A Chat with Phonat

We caught up with Phonat ahead of his set at Triangle at Concrete on the 30th July for a quick chat…. Thank fuck his favorite geometric shape is a Triangle!

What tracks are you particularly enjoying playing out/at home/on the ipod at the moment?

The fresh brand new His Majesty Andre ep is the thing I’m really looking forward to playing, personally I think it’s gonna be huge.  On my ipod I’m listening to a lot of old school dub, reggae, roots like Horace Andy or Lee Scratch Perry at the moment.

How does London’s club scene differ to what you were used to in Italy?

Firstly in London the amount of clubs, bands, djs, music producers and generally people really passionate about music is ten times the amount of those in Italy.

Second in London there’s much more variety compared to Italy where it’s very difficult to find anything that is outside the current main trend.

And third (which is a consequence of the first two things) people who to clubs/gigs here are more educated about music which means that you can be more clever with your dj set but also that sometimes someone can be a bit picky.

The guitar features heavily in your music, did you ever previously play the guitar in any bands or just practice to Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic guitar solo endlessly on your own?

I’ve played guitar in some bands when I was a teenager but mainly I’ve just practice AC/DC songs on my own for many years.

And I’m still pretty bad at doing Back in Black!

Do you make music full time?

Luckily enough yes.

Are you working on another album yet, any plans to perform with a band?

I’ve just finished my new ep and I really hope to have time to make a new album by the end of the year. A proper band would be a dream but I really need some real guitar lessons first otherwise I’ll be only able to perform Basket Case!

How much input did you have in your awesome music videos, and how important is an atheistic to accompany your music?

My only input has been my music. I’ve started to work with the HelloSavants Collective in Amsterdam because we really liked each others work, even before meeting each other.

So we started this collaboration where the formula is I take care of the sound, they take care of the visuals and everyone is 100% free of doing simply whatever he feels.

I believe it’s more important to work with people that are totally into the project rather than commissioning to someone your idea of what your music should look like.

What’s your favourite geometric shape?

The triangle of course!