Launching Phoenix In Flowers at Brisbane Fringe Festival in August, singer and guitar player of the band, Jackie Marshall, introduces their sound.
Who/what is Phoenix In Flowers?
Phoenix In Flowers (PIF) is Sallie Campbell on octo-mandolin piano violin and voice, me (Jackie Marshall) singing and playing guitar, and Hik Sugimoto on very painterly drums, throwing in a few vocal melodies here and there too. I met Sallie when I went to sing for her beautiful, all-femme, world music band Tulipan fifteen years ago when their lead Virag Antal left – we were a bad fit and I think it’s safe to say we really didn’t get along! But there were some good creative moments.
We met again performing for Attack Of The Crab Monsters at The Globe last year and realised there was a lot of love for the creative potential between us. We’ve both had unusual lives with serious health issues along the way and our experiences since those days have made us more circumspect. In PIF our writing comes from a place of self-acceptance and a joyful kind of eccentricity with a communal vibe.
What do you sound like?
PIF currently sounds like the ruffs from an acoustic jam face-off between Fleetwood Mac and Portishead while two Swiss shepherdesses read out loud from the personal journals of Louise Hay.
When is your first gig?
Our first gig is going to be at Junk Bar on 16 August with June Low!
In the studio I usually…
Have at least one major, crying meltdown, and subsequently nail the take. That’s a heads-up right there for Sallie and Hik!
If you could tour with anyone who would that be?
We’d definitely kill it as the follow-on act for Russell Brand on a world tour.
Name three people you'd like to invite around for a dinner party:
Just two really. Tony Abbott and Hannibal Lecter. Actually no, better throw in Greg Hunt just to be safe.
No matter the expense, send me a container of...
Vintage instruments and wild-hearted freaks who know how to play them, a knob of home-packed salami, a panel of cheese, half a dozen batons of crusty bread, a huge vat full of pickles, and a whole lot of home-made wine from Dutovlej. Add one endless European summer. Thanks.
What's the one chore you dislike the most?
I loathe forcing myself to think.
Would you ever partake in a reality show? If so, what type?
I’d like to be cryogenically frozen and do a reality show shot as I’m re-animated for that moment in time when time and inter-dimensional-travel have been invented and launched specifically via reality TV. Sign me up!!
Phoenix In Flowers play with June Low at Junk Bar as part of Brisbane Fringe Festival, 16 August.
