Dead Slow for Hell
photos and music courtesy of Michael Brennan
by Daniel Gannaway
posted 2006-02-15
When I interviewed Phonoss in April of last year for ProMusicNews I predicted the awakening of a prodigious and newly evolving solo talent. Inside of a year, and here he is delivering Dead Slow for Hell, his rocking sophomore effort. DS4H clocks in at just over 24 minutes and is chock full of short, chugging rock songs with a dirty, indie bent. Darker and grittier than the more acoustic indie/folk/rock of debut ELIMINATOR, DS4H is packed with huge singable chorus/bridge combinations, and showcases an artist pushing his creative boundaries to great success. Without further adieu, time for a quick catch up with Phonoss:
DG - Hey P, where you at man?
P - Hey man, I'm in Pilsen in the Czech Republic.
DG - Just got your new album, Dead Slow for Hell. Turned out great!
P - Excellent, thanks man, Im glad to hear ya like it. Im real happy with it.
DG - It's heavier than your solo debut ELIMINATOR, was that the aim?
P - Yeah, I wanted to take everything up a couple of notches and get into some heavy guitars etc. More like the last track "This is for you" on the first album. I had a bunch of ideas when I was in London, that at the time I thought would probably be along the lines of the ELIMINATOR album, but once I started laying down some rough tracks I realised they were a whole bunch better played loud. So I decided to stick to the darker heavier angle on DS4H.
DG - What was different about this album in terms of recording?
P - This time I recorded nearly the whole album in Protools and took a whole lot longer doin it. I spent about 6 months on DS4H. Most of the album was recorded on trips to my family bach just north of Auckland, which made the process really relaxed (nice having the sea at ya doorstep).
Photo courtesy of Michael Brennan
DG - But you wrote some of this material in London, right?
P - Probably half of the songs were roughed out here in Europe, and in London. I didn't have any recording gear with me at the time so they were really dodgy tracks recorded to my laptop using the external microphone (real shit).
DG - Still, it seems like a good place for you creatively, you wrote some of the ELIMINATOR up there too?
P - Yeah, that was the last trip. I really like London. So much goin on up there compared to being back home. So much history, and living in the east side is so diverse culturally, its great.
DG - You're pushing your vocal range on this album too?
P - Because I had more time to spend in recording this album it gave me a chance to experiment a bit more rather than just goin with the first initial version of the song. I tried out a lot more backing vox ideas as well, layering stuff.
DG - There's a lot of chug happening with the guitars, what did you play this time?
P - I used a Les Paul Custom (thanks Wazman), an N2 (thanks Jeff) and a really cool Fender Bronco (thanks Mark) and a bunch of old school pedals I've got. I never actually used my own electric guitar.
DG - Did the owners contribute?
P - The Wazman [Wazman Ferrari] provided the Les Paul and the great guitar riff on Dead Slow For Hell, and helped me get the electric gat sounds I was after. Jeff (The Stung) Brown helped me out with some gat work and lent me the N2. Stan Leboy helped out with drums loops and samples. You helped out with recording, vocals, some little gat licks, and of course, nursery rhymes.
