Phoenix - Jon Regen

sat down with foundingmemberChristian
French-pop technophiles Phoenix
Mazzalaito delvedeep into the sounds
havelandedstateside.Thistime,the
behind Wolfgang, and the keYsto
FrenchRevolulionwill be televised,
Phoenix'srisingsuccess.
Sincetheirformationoutsideof Parisin
guitar-gilded
the late'90s,the synth{aden,
One of the intriguing things about the
quartethas earnedlegionsof fans on both
r'false startstt
sidesof the Atlantic.With multi-instrumentaFnew album is how many
you had - from recordangon a house'
ist brothersChristianMazzalaiand Laurent
boat in Paris, to holing uP in a New
Brancowitzchurningout a steadystreamof
York hotel. You were searcfiing for
danceablehookson guitarand keyboards,
something, it seems.
the band has built a ravenousfollowing
We startedhere,at the BoweryHotel.We
aroundsongslike"TooYoung,"(fromtheir
just
had thesesmall,verycheaprecorders,
debut albumUnited),and "Everythingls
and guitars,That's
somesmallkeyboards,
ngj' from its follow-upAIp habetical'
Everythi
without any
to
create
it. We had an idea
Now with the releaseof 2OO9'sWolfto takethe
decided
gang AmadeusPhoenix,theband raisesits limitsof time,so we
for
self-imposedbaronceagain,with a ten-song timeto go in a new direction us.We
opusthat marriesundeniablepop panache hadthis fantasyto write songslikepuzzles,
sonicallysophis- to write piecesof music,and thento try
with painstakingly-crafted,
and combinethemto makesongs'
Co-producedby felticatedarrangements.
We were all in one room.We didn't
PhilippeZdar,(of Cassius
low Frenchman
wantto write in a studio.Thenwe renteda
fame),the albumbrimswith continuous
attentionto creativedetail- fromthe jangle boat.lt was just to havea vibe.We didn't
havea recordcontract- our dealwith EMI
of guitars,propulsiveAdamAnt-ishdrum
was finished.So we recordedit just like
fills,and swirlingkeyboardson the infecour first record,just for us.We put all our
to the artpop,
tiousopener"Lizstomania,"
renting
on "Love moneyintofindinginspiration,
explorations
TangerineDream-like
marriage beautifulplacesand hotelrooms.So at the
LikeA Sunset."lt's a near-perfect
end,we had no money,and we endeduP
of guiltypop pleasureand auralacumen.
Justdaysafterthe band'sgame-chang- stayingat our friendPhilippeZdar's
place.He had a studio,whichwas not yet
ing appearanceon SaturdayNight Live,l
38
xEYBoARD os.2ooo
finished,and we endedup stayingtherefor
morethana year.
What kind of gear did You bring to
those early sessions at the Bowery
Hotel?
\Mat we loveis to useeithervery,verycheap
or veryhighqualityones'We
instruments,
don'tlikethinkinginthe middle.So,for example,in NewYorkwebroughtthis cheapCasio
keyboard- it's reallylikea toy.lt's small,and
costssomethinglike$20 on eBay'lt hasa
smallsamplerwith a microphone- very
cheap,and if you pressthe button,you can
recordyourown voice.So on the record,a lot
of the padsareour own voices.
Are you talking about the Casio SK'l?
Yeah,exactly.The SK-1.We boughtthis
one,and the wholeseries.We havesomeWe bought
thing like20 smallkeyboards.
all of themon eBay.
I have the Casio MT-65'with the mini'
keys and the auto-accompaniment. .. .
Ah yeah,we haveit too!
There's something about going bad<
to the most basic of sounds. Those
cfieap keyboards with the built'in
drums and bass lines iust take You
someurhere different.
Exactly.And on the SK-1, you can loopthe
samplesin a very bad way. Umitatesthe
stutteringsound of a note looping'l And
ELECTRII
ARTPIIP
F[|RTHEMASSES byJon
Rese
whenyou playa chord,the loopson each
of the notesare not the samelength,so it
soundslikeit's breakingup.And that's
what we like.
Almost like the tapes on a Mellotron.
Yeah,exactly.lt's a Mellotron.Theyhave
the samebeauty.
Are you using the Casios on tour with
you? | noticed on your S/lll. appearance that you had two small
keyboards in front, and then what
looked like a Rhodes in the back.
Yes.There'sone CasioSK-1on-stage,and
we also havea YamahaVSS-200.The one
in the backis a customDoepferMlDl keyboardthat we had made.The keysare
totallyblack.And it triggerssamplesfrom
our songs.
What other kinds of sounds went in
to the writing sessions for the new
a lbum?
We havea smallDictaphonerecorderthat
we adore.lt's stereo,and is reallydesigned
for takingmemos,not for musicat all.But if
you pushthisone compression
button,the
compressionis so big, likeeverythingis
magic.lt's exactlythe kindof soundwe
love.lt's veryblurry.Thatis one of our
strategiesto writesongswith.Youwrite
lots of things,and thenyou hearthem back
and you can't hearthemwell.They'reall
blurry.So afteryou hearthemback,you
can imaginethemas you want.
We wouldrecordon the Dictaphone,
and thentransferit to iTunes.We had
somethinglike '15 hoursof recordingswe put themon verses,bridges- we had
something
like200 verses.So in the end,
the albumwentfrom15 hoursto 35 minutes.lt took us a yearto listenbackto all
the music.
Were there any other instruments
that inspired you during the making
ot Wolfgang?
We lovethe FenderBulletguitars- they
are reallycheapand soundgreat.Alsothe
Tenori-On- it's a Japanesecon[Yamaha]
trollerwith oush buttons.Youcan do random,SteveReichkindsof thingswith it.
We also lovethe old YamahaCS-80 analog synthesizer,
which is our favorite,and
the KorgTridentas well.
PHOENIX
What were you listening to when you
were coming up as a musician?
Whenwe wereteenagers,
we were listening to rockmusic- thingslikeVelvet
whichwas veryimportant
Underground,
for us. I don't likevirtuosity.
I thinkit's very
dangerous,
and thereareveryfew virtuosos I love.My brotherand I learnedguitar togetherjust by watchingTV - very
slowly,pressingthe pausebuttonwhile
watchingpeoplelikeBob Dylan- and
lookingfor the chordhe was playing.
What we loveis that the morewe grow up,
the lesswe are playing,in {act.I don't
reallyliketo playbig chords.I liketo play
two or threenotes,and my brotherwill play
the otherones.And we createharmonv
that way.
Like whispering at somebody instead
of screaming at them,
Exactly.E
PHACTS
Webpage: wearephoenix.com,
myspace.com/wearephoenix
Selected discography: WolfgangAmadeusPhoenix(Loyaute/Glassnote),
f 's
NeverBeen LikeThat (Source),Alphabetical(Astralwerks)
, United
(Astralwerks).
Selected gear used on Wolfgang: Casio SK-l, Yamaha
CS-80,YamahaTenori-On,
Dictaphonetape recorder.
O 9.2OO S
KEYBO ABO