Who is your amazing drummer and cool, bearded keyboard player?
The drummer (Thomas Hedlund), yes, he is amazing. He has played in many Swedish bands including Cult Of Luna and The Perishers. He’s with us and on the record. Rob, Robbie (Couder), is our keyboard player. He already has two fantastic records and right now he is releasing something crazy. You should go to our MySpace site and you will see he is one of our friends and check out his music, it is crazy and I’m sure will enjoy it. Robbie has been a friend of ours since we were kids and he is doing very romantic music with synthesizers like Jean-Michel Jarre but more underground and very beautiful.
Speaking of synthesizers, you have always used them on your records but it has always been the right balance between keys and guitars.
Yes, we really grew up with guitars and electronics, you know? When we were teenagers we liked guitar bands but at one point we were fed up with them and then only into electronic music back in the late ’90s.
You are referring to your disco track ‘Heatwave’?
Aaah, you know this one?
Yeah its great! Do you ever play that live?
No, maybe one day—I have to think about it.
What is the significance of the album title and the bombs dropping on the cover?
You, in America, have icons like Marilyn Monroe, you know? And we wanted pop art in a way, like destroying an icon and then put our name on it with something iconic and European we liked. All of our former titles were more elegant and stylish, but this is very childish.
Phoenix are playing two sold out shows on July 18 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY, and at Terminal 5 in NYC on July 19. For more info, visit myspace.com/wearephoenix.
