keyboardist from the Village Idiots rock band. At this point the band had taken shape and was beginning to rehearse. Though the band was OK, sentiment was it should be better.

A guitarist who Kistner knew from a former band called the Tortions was in town on break in classes from MIT. His name was Jay Wormus. Kistner convinced Wormus to jam with the group, Wormus gave up MIT, entered University of Cincinnati, replaced Jeroe -- and the band started serious rehearsals. It was at this time that the name "Stone Fox" was chosen.

Starting with a dance at St. Xavier High School, Stone Fox began to perform. They became regulars with the radio station disc jockeys, and fixtures in the Clifton music scene, playing the Mug Club, later the Black Dome. Stone Fox also opened for some national touring groups, such as the Holy Modal Rounders, The Times Square Two, the Flamin' Groovies, and Allman Brothers at Cincinnati's Ludlow Garage. They also played throughout Ohio at venues like The Purity and The Boars Head, as well as Ski Trails in Mansfield, and the Agora Theater and Ballroom in Ohio, also the Spectrum in Louisville, KY.

During a trip to NYC to cut some demos for a record, Kistner was approached by Jay Senter, the producer for Helen Reddy, with the suggestion that Rob remain in NYC to cut a record, of a song of Senter's' which he felt could be successful. Kistner declined. Upon returning to Cincinnati, Kistner left the group moving to a number of groups in coming years. Wikis Hicks joined the Stone Fox who continued to play, eventually becoming a fixture at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

In the later 1970s Kistner again joined Utz, who had been drumming for The Osmonds. This new Kistner/Utz group became the house band for Bogart's concert venue in Cincinnati. Kistner left the performance arena in the 1980s to expand his design of large-scale residential theaters and screening rooms, a practice he'd begun in the mid 1970s and for which he was considered a pacesetting national authority. Kistner later joined the George Lucas technology team at Lucasfilm Ltd. His office was on George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch.