Recipe-
In a large glass bowl, mix Neil Young, Van Morrison, Tom Waits and Paul Simon. Toss in a hint of Woody Guthrie meets The Velvet Underground. Simmer 20 years ... Voila!!!... Phillip Flathead. Best served early mornings and late nights.
A Familiar Story-
I was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in different places around Los Angeles County. I've been writing, recording & casually performing music since my teens in the mid-eighties. I wrote and recorded my first song when I was 14 years old. A song called "Lying In My Garden". It was recorded using two old Radio Shack handheld tape machines, the kind with a little speaker and a mic built right in. I'd record my guitar into one and then play it back into the other machine while singing over it. I bounced the recordings back and forth some six or seven tracks until I had backing guitars, backing vocals, hand claps, whatever... It sounded awful sonically, but, it was nothing but pure art and inspiration.
On my 16th birthday, my parents bought me a Fostex X-15 four-track tape recorder. I was state of the art! A 4-track, a reverb unit and a drum machine at my disposal, I had very little need to leave my room up until I graduated high school. I learned how to put songs together piece by piece. My friends and I would spend hours upon hours recording songs, recording sounds, whatever. This was our fun. We would ask important questions like, "What would George Martin do in this situation?" and "How do I get that microphone to not shock my teeth when I sing into it?"
The CD-
My first record, Phillip Flathead "Four-Track Mind", self-produced and released on my living room record label FlatBrokeAudio, Four-Track Mind includes ten original songs written over a good number of years of my life. I wanted to make a musical overview of where I've come from in the past and where I am now. I like the record I made, done with the help of my friends who all performed for the love of music and no money. The CD is mellow, funky, soulful, vital and different. Not a perfect unblurred picture. The flaws are in there. The magical moments are there. The beauty is in there. The happy times, the sad times. For your ears. These are images of me.
