PHIL SHOENFELT’s songs reflect the mythology of the outcast adrift in a hostile landscape who becomes the victim of his own fantasies and paranoia, and whose relationships with others are frequently obsessive and destructive.

The characters who inhabit these songs – the psychopaths, the junkies and O.D. victims, the suicides and tortured lovers – are not typical subjects for the modern pop song, but while they are sometimes difficult to sympathise with, Shöenfelt portrays them with a psychological insight that makes them totally believable.

As well as being a songwriter, Phil is also a published novelist and poet and there are many literary influences in his lyrics. Imagery from the Bible is mixed with European poetic symbolism and this language is used to give expression to the deep feelings and ecstatic states at the extreme limits of emotional experience. Visionary poets such as Baudelaire, Blake and Rimbaud are influential here, but Phil is also interested in different genres such as film noir and the novels of crime writers like Jim Thompson and James Ellroy. Other literary influences include include William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Nelson Algren, and Phil’s texts are often infused with a black sense of humour that is not always apparent on first listening.

The music of Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross also works within a certain tradition, while at the same time pushing against the limits of that tradition. The songs have strong melodies and are highly structured, but pure noise and feedback elements are introduced at certain points so that these structures threaten to explode into chaos. The influence of pioneers such as The Velvet Underground, Glenn Branca, Sonic Youth and Swans is evident here, but Southern Cross do it in their own original way. The music is basically rock, but with avant garde elements, and the main reference points are bands and musicians who combine great music with intelligent lyrics: Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Swans, Nick Cave, Iggy Pop, Neil Young, Patti Smith, Television etc.

Phil was born in Bradford, England, and grew up listening to Rock and Roll, Blues singers such as Robert Johnson and Son House and English folk music. He got caught up in the London punk explosion of 1976-77, then moved to New York in 1979. There, he played in a series of punk bands at clubs such as Max’s Kansas City and CBGBs, and in 1981 formed the post punk noise band Khmer Rouge. This group’s first recorded appearance was on the White Columns Noise Festival Tape, a compilation that also featured performances by Lydia Lunch, members of Sonic Youth, and an early version of Swans. Phil lived in New York from 1979 until the mid-1980’s, and was managed there by Nat Finkelstein (author of THE FACTORY YEARS and famous for his classic photographs of The Velvet Underground). As well as playing with Khmer Rouge, Phil was also active in the downtown Manhattan film and literary scene.

Phil returned to the U.K. in 1984 and played guitar on such records as INCENSE AND PEPPERMINTS by Brix Smith’s Adult Net, and the CAT TABU E.P. by Kid Congo Powers. He also played a solo acoustic support slot on THE FALL’s 1988 tour, and in February 1989 Mark E. Smith’s Cog Sinister label released Phil's first solo single, Charlotte’s Room b/w The Long Goodbye. Available in 12" format, the record was played on John Peel’s Radio One show and received favourable reviews in the weekly English music press.

In 1990, Phil signed to Paperhouse Records, and in May 1990 the Backwoods Crucifixion LP/CD was released. With excellent reviews for the CD in the U.K., Europe and the USA, Phil played a series of live dates in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. The climax of this tour was two shows supporting NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS at Brixton Academy and Glasgow Pavilion. Tour dates with CRIME AND THE CITY SOLUTION followed, and in 1992 Phil worked with Crime’s singer Simon Bonney on Simon’s first solo album FOREVER, released on Mute Records.

The next Phil Shoenfelt CD was God Is The Other Face Of The Devil, released on Humbug Records/Trident Music International in 1993. It was the first time that Phil’s music had been given the opportunity to develop in the context of 24-track studio, and the album received excellent reviews in England, France and Greece, where it became a big radio hit.

Another show supporting Nick Cave and Bad Seeds followed, this time at The Forum in London, and in the summer of 1994 a tour of the Czech Republic was organised in conjunction with the popular Czech band Tichá Dohoda, who learned Phil’s songs and backed him on the tour. The final concert of the tour, at Prague’s Bunkr Club, was recorded on a mobile studio and released in April 1995 under the title Live In Prague, (Bonton Music in the Czech Republic, and Humbug Records elsewhere).

Phil enjoyed the inspiring and creative atmosphere of Prague so much that in August 1995 he moved there on a permanent basis, and in 1997 he recorded the Blue Highway CD with his new Czech backing band SOUTHERN CROSS. 1997 also saw the release of the first Fatal Shore CD, a collaboration with the Berlin-based Australians Bruno Adams (ex-ONCE UPON A TIME) and Chris Hughes (ex-ONCE UPON A TIME; HUGO RACE AND THE TRUE SPIRIT). For more info on Fatal Shore go to www.fatal-shore.de

Phil’s first novel, Junkie Love, was published in Czech translation in 1997 by Mat’a Books of Prague and has now sold out of two print runs. A new hardback edition was released in summer 2004, and the novel will also be translated and published in Greek by Electra Books of Athens.

Junkie Love is now available in English, too. The book was released by the Prague-based American publishing house Twisted Spoon Press in October 2001. It is available in bookshops across the USA and Canada, or through www.twistedspoon.com and www.amazon.com elsewhere. In May 2002, JUNKIE LOVE won first prize in the prestigious New York literary competition, The 2002 Firecracker Alternative Book Awards (Drugs Books section).

1997 marked the beginning of a collaboration with English indie legend NIKKI SUDDEN (SWELL MAPS/JACOBITES). Phil and Nikki have written many songs together (one of which is included on Nikki's solo CD EGYPTIAN ROADS), and Phil also played lead guitar in Nikki’s band for the November 1997 "Rock and Roll Tour" of Germany. After a second tour in January and February 1998, Nikki and Phil went into a Berlin studio and recorded a full CD of songs that they wrote together. This CD, GOLDEN VANITY, has yet to see the light of day.

In May 1998, Phil’s second book, a bi-lingual (Czech and English) edition of poetry, song lyrics and photographs called The Green Hotel was published, again by Mat’a Books of Prague, and in 1999 PHIL SHOENFELT & SOUTHERN CROSS recorded their second CD together, Dead Flowers For Alice. This CD was a departure from previous recordings in the quality of its sound, with ambitious arrangements and multi-layered textures that highlight the brilliant musicianship of Pavel Cingl (violin and guitar), Pavel Krtouš (bass) and Jarda Kvasnicka (drums), as well as revealing a new direction in Phil’s songwriting. The CD was released on Indies Records in Czech Republic, ZYX/Golden Core in Germany and Hitch-Hyke Records in Greece.

In June 2002, PHIL SHOENFELT & SOUTHERN CROSS finished work on their third CD, Ecstatic. The CD was launched at Prague club Palac Akropolis in the autumn of 2002, and contains ten new songs which show further development in both songwriting and production. In addition to the main CD, a bonus CD was also released, and this contains two radio edits of songs from ECSTATIC plus two different electronic versions of GARDEN OF EDEN, a song from Phil’s 1990 solo album BACKWOODS CRUCIFIXION.

2004 was a busy year in terms of releases. At the beginning of the year the second FATAL SHORE CD Free Fall was released on the German label Moloko +, and in September came a retrospective double CD of Phil’s old New York post-punk band KHMER ROUGE. Entitled Khmer Rouge, New York-London, 1981-86, the CD has one studio side of singles, EPs, demos and out-takes, and one live side taken mainly from concerts at CBGBs in 1983 and 1984. It was released on the UK label Voiceprint, home label of The Fall and many others. For more info on Khmer Rouge go to www.geocities.com/thekhmerrouge

In October 2004 a double CD compilation of Phil’s work was released on the German label Phatasmagoria. The songs for Deep Horizon were selected by Phil himself, and are taken from a total of nine different CDs. Deep Horizon begins with the most recent recording, ELECTRIC GARDEN, an 8 minutes psychedelic-motorik version of GARDEN OF EDEN from the BACKWOODS CRUCIFIXION CD that was rerecorded and remixed with electronic samples and loops. The CD then goes backwards in time from 2002 to 1990, and as well as Phil’s work with SOUTHERN CROSS it also includes solo work, one track from a rare compilation CD, and four songs from FATAL SHORE. (For reviews of Deep Horizon, go to the reviews section of this homepage.)

PHIL SHOENFELT & SOUTHERN CROSS are an international class band and have played clubs and festivals in Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Austria and Denmark. While Phil is the songwriter of the band, Southern Cross is very much a democratic, collaborative outfit and the dynamic interaction between all four musicians is an integral part of the sound. Sometimes soft and sensitive, at other times hard and violent, the music of SOUTHERN CROSS is an engrossing and emotional experience, both live and on record.

LATEST NEWS:

In April 2005 Phil renewed his acquaintance with THE FALL by supporting Mark E. Smith & Co on tour dates in Scotland. This was the first time Phil had played in the UK since relocating to Prague in 1995.

In July 2005 Junkie Love was published in Italian translation by Fazi Editore of Rome. The book is part of the new Controstories series on the Arcana imprint, and more details can be found at www.arcanalibri.it

In August 2005 a one page extract of Junkie Love appeared in German for the first time, in the new book by German philosopher Wolfgang Sterneck: Erotika – Drogen und Sexualität. Phil is currently looking for a German publisher to release the entire book in German translation.

Junkie Love is now in three languages: English, Czech and Italian. The Greek version will be published in December 2005 by Electra Books of Athens.

At the moment Phil is trying to finish his never-ending book about New York in the years 1979-84. Entitled Stripped, the book deals with the period before Junkie Love and is a fictionalised autobiography set on the Lower East Side of NYC during the punk era. Currently up to something like 450 pages, STRIPPED was initially meant to be a trilogy. It will probably appear in two parts instead, otherwise it’s going to be almost as long as the Bible!

At the same time as working on the book, Phil is also writing new material for Southern Cross. The new Fatal Shore CD, REAL WORLD,  was released on the German label Amboss Recordings in March 2007, and was followed by a three week European tour through Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. The tour was highly successful, and ended with the CD release party at hip Berlin nightclub White Trash.

Pratajev In Prague - Phil's first and only effort at film-making, in which he plays Charles Cockburn, an effete BBC reporter hot on the heels of the mythical (and non-existent) Russian romantic doctor/poet Pratajev. A satirical poke at the kind of art documentary that takes itself too seriously, the film was commissioned by Leipzig band The Russian Doctors, and is loosely based on Phil's short story "A Little Known Episode" (to be found in the Writings section). Pratajev In Prague, Part I - YouTube, Pratajev In Prague, Part II - YouTube