Phil Lewis's Page

Musician or Fan?

I'm a singer songwriter

Artist or Band name

Phil Lewis

Band members are

It's just me!!! And whichever of my talented freinds I can rope in t help out.....

The Artist/Band are

unsigned

Style of music

Pop Rock Indie

My nickname is

Phil

Influences

REM, James, U2, Prince, Stevie Wonder

Tell us more about you

Early influences
One of my fondest and most enduring memories from my childhood, is the weekly family ritual of gathering around the radio on a Sunday evening and listening to the Top 40 rundown. It didn’t take long before I started thinking that I’d like to make the kind of music that I was hearing. I wrote my first song when I was about 12. It was called “U.F.O.” and it was about, er……a U.F.O. But in my defence, I was only 12.

As my main exposure to music was through whatever was in the top 40, I soaked up a variety of different styles of music. Early on, I took a particular liking to Rap music and Rock music. I was even a breakdancer for a little while back then. No matter who performed it, I always appreciated a good song. As I grew up, I found myself drawn towards artists who had a chameleon-like quality and were able to constantly reinvent their sound and challenge their audience – artists like Bob Dylan, Prince and David Bowie. As my pocket money rose, my record collection grew ever more eclectic, taking in George Clinton, U2, Queen, Johnny Cash and the Beastie Boys, to name but a few. My current favourites are Crowded House, REM, James, Gnarls Barkley and “Off The Wall”-era Michael Jackson/The Jacksons.

Early songwriting
By the time I started working, I had bought my first guitar, taught myself the basics and started to write songs ‘properly’. I have now written quite a few songs, some good and some not so good. And to answer your question, no – I haven’t written any more songs about U.F.O.’s………yet!

Recording
I started booking time in local studios and working with friends who were also musicians. The results were made available as a series of demo tapes; “When the Madness Ends”, “Set Your Sights”, “Demographic”, “Fidei Defensor”, “Generation Ecstasy” and “Full Circle”, which were sent out to magazines, fanzines, record companies and the like. Most of the tapes received a warm reception - comments included; “Wales finest unsigned writer..” (NFN Oct97), “Tuneful and confident” (Repeat fanzine #10), “Refreshingly pleasant, adult style pop” (Snakebite fanzine issue 5). Recording became more expensive though and, due to my inability to hold a band together for long, I rarely got the chance to play live. So I hung up my guitar and wrote songs only if there was something clawing it’s way out.

After a hiatus of about 6 years I recorded my first full length album, ‘Whispering’ but I wasn’t happy with the finished product.

Mid-way through 2006, after a period which produced a set of songs that I thought took my writing to a new level, I went in to the studio to record an album with the first person I’d ever recorded songs with - Lawson Dando, who had recently returned from a stint as the keyboard player with the Incredible String Band and was keen to get back into production work.

Spurred on by the positive reaction to “Ancient Light”, I have now written and recorded a new album “Movements In Space”. Ben Haynes (Ex-Pala), the main guitarist on “Ancient Light”, invited me to record a few acoustic songs with him up in his hometown of Derby. What began as a 4/5 track acoustic project soon began to take on a life of it's own, and quickly developed into a fully fledged (and fully instrumentationalised) album. “Movements In Space” is more politicised and edgier than it's predecessor, while still retaining the ear for melody which I try to keep central to everything I write.