The artist is Phynix. Friday the 13th is the album title and yes, there is a song on the CD titled “Back Door Buddy.” The Murfreesboro native and local R&B troubadour sits down for a Q&A and discusses his philosophies on the death of R&B, how little help Young Buck is to the local urban scene and how he plans to scare up album sales.
C&N - What do you expect to accomplish with this album and what is direction of the music?
PHYNIX - I'm hoping this album will get my foot in the door… I want it to bring attention to me. Nationally, I just want one person to hear the single, hear the concept and appreciate the music.
C&N - … and the direction of the album?
PHYNIX - Well, my audience is 15-25 year old females, guys too. (The album) is danceable, it's for young people.
C&N - Gay people? Hispanic, Chinese, German people? Could an illegal alien feel good about bumpin' this?
PHYNIX - (Laughing) that's a good question. I mean, its not concentrated urban music. I'm a commercial artist, my image is commercial, we were being commercially minded when we made the album. It's for everybody.
C&N - Who produced Friday the 13th (The album).
PHYNIX - Mario Moore and Tony and Tim Hinton, I played guitar on the album, and wrote most of the album.
C&N - Is that a first for you?
PHYNIX - I've been writing for years… but this is a first (in this context). Everything I brought to the project the producers accepted. The way we work is that everybody has to agree on a song. What I brought to the project, they liked.
C&N - Why do call yourself Phynix?
PHYNIX - My grandfather passed away in 2000 and the last week he was alive I dreamed he had passed. I remember in the dream I went to visit the grave sight and I walked by it. When I looked at the headstone there was all this funny writing on it, and I saw the word Phynix. I don't know what it means, but it said P-H-Y-N-I-X. Since then, I felt something was telling me to use it.
C&N - What is album success to Phynix?
PHYNIX - To sell all the albums I ordered! (Bursts out in laughter.)
C&N - So how does a local soul artist survive in a Country music marketplace?
PHYNIX - Doing shows. If an artist can perform he or she will stay alive a lot longer than someone who can't. That's my main theory… you can sing the best in the studio, you can be the best singer in the world, but if you can't put together a solid consistent show you're going to die off.
C&N - So you think there is truth to the saying, ”If you're not appearing you're disappearing?
PHYNIX - Yes, that is completely true. For instance, if you happened to win an award for your work on an album, but then word got out that you couldn't perform well, you have nowhere to go but down. However, if your performance is great… (The opposite is true).
C&N - Is R&B dead?
PHYNIX - Yes!
C&N - Yes! Why is it dead?
PHYNIX - Because people are more concerned about what you can dance to, ring tones, what you can download. People want it right now. We're an on demand society. Nobody wants to hear, oh my girl left… they want to go to the club, so if you're not making a “Low Low” or a song like “Cyclone” or something that's not bangin' in the clubs a lot of people won't give it a ear. I mean I remember R. Kelly in 93'-94', or Boyz II Men when people (related) to the lyrics, instead of saying, “Let's fast forward through the slow stuff and get to the fast stuff.” It's in that sense that R&B is dead.
C&N - Do you believe that Jodeci's “The Show, The After party, The Hotel killed it? I mean in the sense that it was a hip-hop styled album that was a guy favorite, but a critical
dud and sold less than their previous albums.
PHYNIX - (Laughing out loud) “The Show The After party The Hotel,” I think that Jodeci fell into the changing market. I won't say that they killed it, but if that album had been like the others, just maybe, the market would be different. DeVante (Swing) was one of the best producers in the game; I'm not sure why they felt they needed to change.
