Korbin Pheenix

Early lifeAdrian Jones was born in Hawaii in 1980 at Tripler Airforce Base in Honolulu. His father, James Jones, is a former Sergeant First Class of the United States Army and operated ground-air missile systems. The family moved frequently, living in Louisiana, Virginia, and Germany and El Paso and Arkansas in between, due to his father’s career requiring constant relocation. Korbin Pheenix stated that he was an outgoing, but an often misunderstood, child growing up and military life was hard when it came to having friends because you always had to leave them just as soon as you got to know them. After completing high school in 1999, he spent a year working for a local steel plant and riding around Hope, Arkansas with a video camera taping legendary but, lost antics involving stealing a midnight ride on golf carts at the country club, breaking into peoples cars and leaving hate messages, running in the back of pizza restaurants filming the dirty kitchens with roaches crawling around and sneaking out KKK members daughters. His stage name is derived from his favorite hero’s first name, Korbin, taken from the fictional espionage character Michael Corbin played by Richard Greco in the movie “If Looks Could Kill” and his favorite villain in a movie, Simon Phoenix played Wesley Snipes in the movie “Demolition Man”. He said it symbolizes the darkness and light that exists within himself.Music careerEarly career (1995–1997) He began freestyling as a hobby in the mid-90‘s in North East El Paso when his friend from North Carolina, Ron, introduced him to the art and told him he should take it up. He didn’t realize it but, he had been dabbling in it since he was 7. He discovered this fact when he found an old tape he recorded on the Michael Jackson kiddie mic-and-tape recorder toy where he was rhyming about lollipops in 2003 around the time when he decided to do it seriously. He has since then been known for his off-the-wall descriptive style, over-the-top humor and creative punch lines and complex epic rap delivery over mostly self-produced, headnodic production.Building a recording studio, the birth of the Laughing Target Media, writing full songs for the first time, robbery and rebuilding of the studio, his time in L.A., and Exactoblade Riverdance(2001-2008)For the first part of 2003, he came up with the idea building a studio and putting his own music out if he was to record any so he came up with Laughing Target Records. He said the name comes from the title of an episode in the anime series Rumiko World. He said,” a laughing target is what he’s felt like all his life so, it was the best name for anything he did or was directly involved with“. While at work at the local steel plant in 2001 he came across a plant auction of an old 16 by 10 office building and told his grandfather, James Earl “Sonny” Holston he needed this for a building for which to create a studio and he purchased it for him and transported it to the Crossroads area of Hope, Saratoga, Fulton and Washington. The late Terry Townsend, a genius carpenter and fair man, built a masterpiece of a wall inside it that had a door way and double glass windowpane to divide the space into roughly two halves to create a vocal booth and a control room. It was one of the last things he would build in his short and great life on this planet and Korbin stated that this was one of the most important things that anyone has ever done for him in his life and he will forever be grateful. He wrote, ”TERRY TOWNSEND LIVES!” with a permanent marker on that wall to show his love for the man that built it. With just his minds eye for the blueprint, him and Shane Pioterik, the latter donating his entire summer break from school, set out to build the rest of the studio with stunning results. It was around this time that people took his kindness as a weakness and used the proximity that they were able to gain to the recording studio as a way to monitor it an later break in and steal the equipment inside. This act was brutally avenged a year later in an encounter behind a shopping complex in the Hope, Arkansas area. In the time in between, he received donations from friends, acquired more recording equipment and started a long and hard crawl out from under the weight of great depression stemming form personal life issues and lack of musical outlet and creative drive as a result all these occurrences in his life. In mid-2005, just when he was getting his life back together and becoming inspired again, he made an unexpected and random move to Los Angeles to get away from everything that was wrong in his life in hopes of a new beginning. A move that yielded more problems than solutions. Upon moving to Los Angeles he encountered more of the same type of but from more concentrated sources which subsequently led to his returning to Arkansas in the summer of 2006. His time there wasn’t all a waste, though. He produced a beat that was co-mixed by Sam Burton, Grandson of Sam Goldwyn, long time movie producer(Sam Goldwyn Pictures) and co-owner of MGM, Metro-Goldwyn and Meyer, that would be used a year later on the release of Exactoblade Riverdance, a genre-defying group of which he is a member and founder, on the song “Premenstrual Skintone“. He also did some minor recording for the song, “traitorous”, that’s to be featured on his long-awaited debut, Maskarah Marathon, at Charles Chemery's basement studio, who at the time was giving vocal lessons to certain Miley Cyrus and because of this association, Korbin got chance to “party” at the Roxy on Sunset Blvd. with the pop princess. Maskarah Marathon is a name that he explains as,”if there was more of likeminded MC’s out there that joined together to just smash people, that’s what you would have.. A mascara marathon.. Because of all these mothers cryin’ of dead fake rappers at mass funerals. While recording a song called “bestadabestest” at a SoundArt L.A. recording studio he met T, the cousin of his friend Philipe that also happens to be the drummer for the band Hydrovibe which made a mainstream buzz on the saw 3 soundtrack with the song “Killer Inside”. T, a saxophonist, producer, and promoter with a clothing line called Pussies Paradise from Switzerland offered to pay him to record vocals over beats from his production company, Audiocircus. Korbin said yes. He lent some verses he recorded while on Christmas break in Hope, Arkansas visiting family to their Darkside project and to “Handshake” a snowboarding movie on which, he complains that they quote-on-quote ”f’d up his vocal sync!”. Search “Korbin Pheenix“ on you tube and you find the scene where they use the song. He’s since drifted away from them because of their lack of activity but does admit that the money was good and it saved him from a bad gambling venture once. Upon coming back to Arkansas, he got into more problems with volatile women and alcoholism. During this time he began to produce Plausible Theory, a metal band led by old friend and future musical partner, Jamie Auld from time to time. This was also the year he produced a beat using a sample from a Panic! At the Disco's debut album and recorded a teaser called,"untitled", which showcased a lone, southern rap inspired spitfire verse that up until that point hadn't been utilized by the MC. He described it as being just one, big punchline! He contacted Slow Suicide Stimulus, a group based out of New Jersey that consists of Tame-One from New Jersey former member of the group, Artifacts and current member of the supergroup Weathermen and the Dusted Dons a rap-duo, also from New Jersey via myspace. He asked them to check it out and received a reply message that contained the words,"F**k you. Die." He responded to the message telling who he believed to be Tame, that he was just showing how easy it is to do something real basic and that lyricist like him can do commercial stuff in their sleep. He received a message in response saying that he or they, don't like anything commercial in style, disregarding the great lyrical content of the song which he didn't compromise in the writing of the verse. Regardless of that, while sensing jealousy and bitterness in the message exchange with the veteran east coast artist, it was being met with a huge positive response from fans and new listeners alike which led to him doing a full-length song adding a chorus and epic second verse that ends with a small reference to Slow Suicide Stimulus and Tame One.Exactoblade Riverdance(2007)In April 2007, a mutual friend of exactoblade riverdance founding members Korbin Pheenix and Thomas "OHX" Casteel named Noel, had a history of cutting and stepped on an exactoblade. Korbin said,"you gon' start riverdancin' on 'em now!" and laughed. A week later, he posted a comment on her myspace telling her that he was starting a band called exactoblade riverdance, joking about the over-the-top names for groups nowadays.. A week after that Korbin and Thomas were eating at pizza hut one night and Korbin said to Thomas that that would be a name he could see a group or a band coming out with. He grinned and went back to his pizza and noticed a silence.. He looked up and Thomas wasn’t smiling but had a very serious look on his face and said "why the f**k not?". They then pulled in Shaye Fields, a female screamer and drinking bubby with a scream similar they say to the lead singer from Kitty or OTEP with his friend Thomas nicknamed ”OHX” as the lead singer and co-songwriter for the album along with Korbin. Korbin, taking yet another break from recording his debut album Maskarah Marathon started a band for which he began recording, producing, mixing, mastering, engineering an emo/gothic/industrial/metal/rap album for the groups debut album and first "official" release on laughing target records, "No-L", with guitarists, “Wade”, Mario Martinez, Cody Brown, Bradley O‘Bryant, Jamie Auld . the title of the album is a play on the name of the person who sparked the idea unbeknownst, which can mean no life, no love, no liberty, etc. Recording started the week of the 11th of April, 2007 and ended June 8th 2007. He explains this group as not a group or a band but as a vehicle to go places we all wouldn’t go normally in our own respective comfort zones and that there are only 3 actual founding members, Korbin, Ohx(lead vocalist), and Shaye(lead female scream vocals) and one unofficial founder Mario Martinez.. Everybody else is subject to change. A follow up is in talks and is but an actual date is unclear. The myspace page(myspace. com/exactodanceriverblade) features songs from the debut album and the album itself is available on request and at Modern Primitives in Texarkana which is a twin city on the Arkansas-Texas boarder. Since release they were approached by a couple of companies with aspirations of putting out the music but the offers sounded unfruitful so they didn’t bother. They still have a distribution deal with the bookstore chain hastings on the table.Laughing Target MediaDue to being frustrated with one of the internet distribution companies offers made to him for the exactoblade riverdance project, he turned to a longtime friend, web design artist and technophile Troy Green and in a call to him from Arkansas to Troy’s then Colorado cellphone he said he wanted to go media and wanted to end the strictly recording aspect. He also says that he wants to help build up and coming bands and artist once he gets things more fleshed out on the business end of things.Future ProjectsKorbin says that the first thing on his mind right now is finishing the recording of his debut album. He’s tired of all the “Man! You dope as f**k! Why you ain’t showed people yet?!” He said his answer is this, “Look. I feel the same way you do. I’ve been dealing with everybody elses problems for 6 and a half of the 8 years and when your as good a dude as I am that can be a setback but I promise you all, Maskarah Marathon is real close to being done and after that its pywrit khandi which will be the second album to come. There is just some business to handle and when your doin’ it all by yourself, tryna put music together with bands and all they slacker tendencies, its much harder.. Im not a business man I just like puttin’ shit that I think is dope together.. Im more of a visionary. Im at the best place, now, than I've ever been in my adult life mentally and emotionally so its only a matter of time. Plus I have the right people around me so its all love love vibes. When I get more people involved that are business minded you’ll see more frequency from my camp. Be patient.” Maskarah Marathon tracks can be heard on myspace. com/korbinpheenix. There’s also talks of an album with San Fransisco bay-area grindcore producer, Yoko Solo who also lent a producing hand on the remix to the song “Work” originally produced by kashioboi of Denton, Texas. Korbin says he has thoughts of being part of yet another band though he knows that can be a distraction. He blamed it on his being unable to resist a metal riff but he also said that he would do it responsibly and would only lend his vocals as he sees appropriate and that he wouldn’t be as involved as he was with the exactoblade project also noting that it would be an actual fully, live instrument based band and would write music without relying mostly on having contributions from outside sources.DiscographyTake These-Demo(2003) Darkside-Audiocircus(2006) Exactoblade Riverdance(2007)FilmographyHandshake(2006)-Snowboarding movie by pussiesparadise films available on youtube and was released in theaters in Switzerland.

Layout by CoolChaser