Phox: Made in the Midwest

Diving into The Auckland Arts Festival is bringing in two American indie bands who like to mix things up musically. Lydia Jenkin profiles Phox.

Midwest six-piece Phox will have substantial excess luggage charges when they travel to New Zealand for the first time this week. Because being a band of multi-instrumentalists means between 10 and 20 instruments on stage come tomorrow night.

"It's pretty varied. I think contrast is a big focus for us," explains guitarist Matt Holmen. "We have different movements in our set where we play as a full band, and other times we play just around two microphones, old-school bluegrass style, with acoustic instruments, and strip things back to a living room setting. And it is lighthearted in one moment, and then very grave and intimate in the next. And I think we certainly want to try to be real people on stage, not some sort of rockstar persona."

The six of them grew up in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and played together in various ways over the years, but it wasn't until Holmen was asked to put together a performance for a community college that the current group formed.

"We were all playing together a bit at the time, and I said, 'Hey, do you guys want to do this show?' I'd been trying to get Monica [Martin] to sing for some time. She'd been singing around me and in private, and it was really great, but she'd never performed a show before. But I convinced her, and the others, and we went and learned some songs written by Zach Johnston, who also joined the band."

The show didn't actually go so well ("it was a disaster, it was horrible!" Holmen laughs) but a seed had been planted, and six months later they were asked to do a Christmas show and that got things rolling again.

"Eventually we all moved in together in Madison, just to keep rent low so we could stay on the road and tour and keep writing, and yeah, here we are."

Indeed, where they are is looking pretty promising - they released their debut album last year, recorded in Justin Vernon's (aka Bon Iver) studio, and they've garnered wide acclaim as they've toured the US, particularly for Monica Martin's voice.

"I still remember the first time I heard Monica sing. We were driving around and listening to Regina Spektor and The Honorary Title, and she was just ripping off these harmonies like she was on the recording, and I just had no idea she could sing at that point and I thought she was pretty fantastic. So I was like, 'Can you do that again?' and she kind of recoiled and was shy about it, but eventually we convinced her."

Despite the fact it's not known as a musical hotbed, they feel very grateful to be from Wisconsin, and for all the support they've received from other local bands and audiences.

"There is an aspect of living in a small community, in a rural place, respectively to New York or LA anyway, which is that people are very informed by what their peers are doing. There aren't that many bands in Wisconsin, but it's a supportive community, and I think definitely the aesthetic has been informed by Justin Vernon and his success, and what he's doing with his new Eaux Claires festival."

July's festival will include Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, The National, Charles Bradley - and Phox.

"So we feel lucky to be from Wisconsin right now."

Who: Phox
Where and when: Performing at the Auckland Arts Festival on Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7.
Listen to: Phox (2014)

- TimeOut