David Michael Miller
It’s goodbye for now for PHOX, the indie-folk sextet that rose out of the left fields of Baraboo two-plus years ago to take the world by storm with their self-titled debut. Last October, the band released a statement that it was going on extended hiatus, but not before playing a victory-lap tour that brings them to the Capitol Theater on Feb. 3. Isthmus caught up with lead singer Monica Martin as she killed some time strolling around a mall.
You guys have been like a meteor over the past two years. What do you think about when you look back on all of it?
Oh, man. Fast. It was a lot. It was really intense a lot of the time. There was a lot of time when you’re waiting, touring, driving. But it’s mostly joy. It was so cool. It’s just gratefulness. We’re all very grateful.
When you started, did any of you think it would go like this?
No, not at all. I think that my experience was especially strange — I didn’t even want to do music necessarily. I now have the great blessing of seeing how it could be my dream. I don’t think when we were making demos in our house any of us thought that so much great action would come out of it. What started happening is that people started championing us and putting us in touch with other cool opportunities, and we were in the right place to go with it. It’s been cool and strange.
Pick out a high point, if you can.
Playing the first Eaux Claires Festival felt really good, maybe like a pinnacle moment. We were there in Wisconsin, we were right by the studio where we made the record. There were so many people there celebrating us. It was crazy. We put a lot of extra work into making that show special. It just felt really meaningful. [Martin tears up a little.] Anything below a four or above a six, and I’m crying. It’s hard for me.
When bands go on hiatus, there’s often talk about how the lead singer or songwriter is going to go on to do big things. Given how involved the band members are in various multimedia projects, it kind of feels like you’re all going on to do big things.
I got really sick of the narrative — I know why it’s there — of the lead singer leaving the band. I’ve heard that whole thing. Everyone in the band is so talented and has multiple skills; it’s exciting to think about the possibilities. And everyone’s talking about the things they’ll be working on. For me, I’m still writing songs. I want to put out another record myself. I just love singing.
Do you feel pressure about that?
If I feel pressure, it’s because I perpetually feel scared. I think I do battle a little bit with the narrative we were talking about. A part of it is unnecessary fear that people are going to create a fantasy narrative or pick the low-hanging-fruit narrative about what happens when bands dismantle. It really doesn’t make a difference to me, and I feel like it’s really juvenile, but I would prefer to be understood. I wish I didn’t have to explain that these things happen really organically. [The hiatus] is something that I’m really trying to embrace, and it’s exciting. I would like to employ a little less thought and worry about what people might think.
How are you viewing this upcoming show, knowing it’s the last one for the foreseeable future?
I feel like we’re all approaching it with really big sentiment. We’ve been rehearsing all week. We’re throwing in a song or two we haven’t ended up playing as much. It feels really good. I think we’re going to play some of our favorites, and it’s corny, but we’re going to play two covers we really love — one of a classic from the ’70s and then we’re going to do an R&B song from the ’90s — we’ll leave them as a surprise. We’re going to celebrate each other. It’s really funny — I would probably describe myself as a cynic, but saying that we’re going to go and celebrate our time together feels really real.
