Productive paranoia

Taking copies of his first solo album Backwoods Crucifixion to the independent broadcasters at Prague's Radio 1 in 1991 may have been the first ripple Phil Shoenfelt would toss into Prague's cultural pond, but it would not be his last.

Following up on the positive reception generated from the airplay of his debut album, Shoenfelt returned to the Czech Republic in 1994 to promote his second solo release God Is the Other Face of the Devil. Attracted to post-revolution Prague by what he once described as "the chaotic wildness in the air that seemed to promise a lot," Shoenfelt would make Prague his permanent home in 1995.

Shoenfelt's work as a rock 'n' roll journeyman can be traced back to New York City in the early 1980s. In 1981, Shoenfelt cofounded the post-punk band Khmer Rouge, who rapidly made a name for themselves opening for The Clash, Tom Verlaine, Nico and others. It was during this epoch that the noise rock of Sonic Youth and the incidental mysticism of the Fall's Hex Enduction Hour were challenging the shallowness of  punk and new-wave music under the banner of no-wave.

As documented on the 2004 release Khmer Rouge New York - London 1981- 86, several seminal musicians, including the keyboardist and future Fall member Marcia Schofield, the dub bassist and UK reggae DJ Barry Myers, and future Psychedelic Furs drummer Paul Garisto rocked with Shoenfelt's melodramatic guitar to capture the era's zeitgeist.

From the beginning, Shoenfelt's evocative songwriting held an affinity to the ghostly Melborne blues of Nick Cave's The Birthday Party. Following a return to London and Khmer Rogue's breakup in 1986, Cave invited Shoenfelt to join him as a solo artist on two UK tours.

After moving to Central Europe, Shoenfelt pursued the Melbourne musical fraternity by joining the Berlin-based Australian expat band Fatal Shore, fronted by the late Bruno Adams. Simultaneously, Shoenfelt formed the Prague-based Southern Cross. Between recording and touring with two bands, Shoenfelt also found time to write two novels, including the award-winning Junkie Love.

This month, Shoenfelt's band Southern Cross releases their fourth album, Paranoia.com. Speaking about the album's ominous title and cover art, Shoenfelt tells The Prague Post, "The album is more engaged with external reality than any album I've done since Khmer Rouge, but it's reality seen through a distorting lens."

Shoenfelt attributes much of the psychodrama found on Paranoia.com to the side-effects of the Hepatitis C treatment he endured over the past year. Although the interferon therapy successfully rid his body of the virus, Shoenfelt describes the experience as "comparable in some ways to mild schizophrenia, with frequent bouts of depression, paranoia, deep introversion, a sense of evil at the heart of things."

Shoenfelt's original tunes on Paranoia.com, which includes a primitive and driving cover of the Stooges "Open Up and Bleed," portray a world full of vampire lovers, media-manufactured fear and the effete political efforts of celebrity rock stars.

Bleak as it may sound, Paranioa.com's meticulous production lends even the darkest moments a touch of shimmering light. As Shoenfelt says, "Some of the songs have up to 10 different guitar tracks, but you don't hear them as such. They're all mixed in, so you hear them at a subliminal level, with lots of colliding notes and feedback loops that randomly generate unpredictable harmonics, but still very much within the context of rock and roll, rather than the avant garde."

Helping Southern Cross celebrate the release of their latest album at Akropolis this week will be New York Junk, who echo the glory days of the New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders. Concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early to catch the high-voltage sound of one of the last remaining torchbearers of downtown old-school New York City punk.

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at
features@praguepost.com