The Phoenix Foundation are a six piece indie rock band from Wellington. They have released three albums in New Zealand, Australia and U.S.A.

History

Founded by Conrad Wedde, Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda in 1997 while students at Wellington High School. They were joined by Tim Hansen (bass), Richie Singleton (drums) and Will Ricketts (percussion) in 2001.

After playing for several years they released the China Cove EP.

Their first full length album Horsepower was released in mid 2003 to critical acclaim, and was moderately successful. Horsepower included such singles as "This Charming Van" and "Let Me Die A Woman" which received extensive airplay on alternative radio stations such as 95bFM and RDUFM.

Their second album Pegasus was released in early 2005 and again gathered further plaudits. The album was met with some commercial success, eventually obtaining Gold status in New Zealand. Warner Emery replaced Tim on bass before the recording of Pegasus. The album was released by Remote Control Records in Australia in October 2006.

Happy Ending was released in October 2007 on the Flying Nun imprint. It debuted at number 5 in the NZ album charts and received 5 star reviews in The Herald and Dominion Post newspapers. The first single of the album was Bright Grey with a video directed by Taika Waititi.

In 2005, the Phoenix Foundation toured with the Finn Brothers and put on their own theatre tour which included shows at the Wellington Opera House and Auckland's grand St James Theatre.

Band members Luke Buda and Samuel Flynn Scott released solo records in 2006. Luke's Special Surprise came out on Arch Hill, and showcases his love of synth pop and carefully crafted melody. Samuel's record The Hunt Brings Us Life was released on Loop. It has a more ramshackle feel than The Phoenix Foundation and delves deeper into the americana that Samuels songs on Pegasus hinted at. Warner Emery and Conrad Wedde are both working on solo albums also.

The band recorded the original score to the Taika Waititi film Eagle vs Shark in early 2006. The film was released world wide on Miramax at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.

The Phoenix Foundation signed a deal with US label Young American Recordings to release their records in early 2007. The first American release was Horsepower, released March 13th 2007.

Band members

• Samuel Flynn Scott
• Luke Buda
• Richie Singleton
• Warner Emerey
• Conrad Wedde
• Will Ricketts

Former Members

• Noel Phear
• Tui Langford
• Tim Hansen

Discography

Albums

• China Cove 2001 Lovely Horse Records
• Horsepower 2003 Capital Recordings
• Showboys, Limited Edition Rarities Comp 2004 Issue Inc
• Pegasus 2005 Festival Mushroom Records
• Horsepower, US Edition 2007 Young American Records
• Eagle Versus Shark 2005 Hollywood
• Happy Ending 2005 Flying Nun

Related Links

• Official website
• MySpace
• NZM Forum