PHOX Pours On The Love At San Francisco’s The Chapel

San Francisco – This past Thursday at San Francisco’s tucked-away venue The Chapel, PHOX— a new band from Baraboo, Wisconsin—hit the stage in support of their self-titled debut LP. They shared the stage with fellow Wisconsinites Astronauts, Etc., a nice keyboard-centric four piece who will be putting out their first EP soon, followed by a debut LP next year.

Despite their mellow attitude and sweet, harmonic sound, PHOX, the self-proclaimed “gaggle of goofy wizards performing minor illusions and bigtop music,” have quite a presence on stage. When they are on stage, they feel like a real family; achieving that kind of rapport and cooperation amongst seven band members doesn’t seem simple. Yet PHOX does it flawlessly; it shows in the way the band members talk, laugh, and play with each other.

The Chapel is a lovely little venue in the Mission District of San Francisco. It’s nestled between 18th and 19th Streets on Valencia Street. As the name implies, the venue is situated in what once was an actual chapel, and the décor underlines this with high vaulted ceilings and a balcony where once pews were set. As much of PHOX’s music is reliant on thick, honey-like harmonies reminiscent of church choirs, this venue was a very appropriate choice for their San Francisco stop on their current tour.

After a delightful set by touring mates Astronauts, Etc., the seven members of PHOX filed onto the stage to very enthusiastic applause. Lead singer Monica Martin slinked gracefully to the microphone, and immediately began with “Shrinking Violets” to get the ball rolling. As the roar of the crowd died away, she welcomed the audience with a thank you (including a special welcome to some former co-workers from her home state) and made some quick jokes about Wisconsin before plunging into some of PHOX’s jauntier tunes: “Leisure” and “1936.” The older track “Noble Heart” followed, a song that was featured on the band’s first EP, Confetti, and then re-worked for the LP. “Slow Motion,” which is PHOX’s current single, was the opening track for Confetti and was re-worked and polished up for the LP.

The rest of the set consisted mostly of tracks from their self titled debut LP, including the banjo-heavy “Evil” (boasting some of the album’s most gorgeous multi-layered vocals), the breezy “Kingfisher,” and “Satyr and the Faun,” which looks to be the album’s forthcoming single. They even took time to appreciate the solo career of multi-instrumentalist of band member Zach Johnston by joining him in a cover of his song, the tender, jubilant “Garden of Night,” which he released under the moniker Sonntag. Astronauts, Etc.’s leading man also joined them onstage for this, as well as the final song of the set.

As mention before, the band really does act like a family when performing together, and recognizing each other’s achievements onstage in front of an audience really echoes the kind of love and affection these seven people feel for each other.

After another wave of thank yous—Ms. Martin did this quite often—PHOX concluded their set with “In Due Time,” the LP’s final track which Ms. Martin referred to as a “sad bastard tune,” much to the crowd’s delight. For an encore, they played a song about Martin’s younger sister, which I believe was the Confettitrack entitled “Epseon.”

The most exciting part of seeing a new band perform live is that it kind of sets the bar for the rest of their career. There are some bands whose studio sessions are amazing but have no idea what they are doing onstage; while some recover and ultimately redeem themselves after the first tour or two, some never quite make it out of the quicksand that they have created for themselves. PHOX has absolutely nothing to worry about in that field; their live show is exciting, heartfelt, and completely enthralling. The band members communicate beautifully with one another, and their rapport with the audience is unmatched in its charm and wit. I think we can look forward to many more shows and many more album’s from this group—no, this family—of very talented musicians in the years to come.

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Corey Bell

Corey Bell is no stranger to music.Having spent the better part of the past decade at concerts and music festivals around the globe, he finds he is most at home in the company of live music.Originally a native of New England, he has since taken residence in New York and New Orleans, and now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.He achieved his Bachelor of Arts from Goddard College in Vermont via an undergraduate study entitled “Sonic Highways: Musical Immersion on the Roads of America," in which he explores the interactions between music, natural environment, and emotion while travelling along the scenic byways and highways of the United States.His graduate thesis, “Eighty Thousand’s Company,” features essays regarding the historical and socio-economic facets of contemporary festival culture intertwined with personal narrative stories of his experiences thereof.He is the former editor of Art Nouveau Magazine and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from California College of the Arts.