PHOX is an up and coming indie folk group hailing from Baraboo, Wisconsin, a place they describe on their website as, “where kids often drink poisoned groundwater and become endowed mutants.” Well whatever is in the water up in Baraboo seems to have been working for PHOX so far. 2013 has been a break out year for the group, with big festival appearances at Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle, Summerfest in Milwaukee, and now Lollapalooza in Chicago. With appearances in Europe looming, the gang has been busy touring to support their 2013 EP, Confetti, which the band depicts as, “Less helium-fueled third grade birthday party, and more county highway roadkill buffet.”

My first introduction to PHOX was at a little known music festival called Seldom Seen in Monmouth, Iowa, where I shared the same stage a few hours before them, performing under my rapper alter ego. They recalled my gold suit and DJ Devil Magic, so I then had the pleasure of catching up with Monica, Matt, Zach, Dave, Cheston, Jason, and Matt for a quick chat after their Lollapalooza debut, which included Azealia Banks shout outs, clarinet solos, and song titles based off of Pokemon cards.

Evan Clark: You guys just found out a couple days ago you were playing Lollapalooza, how did this come about?

Zach: We found out two days ago because Azealia Banks dropped out.

EC: Monica, you were saying you don’t have the sick flow like Azealia does, but it seemed like you had some pretty good swag up there on stage.

Monica: I would like to have some glittery pop shiny freak flow abilities, but I’m working on it, you know?

EC: Let’s talk about your EP Unblushing. I read you guys did it in five days and all in one take?

Cheston: Yeah, it was an interesting process of just knowing we have a show coming up we don’t have any material, so lets boost this out. And the process has evolved since then but it was a great way to get it off the ground.

EC: So you guys would do it on one take. Were there any hiccups that you guys left in to give it a more authentic feel?

Jason: Definitely, there are tons of mistakes in it. There are mumbled mistaken lyrics, sometimes if we played a part incorrectly, the only way to do it over was to play it on a different instrument. So you play on a keyboard, you mess it up, then go to play it on a guitar, ‘Okay that didn’t work’, it happened with at least four instruments.

Matt: We messed up this one part four times in a row on different instruments, and we tried it on many instruments and couldn’t get it, so sometimes, it was very goofy. You would have a piano part that you wanted to play, but you couldn’t nail it, so then you’d have to play it on a kalimba or something.

EC: Was this a conscious decision to get a more raw feel to it, or was it more of a time constraint issue?

Zach: Mostly time restraint, it started that way, then we looked at it later and thought that this was a cool way to do things, because if we didn’t then we’d sit on our computers all day

Cheston: And I think it was also a really fun decision from the video side, because once the red light was blinking on the camera, we knew that would be the take that would have to stay in.

EC: Now you guys are going to Europe soon?

Zach: Yes, we’re going to Norway and London.

EC: And you guys just signed to Onto Entertainment in Seattle. What can we expect from that venture?

Matt: Pure awesomeness, lots of shows, lots of touring, and a new record.  

EC: Any timetable on when the new record may be released?

Jason: Definitely sometime after tomorrow. (Laughs) We’re going to try to get it out sometime quarter one next year. We’ll see how it goes.

EC: How’d your recent Daytrotter session go? What’s it like working with Sean and his crew?

Cheston: It’s absolutely joyful, they’re the best people to work with. Beyond just recording for Daytrotter, Sean is responsible for a lot of the world knowing about us, and giving new opportunities for us, and he treats us like family and we’re very grateful.

EC: I was reading your Twitter feed; did I see that one of you got peed on at Summerfest in Milwaukee this year?

Jason: That was just Matt’s drunken tweet; he just got a little wet and made the joke. We have this thing where we just tweet what someone says even if it’s ridiculous. It’s very stream of conscious, if one of us says something and someone else in the band goes, ‘Tweet that!’ That’s normally how it goes.

EC:  So you guys are repping Madtown (Madison, WI) what’s a night out in Madison like for you guys, is it strolling down State Street?

Zach: A night out in Madison for us is staying at home and sleeping and playing video games. Or we go see Mercedes at the 7/11, get a pack of smokes and some Doritos, and then Netflix, whatever everyone else does in the world.