Phil Shoenfelt (vocals/guitar);
Pavel Cingl (violin/guitar/mandolin/backing vocals);
Pavel Krtous (bass/backing vocals);
Jarda Kvasnicka (drums/percussion).
Influences
Delta Blues, Rock & Roll, Psychedelic Rock, Psychedelic Soul, Garage Bands, Noise Bands, Kraut Rock, Post-Punk Bands, Dark Wave Bands, Classic Songwriters: Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton, John Lee Hooker, The Doors, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Arthur Lee & Love, Syd Barrett, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds, The Black Monks, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, The Velvet Underground, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Stooges, MC5, Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazelwood, Scott Walker, Jaques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg, Tim Rose, Kraftwerk, Amon Duul 11, Can, Faust, Lou Reed, Mejla Hlavsa, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Hank Williams, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Sly & The Family Stone, Televion, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, The Modern Lovers, Pere Ubu, Joy Division, New Order, Mark E. Smith, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Crime & The City Solution, The Saints, Nikki Sudden, Swans, Lydia Lunch, Glen Branca, Michael Gira, Lenny Bruce, Wim Wenders, William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Tom Stoppard, Joe Orton, Tony Hancock, Alex Trocchi, Pirandello, David Cronenberg, Tarantino, Passolini, Tarkovsky, Pauline Reage, Friedrich Nietzsche, Otto Dix, Picasso, Yves Bonnefoy, Mayakovsky, Pierre Reverdy, Lautreamont, Henry Miller, Marquis de Sade, Celine, Rimbaud, Dostoevsky, and many many more...
Sounds Like
Dark and heavy but still melodic with psychedelic and noise elements.
Phil Shoenfelt is a veteran of the London, Manchester and New York punk and post-punk scenes. After getting caught up in the London punk explosion of 1976-1977, he moved to New York where he played with several Downtown bands such as The Nothing and Disturbed Furniture. In 1981 he formed Khmer Rouge with ex-Clash DJ Barry "Scratchy" Myers, Marcia Schofield (who later went on to play keyboards with The Fall), and Claus Castenskiold. The first performance of the band was at the 1981 White Columns Noise Festival, organised by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Khmer Rouge played innumerable shows at CBGBs, The Peppermint Lounge, Danceteria and The Ritz in the early 1980's, as well as supporting artists and bands such as Alan Vega, Tom Verlaine, Nico and The Clash at concerts across the USA. Khmer Rouge relocated to London in 1984 and went on to support The Fall on two British tours as well as recording with producer John Leckie. The band finally split in 1986, and a retrospective double compilation CD was released on the English label Voiceprint in September 2004.
After the split, Phil went solo. Moving away from the stripped down rhythms and politicised lyrics of Khmer Rouge into more song-based territory, he had his first solo single released in 1989 on Mark E. Smith's Cog Sinister label. Two solo CDs - Backwoods Crucifixion and God Is The Other Face Of The Devil - followed on different independent labels, and are notable for the dark atmospherics and rich textures of the music as well as the bleak content of the lyrics. Phil was invited by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to be special guest at several of their shows in the early 1990's, and in 1994 he did a tour of the Czech Republic backed by Czech band Ticha Dohoda. In the course of this tour Phil met his future wife Jolana and decided to move from London to Prague in 1995.
In 1996 he formed Southern Cross with Czech musicians Pavel Cingl, Pavel Krtous and Jarda Kvasnicka, and gradually the music took on a harder, rockier, more psychedelic edge, while still maintaining its roots in classic song structures. Since 1996 Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross have played concerts and festivals in several European countries including Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, Ukraine, Hungary, Italy and Spain. Several more CDs have been released on Czech, German, American and Greek labels, and the band continues to play regularly across Europe. In 1997 and 1998 Phil did two European tours as lead guitarist in Nikki Sudden's band. Afterwards the group went into a Berlin studio and recorded an album of songs co-written by Nikki and Phil. The album, Golden Vanity, is yet to be released.
Phil is also a member of the Berlin-based band Fatal Shore with Bruno Adams (Once Upon A Time), Chris Hughes (Once Upon A Time; Hugo Race & The True Spirit) and YoYo Rohm (Ben Becker band). Fatal Shore play Melbourne blues with electronic-industrial elements, and are notable for their charismatic and unpredictable live shows.
As well as being a songwriter/vocalist/guitarist, Phil is also a published novelist and poet. His autobiographical novel Junkie Love first came out in Czech translation in 1997 and was followed by a bi-lingual book of poetry and song lyrics (Zeleny Hotel/The Green Hotel) in 1998. Junkie Love was published in English by Twisted Spoon Press in 2001, and in 2002 the book won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award (Drugs Books Category) in New York. Since then it has been translated into Italian and Greek. "Junkie Love - a nice, nasty read. I enjoyed it a lot." (Nick Cave); "Ever-descending scenes of brute squalor, self-inflicted wounds and abjection." (Michael Gira); "A fine, gutsy, spare rendering of the drug underworld." (Will Self); "The best book about drugs since "Junky". An essential read!" (Nikki Sudden).
LATEST NEWS:
Twenty seven songs from Phil Shoenfelt's retrospective double CD Deep Horizon are now available for on-line purchase from i-Tunes, Napster, and many other outlets. And for anyone interested in Khmer Rouge, the 1983 video for New Assassins shot by NYC photographer Nat Finkelstein (The Factory Years; Girlfriends; etc) can now be seen at: www.natfinkelstein.com/video/ Phil's song Darkest Hour (from the Dead Flowers For Alice CD) has just been covered by the German Dark Wave band Cinderella Effect. The CD has seventeen cover versions from various artists, and is getting rave reviews in the German music press.
Junkie Love was recently licensed to Ebury Press/Random House for distribution in the UK and Commonwealth. This version of the book was published July 7th 2007.
The original English edition by Twisted Spoon Press is still available in the USA and Canada at independent bookshops and on amazon.com.
For more information abouth both editions go to:
Phil Shoenfelt's albums/songs are available for download at:
Hi Phil, long time no seen... So the 17th sounds great! I will be there with my friend...! I am looking forward to meet you up there. All the best, Constance
..“Live At the House of Sin” is an incredible collaboration between English singer/songwriter Phil Shoenfelt and Czech violinist and guitarist Pavel Cingl. Recorded live at the Nova Sin club in Prague, this album features digs into the Shoenfelt songbook and features Shoenfelt on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, reminiscent of Iggy Pop and Nick Cave, and Cingl contributing incredible violin and electric guitar work to accompany the acoustic rhythms and give the tracks a full sound. The resulting songs have a great mix of gothic and folk, as Shoenfelt delivers intelligent and memorable lyrics of sorrow, love, life, and death. This is the type of performance best heard live, and “Live At the House of Sin” is recorded cleanly and the product sounds great. “Saviour’s Day” begins with clean acoustic and violin work, then moves into a sorrowful violin progression that perfectly matches the sadness of Shoenfelt’s lyrics of lost love. “Shivers Inside” features electric and acoustic guitar work, and is an incredible, slow and lyrical love song from Shoenfelt. “Hospital” is another great violin and acoustic collaboration that creates a beautiful harmonic sound and features more great lyrics from Shoenfelt. “Live At the House of Sin” is a great album, beautifully arranged, and thought-provoking from a couple of talented musicians with a lot of street cred. Fans of goth, folk, and the likes of Iggy Pop and Nick Cave should definitely pick this one up. ..-Chris & the RadioIndy. com Reviewer Team Check out Phil Shoenfelt & Pavel Cingl 's music on RadioIndy. com wi
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Theirs no blood in the new water,it shit and within a few years the key is broken. I'm busy and smart and sweet like ever before. Only I've to take Haroun to Cardiologue from suffered stress for no reason provoked. I'm busy and survive . As pretty buddhist monk gave 8000 euro to beggars etc...and now lack of,scraping money together for the doctor.Just for another prick outof selfintrest and selfcomplaint and frustration . OLé
Thank you for adding me, Sir. My young girl students are ecstatic from your deviant voice so I resolved that I'll check it. And yes, your songs are great! Real inspiration and refreshment for me, slack professor. Many many thanks. Cheers.
Hola Phil!!! How was the show in Dresden? We are sure It was great! We are making a 2 days festival in Santander. Its call RodeoFest. This time we cant pay the air tickets Praga-Santander, maybe the next year! the last time your show was great! All the best amigo!!
