Phil Shoenfelt

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Use British English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox musical artist  | name = Phil Shoenfelt | image = Phil Shoenfelt.jpg | caption = | background = group_or_band | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1952|12|18}} | origin = Bradford, England | genre = Indie rock, gothic rock, post-punk | website = [http://www.philshoenfelt.de/index.html http://www.philshoenfelt.de] }}

'''Phil Shoenfelt''' (born 18 December 1952 in Bradford, England) is an English musician and author who lived for many years in New York City and who now lives in Prague, Czech Republic.<ref name=":0">Alexiou, Evi (16 May 2020). [https://yellowradio.gr/%CF%84%CE%BF-%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%B4%CE%B9-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B5%CE%B2%CE%B4%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B1%CF%82-phil-shoenfelt-southern-cross-lonely-street/ "Το Τραγούδι της Εβδομάδας: Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross – “Lonely Street” (Μοναχικός δρόμος)"]. ''yellowradio.gr''. Retrieved 6 February 2021.</ref>

== As a musician == In New York, in the early 1980s, he played with punk band the Nothing, as well as with East Village new wave band Disturbed Furniture,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gourley|first=Bob|date=23 September 2019|title=Alexa Hunter talks about the return of Disturbed Furniture|work=Chaos Control Digizine|url=https://www.chaoscontrol.com/alexa-hunter-talks-about-the-return-of-disturbed-furniture/|access-date=6 February 2021}}</ref> and founded the post-punk band Khmer Rouge<ref name=":2">23 October 2018, [https://www.musicity.gr/paidika-menu-article/phil-shoenfelt-baron-anastis-tiki-athens-musicity-2018 "Phil Shoenfelt & Baron Anastis στο Tiki bar Athens!]. ''musicity.gr''. Retrieved 6 February 2021.</ref><ref name=":0" /> together with Barry "Scratchy" Myers (tour DJ of the Clash) and Marcia Schofield (future keyboard player of the Fall). From 1983 to 1984, Khmer Rouge was managed by noted photographer and Andy Warhol collaborator Nat Finkelstein.<ref name=":1" /> They were frequently performing in the CBGB<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> and have opened events for Alan Vega, the Gun Club, Tom Verlaine, Nico, and the Clash.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

In 1989 his first solo EP, ''Charlotte's Room'', was released by Mark E. Smith's label Cog Sinister. The title track and the B-side "The Long Goodbye" were mixed by Tony Cohen and Mark E. Smith.<ref name=":2" /> He also opened events for the Fall.<ref name=":2" />

One year later, Paperhouse Records put out his first solo album ''Backwoods Crucifixion'', and in 1993 Shoenfelt's second album ''God Is the Other Face of the Devil'' was released by Humbug Records.

He also opened events for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the UK.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

Since 1995, Shoenfelt has lived in Prague, where he put together his current band, Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross. With Southern Cross he has recorded five albums to date (''Blue Highway'', ''Dead Flowers for Alice'', ''Ecstatic'', ''Paranoia.com'' and ''The Bell Ringer'') as well as one EP, ''Electric Garden''.

In 1997, Shoenfelt founded a new band Fatal Shore, together with Bruno Adams and Chris Hughes<ref name=":0" /> (both ex-members of Once Upon a Time).<ref name=":1">Armand, Louis (30 September 2017). [https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/reactionary-sentimentalism-part-3-prague/ "Reactionary Sentimentalism Part 3: Prague"]. ''3:AM Magazine''. Retrieved 6 February 2021.</ref> They made three CDs – ''Fatal Shore'', ''Free Fall'' and ''Real World'' – and toured widely in Europe and the US until Adams succumbed to colon cancer in 2009.<ref name=":0" />

Shoenfelt also collaborated with Nikki Sudden.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Vaggelis|first=Giannakopoulos|date=1 June 2010|title=Phil Shoenfelt and Southern Cross live @ Rodeo – 30 / 05 / 2010|url=http://postwave.gr/phil-shoenfelt-and-southern-cross-live-rodeo-30-05-2010|access-date=6 February 2021|website=Postwave.gr}}</ref> On Sudden's 1997/1998 European tour, Shoenfelt was the lead guitarist. After the tour ended, Sudden and Shoenfelt went into a Berlin studio and recorded ''Golden Vanity'',<ref name=":1" /> which was finally released in 2009<ref>{{Cite web|last=Toland|first=Michael|date=8 August 2009|title=Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt – Golden Vanity (Troubadour)|url=https://bigtakeover.com/recordings/nikki-sudden-phil-shoenfelt-golden-vanity-troubadour|access-date=6 February 2021|website=The Big Takeover}}</ref> by UK label Easy Action Records.

Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross released their fourth studio album ''Paranoia.com'' on 1 November 2010. This album contains nine original songs and a cover version of Iggy Pop & the Stooges' "Open Up and Bleed".

Together with the Australian ex-pat musicians Chris Hughes and Dave Allen, Shoenfelt formed a new band called Dim Locator in 2011<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> – named after a Rowland S. Howard song on the Birthday Party's ''Junkyard'' LP.<ref name=":1" /> Based in Berlin, Dim Locator plays heavy, repetitive, riff-based rock music, inspired by 1970s kraut rock bands such as Can, Neu and La Düsseldorf.

Shoenfelt's most recent release is a vinyl album called ''Under the Radar'' on German label Last Year's Youth. ''Under the Radar'' is a partial career retrospective spanning the years 1981 to 1997. It includes previously unreleased rarities, such as Khmer Rouge's appearance at the 1981 White Columns Noise Fest, a nine-day festival of New York noise bands curated by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.

On 10 January 2020, Shoenfelt's new solo studio album ''Cassandra Lied'' was released by the German label Sireena Records. The album was recorded between August 2018 and November 2019 in Prague, with contributions from several musicians such as Kristof Hahn (Swans), Marcia Schofield (ex-the Fall), Chris Hughes (Hugo Race & the True Spirit) and Eva Turnová.<ref name=":0" />

== As an author == As well as being a singer/songwriter, Shoenfelt is a published and awarded author with books translated in several languages. His autobiographical novel ''Junkie Love''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shöenfelt, Phil.|title=Junkie love|date=2001|publisher=Twisted Spoon Press|isbn=80-86264-17-3|location=Prague|oclc=49319862}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Interventions|date=2005|publisher=Intellect|others=Miles, Malcolm., Hall, Tim, 1968-|isbn=1-84150-914-0|location=Bristol, England|pages=68, 76|oclc=58842720}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> won the Firecracker Alternative Book Award (2002) in New York.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Firecracker Alternative Book Awards|url=https://www.writerswrite.com/rr/awards/firecracker/|access-date=6 February 2021|website=Writers Write}}</ref> The novel is available in the original English, as well as in Czech and Italian translations. An extract has appeared in ''Erotika – Drogen und Sexualitat'' by German philosopher Wolfgang Sterneck,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Carrithers|first=Robert|date=September 2010|title=Prague Portraits: Phil Shoenfelt|url=https://www.robertcarrithers.com/2010/09/i-was-walking-down-the-street-on-a-nice-sunny-day-in-prague-in-a-good-mood-minding-my-own-business-when-all-of-a-sudden-a.html|access-date=6 February 2021}}</ref> along texts by Charles Bukowski, W. S. Burroughs, Nick Cave, Irvine Welsh, Marilyn Manson and others.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Erotika|url=http://www.sterneck.net/komista/erotika/|access-date=6 February 2021|website=STERNECK.NET}}</ref>

He has also written the afterword for the Czech edition of Nick Cave's book ''And the Ass Saw the Angel'' ("A uzřela oslice anděla", 1995).<ref>{{Cite web|title=A uzřela oslice anděla|url=https://search.mlp.cz/cz/titul/a-uzrela-oslice-andela/52958/#book-content|access-date=6 February 2021|website=Městská knihovna v Praze}}</ref>

== Discography == *1988 ''Charlotte's Room / The Long Goodbye'' (EP) *1990 ''Backwoods Crucifixion'' (LP/CD) *1993 ''God Is the Other Face of the Devil'' (CD) *1995 ''Live in Prague!'' (with Ticha dohoda) (MC/CD) *1997 ''Blue Highway'' (CD) *1997 ''Fatal Shore'' (with Fatal Shore) (CD) *1999 ''Dead Flowers for Alice'' (CD) *2002 "Electric Garden" (CD single) *2002 ''Ecstatic'' (CD) *2003 ''Free Fall'' (with Fatal Shore) (CD) *2004 ''Deep Horizon – Selected Songs of Phil Shoenfelt'' (2-CD) *2004 ''New York – London 1981–86'' (with Khmer Rouge) (2-CD) *2007 ''Real World'' (with Fatal Shore) (CD) *2008 ''Live at the House of Sin'' (Phil Shoenfelt & Pavel Cingl) (2008) *2009 ''Golden Vanity'' (Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt) (CD) *2010 "Open Up & Bleed" (download single) *2010 ''Paranoia.com'' (CD) *2011 ''Immortalised'' (with Dim Locator, download EP) *2011 ''Setting the Sails for El Dorado'' (with Fatal Shore) (CD) *2012 ''Performing Songs by Rowland S. Howard'' (with Dim Locator) (7") *2013 ''Wormhole'' (with Dim Locator) (EP, CD and 10" vinyl) *2015 ''The Bell Ringer – Live at the Shot-Out Eye'' (Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross, CD) *2018 ''Out of the Sky – Real World Demos'' (Phil Shoenfelt & Bruno Adams, CD) *2019 ''Under the Radar'' (12" vinyl) *2020 ''Cassandra Lied'' (CD)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.philshoenfelt.de Phil Shoenfelt] *[http://www.philshoenfelt.com Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross] *[http://www.fatal-shore.de Fatal Shore] *[http://www.dimlocator.de Dim Locator] *[http://brucewellie.wix.com/brucewellie The Bruce Wellie Band]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoenfelt, Phil}} Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:English rock guitarists Category:English male singer-songwriters Category:English male writers Category:Musicians from Bradford Category:English expatriates in the Czech Republic