On Sept. 17 the San Francisco Chapter and the GRAMMY Foundation hosted a GRAMMY SoundChecks with Phoenix for 30 students from Burlingame High School, Oakland, Calif.-based Youth Movement Records, as well as GRAMMY U members before the band's sold-out show at the Warfield.
Students, excited to hear music from this up-and-coming French pop/rock band, filed into the historic theater, some flocking immediately to the stage while others positioned themselves directly behind the sound engineer. Band members Laurent Brancowitz (guitar), Deck D'Arcy (bass), Thomas Mars (vocals), and Christian Mazzalai (guitar) played songs off their latest album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Following the testing of levels and lights, students were able to sit down with the band members for a personal conversation about music, creativity, American and French songwriting, and the future of the music business.
On their fifth tour through San Francisco, Phoenix told students how they have stayed strong and independent as a band over the past 14 years. Describing themselves as "semi-professional" musicians, the band described how they have always been the creative agents behind all of their packaging, music and songs. San Francisco Chapter's new Executive Director Chris Wiltsee asked the band what advice they had for songwriters, to which Brancowitz responded, "Writing a song is something you can't predict so we record everything." Mars added, "We always say, 'There is no advice. You should always do it your own way.'"