What ever happened to Xavier? I had a long drive last night coming home and queued up Ghost Story (first time in years) and reminded me that I haven't bought anything since Snow Torch. First thing tomorrow I'll get in and check out the latest. Low and behold, it appears there hasn't been anything, not even the rumored Seven-2 CD that was supposedly written.
As a fan that has most of his back catalog, I'm surprised that he quit recording and I never heard about it.
Does anyone have a backstory?
Oddly enough I had a track from The Great Leap stuck in my head this morning so was also thinking about Mr Xavier .... He was a semi-regular here as well so maybe he'll pop in and fill us in..
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Enough time has passed, that with his other time constraints, it's reasonable to think that his musical pursuits are on indefinite hiatus.
He's got a new double album in the works called Infernal which is the final part of a trilogy with The Great Leap and Doomday Afternoon.
He's been announcing its release since 2013 but it's constantly been pushed back because of his other job and his perfectionism. If he is to be believed, it is now really almost finished and is expected in 2017.
^^^^I hope that's true. I too love his music. I also know for certainty that the death of his Mother a few years ago really took a toll on him. And as you said, his work in TV is also very time consuming. Another factor is that his musicians do not live in the same area, so recording schedules are not always easy to manage. I don't even know if his other music project, Mogon is still in the works? And if we do get Infernal eventually, I'm confident it will be worth the way. PX is a great talent IMO.
Last edited by AncientChord; 12-16-2016 at 12:22 PM.
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
At least there's Ariel to hang out with at festivals.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I have been checking his website occasionally in hope that there would be an announcement about Infernal. But alas there has been nothing. I'd been afraid that he permanently shelved the project. Here's hoping for 2017.
I would imagine his regular job as a director and producer is taking all his time. Do his movie and tv credits use the Phideaux alias or his real name?
Originally Posted by zeprogmeister
Real name. That's how I found out that he works on General Hospital, because I spotted his name in the opening credits one day (yes, I used to watch General Hospital). I remember thinking, "Could there possibly be two Phideaux Xaviers in the world?!". At the time, he was a member on PE, so I checked his profile, and he identified his occupation as "television production", and that he lives in Southern California (GH is produced in LA), so I reckoned there might be two of them, but I doubt they both work in television.
One thing you have to know about soap operas, or at least American produced ones, is that they don't get much time off. It's not like prime time shows, where there's a summer hiatus. General Hospital is pretty much in production all year round. Only on holidays is there not a new show airing. Phideaux recently appeared on a thing on Youtube, some kind of "talk show" devoted to GH, and he said that they basically that out of every four weeks, they work three weeks, then get the fourth off. So I imagine it's during that fourth week that he does whatever work on recording that he can.
Given the fact that he's been working on soaps for over 15 years now (having worked on Passions and The Young And The Restless before arriving on GH around 2007 or 2008, oddly, right around the time I started watching, actually), it's probably a miracle that we've gotten as much out of him as we have, music wise. The fact that he could get the band performance ready and able to play the handful of shows they've done is pretty amazing too.
And that's Emmy winning director and producer, to you, Pal!
(seriously, a few years back the GH directing team, including Phideaux, won an Emmy!)
He's said that his work in TV has given him the ability to work fast and be super-organized. Part of which, I suspect, includes making some very complete-sounding song demos, and a certain amount of trying out parts in the form of files over the Internet. Also, his music doesn't seem that difficult - it's well-written, and can be involved structurally, but doesn't require counting polymeters or nested tuplets, or playing and singing elaborate counterpoint or polytonality. So when the band actually get together, they probably all know almost exactly what they need to play, and don't have much trouble getting it together.
I think that's his real name now, but I don't think it's the name he was born with.
OMG. General Hospital *still* exists??! Today?? I thought that show went out with the Reagan administration!
I'm on a Phideaux kick recently. So far I have Snowtorch, Doomsday Afternoon and Number Seven, which are all fantastic! Are there any other must-haves, that have a similar sound?
Mogon is his most recent. Its not "new" so much as a combination of a variety of things with live versions of Thank You For Evil, the 20+ minute Chupacabras and an unreleased song called Out of the Angry Planet and two "singles" Tempest of Mutiny and Strange Cloud plus a couple of unreleased studio tracks. Its definitely worth having as most of the tracks are pretty proggy. You can find it at bandcamp and I think you can buy it from there for any price you want.
Of the other releases (that you didn't list), I like The Great Leap the most but most people here seem more partial to Ghost Story. Personally, I think they are all worth having.
O where O where has our little Phideaux gone.......?
JG
"MARKLAR!"
The live version of the epic track Chupacabras mentioned above is superior to the studio version. A prog must IMO,even with some glorious mellotron. Maybe someone should try to contact him through a General Hospital link? I miss him and his wonderful music and band. I saw a scaled down version of the band at a club prog show in Encino California a few years ago and met him and their keyboardist Johnny Unicorn. They were awesome. And so was PE forum member Kerry Kompost's band Heliopolis. Great show. Would love to see both bands again. With so many prog deaths in 2016, it would be great to see the re-birth of Phideaux in 2017. Keep those fingers crossed!
Day dawns dark...it now numbers infinity.
I think those are his three best works but I also like The Great Leap quite a bit. A little more mainstream but still with Phideaux's wonderful ear for melody.
The Prog Corner
I am a fan of Ghost Story as well. I actually listen to it 2nd most behind Seven. GL & DDM are classic and go together, I think if you own one you have to own the other. They are the ying and yang of the same story.
I thought I read somewhere that GH was getting the ax.
He was giving those away for free when his band performed at RoSFest a few years back.
Nighttime soaps and other programming has killed off ratings for daytime soaps. There's only a few of them left now, including GH. It's likely only a matter of time for all of them which would be a pity because a ton people in Hollywood got their start in soaps or, like Phideaux, make a living doing them.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
I have discovered this thread only today, searching the forum on any Phideaux news. Definitely joining in the "would love to see the next album released" chorus. Number Seven is my favorite album by Phideaux.
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Innocence and undying love will reign." - Transatlantic
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