Phoenix (de la France)

Live in-studio. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony

Thomas. (Click image for full size.) © William Anthony
A few weeks ago, while flipping through channels on a Saturday night, I was pleasantly surprised to see the French band Phoenix performing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. I had photographed them back in April of 2005 in New York for KEXP 90.3 FM. Their in-studio was mid-week, way too early and downright, unapologetically incredible. It was about 8am, the band looked hungover and there were about 12 people there. Half of which had never heard of them. The whole front row was empty. But you'd never know by the way lead singer Thomas Mars performed. All out.
Now, four years later, they're on SNL, Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and a slew of other big, national spotlights. Kudos to them. And for their first release from the new album, 1901, they've created one of the most creative, beautiful music videos I've ever seen.

