Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub


Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub is a German avant-garde pop or independent band, which is strongly marked by the songwriter, singer and guitarist Phillip Boa.

History

Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub was formed by Phillip Boa in 1985. The group's original line-up consisted of Pia Lund, Voodoo and Der Rabe. In the same year the band released their debut album, Philister. Philister was released on the Label JA! Music and landed in the German Indie-Charts. As from 1986, Philister was sold over all of Europe through the label Red Flame. The second album, Aristocracie, was released by Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub on the label Constrictor, Phillip Boa's own label. It was produced by Eroc, a student of the producer Conny Plank. This album reached tenth place in the Independent Music magazine Spex's charts for the year 1986. The band has been touring Europe since 1987. Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub signed a contract with the label Polydor Records, where the next three albums, Copperfield and Hair, were released. With the single Container Love, they attained in 1989 commercial success and international recognition. In 1991 the album Helios was released on Polydor.
After Boaphenia, Phillip Boa committed himself to his Metal project Voodoocult. Further albums were released in the following period on Motor Music. Alison Galea from the Maltese band Beangrowers took the place of Pia Lund after she left the band between 1997 and 2003. The Beangrowers were backed by Phillip Boa and performed in 2000 as the support band for concerts from Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub. Annually, since 2001, the band plays two or three Christmas concerts in the Leipziger Moritzbastei.
Between the years 2000 and 2003 Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub released a total of three albums on the Label Sony/BMG-RCA. In the year 2005 the album Decadence & Isolation was released on the label Motor Music, which was influenced from 1980s music from bands like The Cure and Joy Division. In the autumn of 2006 Boa with his Voodooclub went on their Remastered-Tour. On this tour they strictly only played songs from the three re-released remastered longplayers Copperfield, Hair und Hispanola. In 2007, the album Faking to Blend In was released on Motor Music. In February, 2009, the album Diamonds Fall was released on Rough Trade Records. For this album the drummer from Can, the late Jaki Liebezeit, was engaged and played the complete drums and percussion as a Voodooclub member. In the summer of 2010 the live album Exile on Strait Street was released on their own label Constrictor. The albums Helios and Boaphenia were remastered and released in the spring of 2011 on Vertigo Records/Universal.
In August 2012 the studio album Loyalty was released on Cargo Records. The album was recorded on Malta and in London. Produced by David Vella, Boa and Brian Viglione. Mixed by Ian Grimble in London and mastered by Frank Arkwright in Abbey Road Studios. In the same year John Robb wrote, in Louder Than War Magazine: "One of the best German bands of the last three decades, Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub have been on a creative surge recently. Their recent album of melancholic post indie is a great piece of work."
In 2013 the fan album Reduced! was released, which was recorded in the winter of 2012 in the Moritzbastei. It should radiate "the dirt and the intensity from a intimate club concert". Only the instrumentation was worked out in studio, the mistakes were uncorrected. At the same time, Pia Lund set a "landmark" in the band's history and left at the end of 2013 of her own free will. From 2014 the band work with different female guest singers.
On 22 August 2014 the studio album Bleach House was released on Cargo Records, which reached place 7 in the album charts, the best position in the charts in the history of the band. The album was produced by David Vella on Malta and was mixed in London, at the Konk Studios London by Dougal Lott. It was mastered by Fred Kevorkian in the Avatar Studios in New York.
Phillip Boa and the Voodooclub is one of a few German bands that also international recognized by critics and fans. To this day, they are the German band with the most "Album and Single of the week" credits in the British music press. Phillip Boa was in the top 20 of the survey "Made in Germany – The Most Influential German musicians". Furthermore, he stands as one of the sharpest observers of our society and a distinguished songwriter in Germany, with "a cynical-poetic view, full of mysterious metaphors and sharp wisdom".
The Voodooclub have shared a staged with other bands and artist such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, John Lydon's Public Image Ltd., Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, Björk, The Fall, Residents, Gun Club, Iggy Pop und Manic Street Preachers. The Voodooclub has been produced by Tony Visconti, John Leckie, Gareth Jones, Gordon Raphael, Ian Grimble, etc. They have also worked together with Aphex Twin, LFO, Schneider TM, The Notwist, Jaki Liebezeit as well as Brian Viglione.
After many intensive years and more than 2 million sold albums, on 16 September 2016 the single collection Blank Expression – A History Of Singles 1986-2016 was released on Capitol Records/Universal Music and reached place 8 in the German album charts. The collection included, with the most important singles, also 12 new songs with album title Fresco – A Collection Of 12 New Songs.

Musical style

Boas music is influenced by British post-punk, indie/alternative rock and avant-garde. Continuous characteristics are catchy melodic choruses, which are according to the mood change, pierced and distorted. Thereby, clash high, melodic singing and melancholic vocals which communicate and harmonize with each other.

Discography

Studio albums by Phillip Boa & The Voodooclub