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Phoenix
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Phoenix is a French rock band from Versailles, formed in 1995. The line-up has never changed: Thomas Mars sings and plays drums, Deck d'Arcy plays bass and keyboards, and Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz play guitar. Mars, d'Arcy and Mazzalai knew each other from school and at first rehearsed as a garage band at Mars's home. Brancowitz joined after his earlier band Darlin' had stopped. That band also included Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who later formed Daft Punk. In 1997 they chose the name Phoenix, pressed 500 copies of a first single on their own label Ghettoblaster and signed with Source Records in Paris.
Music and breakthrough
The breakthrough came in 2009 with the fourth album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, with the singles 1901 and Lisztomania. It won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. In 2013 Bankrupt! appeared, with which the band headlined Coachella and Primavera Sound. Ti Amo from 2017 is influenced by Italo disco, and Alpha Zulu from 2022 was recorded in the Louvre, in memory of the producer Philippe Zdar. In 2024 the band played at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.
Influence
The music is described as indie pop, synth-pop, pop rock and new wave. Phoenix shows that French pop music could succeed internationally in English, with a clear and melodic sound that combines guitars and synthesizers.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 2000United
- 2004Alphabetical
- 2006It’s Never Been Like That
- 2009Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
- 2013Bankrupt!
- 2017Ti amo
- 2022Alpha Zulu