ZapTown

This band spotlight is part of a special ZapTown series in correlation with the 2009 Broad Ripple Music Fest: http://www.broadripplemusicfest.com/

Other BRMF interviews:
Heavy Hometown
Daniel Fahrner
Thunderhawk
Matt Mitchell Project
Deep Cricket Night
DJ Deanne
Stationary Odyssey
Elsinore

WHO: Phoenix Bodies

WHERE: Alley Cat Lounge

LINKS: Phoenix Bodies Home Page: http://phoenixbodies.com/
Phoenix Bodies on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/phoenixbodies
Alley Cat Lounge http://www.myspace.com/alleycatlounge

Sample mp3:

 

 Phoenix Bodies - No Need For Earplugs: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I hope that the implications of the interview aren’t true- that Phoenix Bodies are done touring. Phoenix Bodies will, however, bring the noise at the Alley Cat for the BRMF. The show should be noisy insane.  Phoenix Bodies’ brand of noisy hardcore is one of few that sound best at ear-bleeding levels.  They have a few releases out (including a calendar – no shit) and at least one more to come. They took time out of their day to answer some questions.

Other than the obvious mayhem, what are you hoping to have happen at your portion of the upcoming Broadripple Music Fest shows?

Now that Kevin lives in North Carolina, we’re really just excited to have an opportunity to play a show where people are going to pay to fly him up here.  So, it would be really great, if no one came to the show, so we could all just hang out.  It would be absolutely wonderful to roll up to an already burnt down Alley Cat Lounge and go get some falafel somewhere, and not have to play a show.  That would be totally ideal.  However, if that scenario does not present itself, having the Alley Cat burn down while, or shortly after we are done playing is also acceptable. Bros before shows.

It seems that everyone and their brother claims to be playing punk rock and hardcore/post hardcore/emo/screamo etc these days.  How does your music stand out from the haze of shit rock that is being played?

When asked about what sort of music my band is, I usually just tell people that Phoenix Bodies is “a stupid loud band, you probably wouldn’t want to listen to”.  I think the phrase, “haze of shit rock”  sums up the Phoenix Bodies aesthetic to a T, and I would not have it any other way.   I think we have very few pretensions about our music.  We have no intentions of standing out, fitting in, dumbing-down, or reaching higher.  So, saying how we may fit into some sort of taxonomy or hierarchy is not a concern of mine.  Our music is here for people to love, hate, or be completely disinterested in.  I have no desire to try to sell it or hype it to anyone ever.

You’ve done splits now with some of the “big boys” of hardcore- La Quiete and HeWhoCorrupts…. what was that like? Did you get the chance to work with them or was it all done separately?

The Hewhocorrupts split is probably one of my favorite records in my collection.  For people not in the know, it comes packaged in a full size, 12″x12″ calendar, that has pin-up shots of all the members of both bands, as well as personal information from the band members, important dates, celebrity birthdays, and everything else you’d want in a good calendar.  We did the photoshoot at my old house, and that was a great deal of fun.  Lots of naked dudes, raw meat, and cheap business suits.  The La Quiete split hasn’t really been released yet.  It’s supposed to come out in Europe on Holiday Records, but artwork problems are holding that up.  The US release was supposed to come out on Level-Plane.  Test pressings of the record were made for out 2008 West Coast tour with La Quiete,  but the full pressing has been delaying by existential crises faced by the owner of Level-Plane records.

What touring plans do you have up coming, as in where, when and with whom?

I really want to go on tour in Mexico, but Colin is afraid of going there.  Why?  I’m not really sure at all.  We just went to Puerto Rico, and he was allright with that that.  Maybe he is worried about the Peso collapsing while we are abroad and us coming home penniless.  He’s obviously alright with traveling to places where Spanish is the first language.  Kevin really wants to go to Japan.  I would also like to do that, but it’s very expensive, and we don’t really play enough shows or sell enough records to float that bill, which means we’d also have to go to Australia while hemisphere hopping. Thomas is really afraid of backward rotation of toilet flushes, so we’ll probably have to rule all of that out. I think Brian said that he would love to go back to Europe someday.  Maybe we would do that,  but I don’t know if we will ever have the time to go over there again.  Also, the last time we were in Europe, Colin was seriously injured at a show where some drunk guy got on stage and knocked him over. We tried to book a tour in August to go to the east coast in Canada, but Brian had to cancel that.  So, we probably won’t go on tour ever again.

What music are you listening to currently?

Lots of Van Halen and George Michael.  ”Panama” is such a kick-ass song. The performance of it on the 1984 album is one of my favorite examples of air-tight guitar playing.  It’s hard to believe that a song like that and “Hot for Teacher” could be purchased together on one record for about $8 25 years ago.  Now a days, $8 might get you some digital download of some shitty local band’s demo recordings.  George Michael spent 2 years of his life creating the record, “Faith”.  I mean, if you’re going to break up WHAM! to put out a solo album, you better not fuck around, and Mr. Michael did not.  He wrote, recorded, produced, and played all the instruments on that record, and created one of the greatest pop records of his time.  That’s quite the accomplishment for one mere man to achieve.  The guitar playing on that record is great.  However, sometimes in my brain, I give George Michael credit for my favorite INXS songs.  This is not quite fair to the Fairriss brothers,  but only goes to show how much I respect Mr. Michael as a musician.