December 14, 2024

The Phoenix Foundation – Double Whammy: December 13, 2024

The Phoenix Foundation made their way to Auckland to plays some songs, old and new, at Double Whammy. The 13th Floor’s Diana Phillips discovers the band and the venue, Chris Zwaagdyk takes the photos.

There’s a strange phenomena that happens to me from time to time here in Auckland, (which I have decided that structurally, must have been designed by drunken pirates) wherein I find myself on a street with no nomenclature. When I ask a passerby what the name of the street might be, I see a quick flash on their face of deciding whether or not to let such an obvious foreigner the super secret location of Wellesley Street, or wherever. It’s sort of like, if you don’t already know where you are, you are definitely not allowed to know now.

Phoenix Foundation

My entire experience of seeing The Phoenix Foundation was exactly like that. Please take into consideration that I do a lot of preparation before seeing a live performance, generally to find out who the current members are and which instrument they may be playing so that I can refer to the members of the band somewhat accurately. Given that The Phoenix Foundation just last year celebrated their 20th anniversary, it’s not unheard of that band members can be mutable over time, and that can affect whether we are experiencing the old classics in their original form, or seeing the influences of new members helping to evolve the group to morph into new form.

Now, I don’t know if this band is actually attempting to obfuscate any current information; my guess is they live in a world in which their myriad fan base already knows them well and can even sing along with all the old hits. Unfortunately, I have not been here for that particular zeitgeist. Here’s what I was able to find out:

The Phoenix Foundation is made up of 6 members, but also definitely 7 members. They came to fruition in their university days in Wellington and have had a steady national and international fanbase that crosses a few generations, with two front men, Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda. Tom Callwood is on bass, and Will Rickets is on percussion. But also I heard that it was definitely Conrad Webbe on percussion; that Conrad Webbe for sure does something on stage. Richie Singleton is on the drums, but perhaps that was Chris O’Connor; I heard both as possibilities. At some point in the show, they invited a guy named Dave up onstage to play the tambourine. Someone named Warner Emery exists and presumably is part of the band in some manner. I tried to go straight to the horse’s mouth and check out the Phoenix foundation website, which consists of a photo of 6 men and the words Friend Ship in a Miami Vice kind of vibe. This took quite a bit of time to find out, both at home and by asking several fans, but I find myself even more nonplussed as I was when I started.

Louisa Nicklin

This was also the first time I had experienced Double Whammy, and once I completed the maze of trying to find out which spot within the Whammy catacombs it was, (there was no nomenclature, obviously) I came to a random unmarked door and hoped for the best. Inside was a sold out crowd waiting for the next song in a low ceilinged (and low oxygen) shoebox of a room.

Louisa Nicklin

The opening act was getting started, and it took some wandering an questioning several people to find out who it was, because of course, there had been no mention of the existence of an opening act. The band was Louisa Nicklin, a 4 piece band with a sound that was both contemporary indie rock with a twinge of twee and a lovely throwback to bands like The Breeders, or a less frenzied Sleater-Kinney. It was quite difficult to catch any lyrics, as the audience was quite chatty during her set. Their consistent hum bounced right up to the stage and had a tug of war with the front speakers. I was a bit sad about that; Louisa was doing a sweet job up there.

The Phoenix Foundation

Once the headliners started, it seemed that all the speakers were turned all the way up. Even from the very back of the room, it like all of The Phoenix Foundation were lined up downstage with their toes hanging off. Being so loud made it difficult to discern the levels of one instrument against another. They started out with one of their old hits, Guru. It made me smile; the flavour of it was like a jam band that had smoked a bit of Sgt. Pepper’s weed. I did hear the undercurrent of some really good bass playing, so I asked around about him. I was told that, yeah, Matt takes no prisoners on that bass, and also, yeah, Tim on bass had always been a favourite. Sigh.

A few songs in, either Buda or Scott bantered a bit with the audience, and then asked, “Is it really loud out there? Because it’s definitely super loud up here.” I wish more of the audience would have hollered yes at that time, because the rest of the set remained the same levels. It made me think of the concept of the Wall of Sound, except the wall was muddy. So I can’t accurately speak on whether this was a production choice or a miscommunication between the band and the sound technicians.

Phoenix Foundation

They mentioned that they had released a few new songs, perhaps on the vinyl at the merch table and Spotify. I really liked one of them, Ritual Hex. I recall thinking about the state of the world when they were singing about us all being cursed, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find said lyrics to be able to refer to them properly.

There was a vibe shift during Posh Tiger; the slide guitar, and drawling tempo felt like an American desert. But not quite Joshua Tree, more like Joshua Tree’s tamer suburban neighbour, 29 Palms, and in the best garage band on the block.

One thing stood out to me about the age spans of the fans: the more middle aged people described The Phoenix Foundation as quirky, alternative, and indie rock, and I could see that how they played with distortion might have kept them out of the mainstream radio for a hot minute, but not now. This was their wild days of university, and I could imagine them being quite the jam at that age, especially with a little reefer. The younger crowd was more gobsmacked with excitement at being able to see them live at all; this was the music that they’d been hearing in the background of their entire lives. Both of these viewpoints together is what made the show a sold out NZ success. I could really appreciate seeing those reactions as an outsider; the whole thing was fed by and thrived upon reminiscence, which was lovely to watch, but alas, could not take part in.

Diana Phillips

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk

The Phoenix Foundation: