After releasing his well-received album Backwoods Crucifixion in 1990, Phil Shoenfelt founded Spirithouse, with whom he supported acts such as Crime & The City Solution and Barkmarket.
 
Spirithouse performed in many well-known indie venues in London, such as the Camden Town Falcon, the Dome in Tufnell Park, the Zombie Club in Euston and the Islington Powerhaus. Away from London, they opened for Crime & the City Solution at the Boardwalk in Manchester, one of the premier clubs for independent music in the north of England.
 
On February 23, 1991, Spirithouse played at Moles nightclub in Bath, a legendary grassroots venue which hosted many acts before they became household names. Bands such as Oasis, The Killers, Radiohead, The Cure, Eurythmics and The Smiths cut their teeth there. Upstairs from the club was a recording studio, which allowed live albums to be created from the performances below. 
 
Phil Shoenfelt & Spirithouse took advantage of these facilities to record their live performance. Now, the recently rediscovered cassette recording has been digitally restored and will be released by Fuego as “Phil Shoenfelt & Spirithouse – Live at Moles”. In addition to classics like “Devil's Hole” and “Garden of Eden”, the live recording features a previously-unreleased song, “Life of Crime”.

Britský muzikant Phil Shoenfelt, který je už roky pražským rezidentem, potěšil v prvních týdnech roku 2026 své fanoušky hned dvojící koncertních záznamů. První z nich, "Live At Moles", přináší archivní záznam z legendárního britského klubu pořízený v roce 1991, druhý naopak odráží aktuální Shoenfeltovu formu a koncerty s kapelou Southern Cross.

Záznam "Live At Moles" vznikl v doprovodu skupiny Spirithouse (na úvodní fotce k článku), kterou Shoenfelt postavil v roce 1990, krátce po vydání velice dobře přijatého debutového alba "Backwood Crucifiction", a je druhým pokračováním volné archivní série postavené na starých kazetách, které, jak mutikant připomíná, téměř skočily v popelnici.

"Upřímně řečeno, uvažoval jsem o tom, že většinu tohoto materiálu vyhodím do koše, protože jen zabíral místo v mém poměrně malém bytě," vypráví. "Domníval jsem se, že pravděpodobně nestojí za to to uchovávat. Ale pokaždé, když jsem se chystal, že se jich zbavím, něco mě zastavilo a odložil jsem to na jindy. A pak se do toho zapojil Volker Regner (Shoenfeltův vydavatel v Německu, pozn. aut.) a odvezl tři nákupní tašky plné kazet zpět do Stuttgartu."

Digitalizované a vyčištěné nahrávky postupně míří na streamovací služby. Koncem roku tam tak posluchači najedou více než devadesátiminutový koncertní záznam Shoenfeltovy další kapely Fatal Shore a další kousky budou následovat.

Druhá kolekce vyšla 3. února a jmenuje se "Live At The Kino". I ten vznikl v poměrně legendárním klubu v rakouském horském městečku Ebensee. Phil Shoenfelt se Southern Cross zde hráli několikrát a pořídit koncertní záznam právě zde tak bylo vcelku logickým krokem.

Album je k dispozici digitálně a na CD, disk doprovází bohatě vypravený booklet s doprovodným textem. Obal nakreslil Claus Castenskiold, známý svou spoluprací s The Fall, The Gun Club a Kid Congo Powersem.

British musician Phil Shoenfelt, who has been a Prague resident for years, delighted his fans in the first weeks of 2026 with two concert recordings. The first, "Live At Moles," features an archival recording from the legendary British club made in 1991, while the second reflects Shoenfelt's current form and concerts with the band Southern Cross.

The recording "Live At Moles" was made with the band Spirithouse (in the opening photo for the article), which Shoenfelt formed in 1990, shortly after the release of the highly acclaimed debut album "Backwood Crucifixion," and is the second installment in a loose archive series based on old cassettes that, as the multi-instrumentalist recalls, almost ended up in the trash.

"To be honest, I considered throwing most of this material in the trash because it was just taking up space in my relatively small apartment," he says. "I figured it probably wasn't worth keeping. But every time I was about to get rid of them, something stopped me, and I put it off until another time. And then Volker Regner (Shoenfelt's publisher in Germany, author's note) got involved and took three shopping bags full of cassettes back to Stuttgart."

The digitized and cleaned-up recordings are gradually making their way to streaming services. By the end of the year, listeners will be able to find a more than 90-minute concert recording of Shoenfelt's other band, Fatal Shore, and more tracks will follow

The second collection was released on February 3 and is called "Live At The Kino." It was also recorded at the legendary club in the Austrian mountain town of Ebensee. Phil Shoenfelt and Southern Cross played there several times, so recording a live album there was a logical step.

The album is available digitally and on CD, accompanied by a lavishly illustrated booklet with accompanying text. The cover was designed by Claus Castenskiold, known for his work with The Fall, The Gun Club, and Kid Congo Powers.