Phil Shoenfelt

Phil Shoenfelt was born in Bradford, England, in 1952. After colliding with the London Punk scene in the mid-1970's, he moved to New York where he formed the post-punk noise band khmer rouge. In the early 1980's they supported acts such as Suicide, Tom Verlaine, and The Clash and are featured on the "White Columns Noise Festival Tape" which also includes early versions of Sonic Youth and Swans. In New York they were managed by Nat Finkelstein, author of "The Factory Years" and renowned photographer of The Velvet Underground.

Khmer Rouge returned to London in 1984 and after supporting The Fall on two British tours split in 1986. Phil returned also 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.

In 1989 Shoenfelt began a solo career, releasing records as Phil Shöenfelt. In May 1990 the Backwoods Crucifixion LP/CD was released. In 1992 he worked with Crime And The City Solutions's singer Simon Bonney on his first solo album. The next Phil Sh?enfelt CD was "God Is The Other Face Of The Devil", released on Humbug Records/Trident Music International in 1993, 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 Shoenfelt'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).

Shoenfelt 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 as Phil Shöenfelt & Southern Cross. He has since released several CD's, solo and also with his Czech backing band Southern Cross. The two most recent were "Dead Flowers For Alice" (1999) and "Ecstatic" (2002). In 2004 the German label Phantasmagoria released his Best of Double-CD "Deep Horizon".

1997 also saw the release of the first Fatal Shore CD, a collaboration with the Berlin-based Australians Bruno Adams and Chris Hughes and marked the beginning of a collaboration with English indie legend Nikki Sudden. Both have written many songs together (one of which is included on Nikki's solo CD "Egyptian Roads"), and Shoenfelt also played lead guitar in Sudden's band for the November 1997 "Rock and Roll Tour" of Germany. After a second tour in January and February 1998, Shoenfelt and Sudden went into a Berlin studio and recorded a full CD of songs that they wrote together. This CD, "Golden Vanity", is yet to be released.

In all, Phil Shoenfelt has published more than 16 records - solo and with various bands. He has also had two books published in Czech translation by Mata Books of Prague: "Junkie Love" (1997) and "The Green Hotel" (1998). "Junkie Love" was released in English by Twisted Spoon publishing house in November 2001.