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On Sunday, this band will have its name read out as one of the nominees for best alternative album at the Grammy awards. This is Phoenix. And if they win, their acceptance speech will likely catch many people off guard. They may sing like American indy rockers, but Phoenix is a French band.
Phoenix performing at the Fillmore in San Francisco (Photo: Adelaide Chen)
In the US, French pop and rock has been mostly the focus of ridicule than reward. In the case of Phoenix, their success as French rockers may be due to the fact they were influenced by the right musical role models.
As lead singer Thomas Mars tells Marco Werman, when he was a teenager, his older brother came back from the US, played Thomas an album by Prince, and informed him that everything else he was listening to was garbage. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern)
Why am I just ‘discovering’ these guys? Thank you Marco.
I just emailed a friend who told me he loves them…best thing about 2009. You’d think he would have told me about them. geez.