If you’re into the Geelong gig scene, there is a high chance that you have heard the name Phaedo. Truthfully I’d be surprised if you hadn’t, I’d been seeing their name pop up for quite a while and finally caught the chance to see them at one of the Weathervane Sunday events a few weeks back and god damn, I was impressed.
With super hard hitting psych riffs, punkish vocals and sometimes-sinister sometimes-melodic synth undertones, Phaedo is the perfect mix of Thee Oh Sees and Pond, but that’s not to sell them short, because they are well and truly doing their own thing and they are doing it bloody well.
The band, comprised of Mitch Collins (Sex Ed), Dom Bell (Gymnastics in the 70’s), Kyle Lock, Holly Perkins (The Sweethearts) and Oscar Edginton, brought out their debut EP ‘Osmosis’ last year. Featuring album artwork from Geelong artist Aine Keogh, it was released on Weathervane Records and seems like a sure-fire win for an EP. Unfortunately, the band wasn’t too stoked with how the recordings turned out.
“We weren’t really happy with the recordings,” reveals vocalist and guitarist Kyle Lock. “We were just really rushed, especially being in Year 12 at the time. We recorded it straight to cassette and then didn’t even end up getting cassettes because they wouldn’t of come in time for the EP launches. The recording is that poor that it kind of takes away from the songs a bit, and we have made those songs tighter since then so we will most likely end up putting the same songs on the album anyway.”
With plans to re-record some of the early songs off the EP for a debut album, the band spoke about the deeper meaning to some of the unreleased tracks that will form a concept album of sorts.
“It’s kind of like a personal concept album; it’s not as if it’s a full on concept album” states Oscar Edginton.
“It’s about things happening around us, which is an important thing to write about I feel. It’s kind of my personal take on what’s happening around me,” continues Kyle. “I had a really rough time last year and my brain flipped out pretty massively and I felt as if I entered the spiritual realm in a sense, it’s all pretty heavy but it’s just what was going through my mind at the time. And Oscar just happened to be writing similar philosophical songs as well. There’s a lot of meaning behind the songs.”
In terms of the bands hopes for the release and whether or not they feel bound to any specific label or sound Kyle responded, “The album we are working on at the moment is kind of post-punky/progressive but also pretty dark but I still want to make it have melodies that are a bit poppy. I just don’t want all our releases to sound the same, I want for every album to be distinctive.”
A statement that’s mirrored by Oscar: “I’m all about just doing whatever the fuck you want to do. We all love what we are playing and if people don’t like it who cares, we like it so that means it’s successful. Each release is not a conscious choice; it’s just what we are feeling at that point in time.”
With Holly still being in Year 12, it may still be a few months until fans get to hear the finished result of Phaedo’s debut album. If you can’t hold out until then make sure you catch these guys at a local gig, it’ll be well worth your time.
Written by Alex Callan
Phaedo
