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Dave Phillips (musician)

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Dave Phillips
Background information
Also known asdp
Born (1969-01-18) January 18, 1969 (age 56)[1]
Zug, Switzerland
OriginZug, Switzerland
Genresnoise, experimental, Musique concrète, Field recordings, independent, drone, ambient, electronic, Ritual music, industrial
OccupationSonic activist
Years active1984–present
LabelsSchimpfluch, Tochnit Aleph, Blossoming Noise, Nazlo, Total Black, Misanthropic Agenda, Flag Day, RRR, Attenuation Circuit, Monotype, Alku, Ideal, Nihilist...
Websitedavephillips.ch

Dave Phillips (born January 18, 1969) also known as dp, is a British-French-Swiss experimental noise musician, composer, performer and multimedia artist. He is best known for his solo work, but also as part of Schimpfluch-Gruppe,[2] as founder of the group OHNE,[3] as one half of Perverts In White Shirts,[4] and as founding member of Swiss grindcore pioneers[5] Fear Of God.[6] He has been active since the mid-80's[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] in independent metal, hardcore punk and noise music scenes. Phillips refers to his oeuvre as Ritual Protest Music,[23] Metamkine called him a Musique Concrète Actionist.[24]

Life

[edit]

Phillips is born on 18 January 1969 in Zug, Switzerland to a British father and French mother. Spike Jones and The Goon Show mark his infant years. At age 5 he buys his first 7", Waterloo by ABBA, then discovers heavy metal age 8 and hardcore punk age 12. He grows up in Oberägeri from 1974 - 1985,[25] then lives in Unterägeri.[26]

He moves to Zürich in 1988 to join RecRec Music, a record label and distributor of independent music, and a cooperative, with whom he stays until 1994. He starts organising concerts, amongst others the first live appearances of Extreme Noise Terror, Carcass and Godflesh in Switzerland.

dp works for Jecklin,[27] Switzerland's then-biggest classical music record shop, from 1995 - 1997. In 1997 he experiences a heavy injury that damages his back for life. He returns to the stage in 2001.

From 2020 onwards Phillips lives with his parents as carer for 15 months, and with his siblings accompanied their father right up to his death.[28] One and a half years later they again provide end-of-life care, this time for their mother.[29] These experiences have a profound impact on him.[30]

Career

[edit]

Phillips performs live for the first time in 1981 (age 12) with Unterägeri punk band Neo Pogos playing cardboard drums.[1]

In 1984 Phillips and Reto Kühne[31] form Messiah, but his involvement is short. Around the same time first experiments with a microphone and a tape-recorder are conducted. In 1988 Phillips rejoins Messiah for a handful of shows.[32]

In 1986 Phillips is asked to join B.O.L. (Bunch Of Lies),[33] the precursor band to Fear Of God, with Reto Kühne, Erich Keller[34] and Nasty (Exxor).[35] The following year they morph into Fear Of God, with the definitive line-up consisting of Reto Kühne - guitar, Osi Oswald - drums, Dave Phillips - bass & backing voice, Erich Keller - voice. The band splits up at the end of 1988.

1987 marks the official begin of dp's solo career though his first album only appears in 1994.[36] From 1988 - 1999 he plays with Stephen Thomas[37] under different names (Tower of Beef, D&S, Doug&Chuck) from noise rock, dance/ballet music, to sound collage and Plunderphonics. They perform live once[1] and release one posthumous collection in 2023.[38]

Phillips occasionally participates in Joke Lanz's Sudden Infant[39] from 1990 - 1996 for some performances and releases, as well as in Psychic Rally[40] from 1990 - 1994, a radioshow hosted by Rudolf Eb.er & Joke Lanz on LoRa (Alternatives Lokalradio) Zürich.

Reto Kühne (Fear Of God, Messiah) and Roger Drein[41] ask dp to join PK, who play conceptual improvised ritual music, from 1991 - 1993.

Since 1991 Phillips is a member of Schimpfluch-Gruppe, a loose collective dealing with psychophysical tests and trainings, with Rudolf Eb.er/Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock,[42] Joke Lanz/Sudden Infant, Marc Zeier/G*Park,[43] Daniel Löwenbrück/Raionbashi[44] and Alice Kemp.[45]

Phillips has been DJing since 1995 under the monicker eva d.,[46] playing "all styles my style".[1]

Zeitgenossen is a monthly radio-show for new music with Reto Mäder[47] in which Phillips participates from 1999 - 2002, on Radio Kanal K,[48] Aarau.

In 2000 Phillips and Tom Smith (of TLASILA) found OHNE[3] and include Daniel Löwenbrück (Tochnit Aleph, Raionbashi)[44] and Reto Mäder (rm74) in the line-up. OHNE were active until 2004.

In 2003 Fear Of God reform, "a mistake that lasts six months," says Phillips.[1]

dead peni (stylised as all lower case)[49] is born in 2004, Phillips’ one-man doom metal/sludge project.[50]

In 2005 Phillips and Tochnit Aleph[51] curate one evening for the LUFF/Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival titled ‘Nuits Bruit des Corps’ including Masonna, Zbigniew Karkowski, Daniel Menche and dp's only performance of hole/holy. That same year Phillips is part of Camp Victory,[52] a noise-opera by Gilles Aubry[53] and Stéphane Montavon.[54]

In 2008/2009 Phillips plays bass and vocals for ‘Ketsu No Ana’,[55] a grindcore/blackened crust outfit with Zürich squatters.[1] After the squat they rehearsed in got raided and their drummer disappeared[56] they split up.

Perverts In White Shirts[4] is a duo with Nathalie Dreier[57] formed in 2011.[58] At the end of 2012 the Extreme Rituals: A Schimpfluch Carnival Festival[59] is held at the Arnolfini, Bristol England to celebrate the legacy of Schimpfluch,[60] coinciding with its 25th anniversary.[59]

The Schimpfluch Associates label[61] is founded with Rudolf Eb.er in 2013.[62][63]

Phillips curates a series of experimental/sound art/new music live events, first called entart, then atonal_zürich, then atra,[64] from 2013 to 2017 nearly-monthly at Klubi (later Umbo) in Zürich, and from 2018 to 2019 at Ausland, Berlin.

To date (2025), Phillips has played around 800 concerts[65] in 55 countries and has appeared on over 300 releases.[1]

Selected Discography

[edit]

Solo

[edit]
  • 1994: dp I MC (dp Oberägeri)
  • 1995: dp II MC (dp Oberägeri)
  • 1997: dp III MC (Schimpfluch Zürich)
  • 2001: dp IIII CD (Manufracture Lausanne)
  • 2003: dp Tapes CDR (Tochnit Aleph Berlin)
  • 2003: dp Insect CDR (Digitally Destroyed Daffodil Discs Zürich)
  • 2003: dp The Hermeneutics Of Fear Of God 12" (Tochnit Aleph Berlin)
  • 2004: dp The Golden Age Of Denial An Avoidance CD (Recordings For The Summer Leipzig)
  • 2004: dp IIIII CD (Groundfault Los Angeles)
  • 2006: dp 6 CD (The Egg And We Minsk)
  • 2006: dp A Collection Of Curses CD (Blossoming Noise Liburn)
  • 2007: dp Field Recordings CD (Little Enjoyer New York)
  • 2008: dead peni 2-4(+1) CD (Blossoming Noise Lilburn)
  • 2008: dp They Live LP (RRR Lowell)
  • 2009: dp Frogs Rain 2CDR (Scrotum Leipzig)
  • 2010: dp ? CD (Heart & Crossbone Israel)
  • 2010: dp Ghi Âm Việt Nam CD (Little Enjoyer New York)
  • 2012: dp Suara Alam Indonesia 2CD (Nuun Hazebrouck)
  • 2012: dp Abgrund LP (Second Sleep Italy)
  • 2012: dp A Collection Of Hair 2CD (Heart & Crossbone Israel)
  • 2014: dp At The Heart Of It All CDR (Ruido Horrible Mexico & Ruido Latino Colombia)
  • 2014: dp Homo Animalis 2CD (Schimpfluch Associates Zürich)
  • 2014: dp I See Better With My Eyes Closed Flexi-7" (Absurd Estranhas Sao Paulo & Ocupacoes Recife)
  • 2015: dp Oberägeri Digital (dp Zürich)
  • 2015: dp Songs of a Dying Species CDR (Noisendo Portugal)
  • 2016: dp A Collection Of Fingers Digital (dp Zürich)
  • 2017: dp South Africa Recordings 2CD (dp Zürich)[66]
  • 2017: dp Selective Memory / Perception CD (Noise Below Athens & Fréquences Critiques Paris)
  • 2017: dp Rise LP (Ideal Stockholm)[67][68]
  • 2017: dp Mutations 4 & 5 MC (Nazlo Moscow)
  • 2018: dp Ritual Protest Music LP (Urbsounds Bratislava)[69][70]
  • 2018: dp Clearing Lathe-10" (Licht-ung/Spalt-ung Leverkusen)
  • 2019: dp Mutations 6 & 7 MC (Perfect Law Releases Providence)
  • 2019: dp The Sixth Mass Extinction LP (Total Black Berlin)
  • 2019: dp A Drink on The Ink Spots Reel-to-reel (Nazlo Moscow)
  • 2020: dp Post Homo Sapiens MC (Etched Anomalies Montréal)[71][72]
  • 2021: dp Disappear LP (Total Black Berlin)
  • 2021: dp Humanity Is The Virus MC (Tribe Tapes Raleigh)
  • 2022: dp To Death CD (Misanthropic Agenda Houston)
  • 2022: dp A Collection of Excuses 4x3" CDR (Debila Records Slovenia)
  • 2022: dp Sleep Concert Digital (dp Zürich)
  • 2022: dp Inside Outside / Other Rooms Lathe-10" (Nazlo Tblisi)
  • 2023: dp Human Nature Denied CD (Flag Day Records West Virginia)
  • 2023: dp The Last Journey Digital (dp Unterägeri)
  • 2023: dp The More We Try To Manage And Control Nature, The More Unmanageable And Uncontrollable Our Problems Become 7" (Architecture Portland)
  • 2023: dp Should A Seeker Not Find... /Cicada Trance 2CD (No Part Of It Chicago)[73]
  • 2024: dp Response Ability Digital (Petit Bardo Paris)
  • 2024: dp Nothing’s Wrong CD (Flag Day West Virginia)
  • 2024: dp Live At Fugu Da Nang Vietnam 17 apr 2024 Digital (Nostalgie de la Boue Abidjan)
  • 2025: dp A Collection Of Degenerations 5x3" CDR (Debila Records Slovenia)

with Perverts In White Shirts

[edit]
  • 2017: Power To The Sheople LP (Cruel Bones Zürich)
  • 2022: Meaning What Exactly? LP (Misanthropic Agenda Houston)
  • 2025: CULTurally Appropriated Songs 2CD (Misanthropic Agenda Houston)

with Schimpfluch-Gruppe

[edit]
  • 1997: Shitpflug CDR (Ignominious USA)
  • 1997: Do-Ku VHS (Gmbh Paris)
  • 1997: Arschloch-Onna with Masonna CD (Japan Overseas Osaka)
  • 2007: Schimpfluch Commune Int 2MC+CDR (Nihilist Chicago)
  • 2007: For The Tasmanian Devils 9*lathe (Cipher Productions Tasmania)
  • 2009: Paris Aktionen LP (Bennifer Editions Toronto & Tochnit Aleph Berlin)
  • 2013: Nigredo MC (Fragment Factory Hamburg)

with OHNE

[edit]
  • 2002: 1 CD (ohnemego Austria)
  • 2003: 020510 CDR (Spirals Of Involution Yaroslavl)
  • 2003: 020503 CD (The Egg And We Minsk)
  • 2004: 02004 CDR (Tochnit Aleph Berlin)

with Fear Of God

[edit]
  • 1988: Fear Of God 7" (Temple of Love Germany)
  • 1988: As Statues Fell 12" (Off The Disk Zürich)
  • 1992: Konserven 7" (Two Sheds St.Gallen)
  • 1992: Pneumatic Slaughter 7" (Atrocious USA)
  • 2003: Zeitgeist 2LP (Absurd São Paulo)

Collaborations

[edit]
  • 2000: For Rudolf Eb.er with Genetic Transmission, CDR (DSBMW Poland)
  • 2001: Half Human/Chair Missing with Kid Commando, picture 7" (Lady Godiva Gothenburg)
  • 2003: Easy Vegan Cooking with Eric Boros 7" (Manufacture Lausanne & Pale Mother Denmark)
  • 2005: Illusion Is A Common Condition with Randy H.Y. Yau CD (Auscultare San Francisco)
  • 2006: At A Loss For Words 7" with John Wiese (Blossoming Noise Lilburn)
  • 2007: Das Zerstören Zum Gebären CD with The New Blockaders (Blossoming Noise Lilburn)
  • 2010: We Are None Of Us with Francisco Meirino CD (Domizil Zürich)
  • 2010: Mutations with Cornelia Hesse-Honegger LP (Ini Itu Brussels)
  • 2012: боринософил with Alexei Borisov & Olga Nosova CD (Monotype Warsaw)
  • 2014 Medusa with Aspec(t) CD (Noise Below/Excrete Greece)
  • 2015: The Invisible Cage Of Comfort with Chris Galarreta MC (Fragment Factory Hamburg)
  • 2015: Insect Apocalypse with Hiroshi Hasegawa CD (Monotype Poland)
  • 2016: The Ghost Of Freaks with Michael Esposito Flexi-7" (Phantom Plastics Indiana)
  • 2017: untitled with Mei Zhiyong LP (Urbsounds Bratislava)
  • 2020: Colonial War And Mental Disorders MC with Meira Asher & Eran Sachs (Raash Jerusalem)
  • 2022: The Best Of Chuck & Doug with Stephen Thomas MC (Attenuation Circuit, Augsburg)

Film scores

[edit]

Filmography

[edit]
  • 2010: Skills/Faces by Jan van Hasselt[83]
  • 2013: A Noisy Delivery by GX Jupitter-Larsen[84][85]
  • 2015: Sonic Rituals 声响仪式 by Mei ZhiYong[86]
  • 2017: Proceed With Inquiry by Dave Phillips, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Jan van Hasselt,[87] Moju,[88] Remote Control Rectum[89][90]
  • 2019: Tinnitus by Daniil Zinchenko[91]

Awards

[edit]
  • 2001: Auszeichnung des Aargauer Kuratoriums Beitrag zum künstlerischen Schaffen
  • 2005: Six months grant for use of a recording studio in Zürich from the city's culture department (Kulturförderung der Stadt Zürich)

Exhibitions

[edit]
  • 2003: participation at EMA – Electronic Music Archive, curated by Norbert Möslang for Kunsthalle St.Gallen

Further reading

[edit]
  • Texts from Dave's website[92]
  • Article about Dave by Mandy-Suzanne Wong, a columnist with Manque Magazine[93]
  • Metason artist info[94]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g "dp bio short" (PDF). dp_bio_short_en.pdf. Retrieved 27 April 2025.[non-primary source needed]
  2. ^ "Schimpfluch-Gruppe". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  3. ^ a b "ohne". tochnit-aleph.com.[non-primary source needed]
  4. ^ a b "perverts in white shirts". perverts in white shirts.[non-primary source needed]
  5. ^ Meyer, Gene (March 6, 2018). "Fear of God Founder Erich Keller Talks Grindcore History, Album Reissue". Decibel Magazine.
  6. ^ "FEAR OF GOD". www.fearofgod.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  7. ^ "Listen: Dave Phillips compositions". www.thewire.co.uk.
  8. ^ "Schimpfluch" (PDF). www.thewire.co.uk.
  9. ^ "Noise and Meaning". www.norient.com.
  10. ^ "Dave Phillips (experimental, Switzerland)". www.noisepaperzine.com.
  11. ^ "The Anti-Utopia has grown". www.colta.ru.
  12. ^ "Much of what we call progress is one-sided". www.africanpaper.com. 8 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Дейв Филлипс о дадаизме, звуках и ритуале". www.syg.ma.
  14. ^ "-Noisy Sunday 6". www.bnr.bg.
  15. ^ "A lot of people want to hug me after the show". www.fyh.com.pl. 2 August 2017.
  16. ^ "Technology does not deliver". www.15questions.net.
  17. ^ "Not just crimson". www.bwr.ua.edu.
  18. ^ "Long story short". www.chaindlk.com. 11 August 2021.
  19. ^ "The Humanimal in the Sixth Mass Extinction". www.musiquemachine.com.
  20. ^ "Jeder mensch ist ein Künstler". www.undrtn.pl. 24 October 2023.
  21. ^ "איך עושה עץ?". www.lightbaz.com. 10 December 2010.
  22. ^ "Schimpfluch Downing Down Under". www.underthertadar.co.nz.
  23. ^ "ritual protest music, by dave phillips". dave phillips.[non-primary source needed]
  24. ^ Chavirés, Instants (July 1, 2015). "TO LIVE AND SHAVE IN LADAVE PHILLIPSMEI ZHIYONG".[unreliable source?]
  25. ^ "Dave Phillips - Oberägeri". January 6, 2015 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  26. ^ "Fear Of God - Fear Of God". April 28, 1988 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  27. ^ "Jecklin schliesst letzten CD-Laden". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. August 30, 2012 – via NZZ.[failed verification]
  28. ^ Hudomięt, Agata (October 24, 2023). "Jeder mensch ist ein Künstler. An interview with Dave Phillips - UNDERTONE". undrtn.pl.[non-primary source needed]
  29. ^ "the last journey, by dave phillips". dave phillips.[non-primary source needed]
  30. ^ "Musique Machine / Multi-Genre Music Magazine". www.musiquemachine.com.
  31. ^ "Reto "Tschösi" Kühne". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  32. ^ "Messiah - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives". www.metal-archives.com.[unreliable source?]
  33. ^ "B.O.L." Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  34. ^ "Erich Keller". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  35. ^ "Exxor". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  36. ^ "Dave Phillips - I". April 28, 1994 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  37. ^ "Stephen Thomas (2)". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  38. ^ "the best of, by chuck & doug". dave phillips.[non-primary source needed]
  39. ^ "Sudden Infant". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  40. ^ "Psychic Rally". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  41. ^ "Roger Drein". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  42. ^ "Rudolf Eb.er". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  43. ^ "G*Park". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  44. ^ a b "Daniel Löwenbrück". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  45. ^ "Alice Kemp". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  46. ^ "Eva D." Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  47. ^ "Reto Mäder". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  48. ^ "Kanal K - Richtig gutes Radio". www.kanalk.ch.[failed verification]
  49. ^ "DEAD PENI". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  50. ^ "dave phillips -". davephillips.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  51. ^ "Tochnit Aleph Discography". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  52. ^ "CAMP VICTORY". www.earpolitics.net.
  53. ^ "Gilles Aubry". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  54. ^ "Stéphane Montavon". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  55. ^ "Ketsu No Ana". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  56. ^ "Interview with dave phillips: "Any form of definition will eventually work against itself"". WFMU's Beware of the Blog.
  57. ^ "Nathalie Dreier". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  58. ^ "piws".[non-primary source needed]
  59. ^ a b "Extreme Rituals |".
  60. ^ "Schimpfluch Discography". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  61. ^ "Schimpfluch Associates Discography". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  62. ^ "schimpfluch associates". schimpflu.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  63. ^ "dave phillips -". davephillips.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  64. ^ "atra (atonal_zürich)". SoundCloud.[non-primary source needed]
  65. ^ "dave phillips - live". davephillips.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  66. ^ "South Africa Recordings". www.cyclicdefrost.com. 12 February 2017.
  67. ^ "Extra-Auditory Adsventures". www.thequietus.com. 15 March 2017.
  68. ^ "Rise: A Closer Listen". www.acloserlisten.com. 20 January 2017.
  69. ^ "Ritual Protest Music". www.africanpaper.com. 10 November 2018.
  70. ^ "Ritual Protest Music". www.thenewnoise.it. 5 June 2018.
  71. ^ "Best Experimental Music on BandCamp January 2020". www.daily.bandcamp.com. 24 January 2020.
  72. ^ "Eco Lament". www.thesoundprojector.com.
  73. ^ "Review". www.chaindlk.com.
  74. ^ "Cartographie 8 - L'Ilot". www.shortfilmwire.com.
  75. ^ "La chienne". swissfilms.
  76. ^ "a collection of fingers, by dave phillips". dave phillips.[non-primary source needed]
  77. ^ "IoIC, Institute of Internal Communication". www.ioic.org.uk.
  78. ^ a b "Dave Phillips | IOIC". ioic.ch.
  79. ^ "the call of cthulhu, by dave phillips". dave phillips.[non-primary source needed]
  80. ^ "dave phillips - discography". davephillips.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  81. ^ "Dave Phillips - The Call Of Cthulhu". August 14, 2019 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  82. ^ "dave phillips - discography". davephillips.ch.[non-primary source needed]
  83. ^ "Jan van Hasselt - Skills / Faces". February 20, 2010 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  84. ^ "GX Jupitter-Larsen - A Noisy Delivery". April 28, 2014 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  85. ^ "A Noisy Delivery" – via IMDb.[unreliable source?]
  86. ^ "Dave Phillips, Mei Zhiyong - Sonic Rituals 声响仪式". December 30, 2015 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  87. ^ "Jan Van Hasselt". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  88. ^ "MOJU (2)". Discogs.
  89. ^ "Remote Control Rectum". Discogs.[unreliable source?]
  90. ^ "Dave Phillips - Proceed With Inquiry". July 1, 2017 – via www.discogs.com.[unreliable source?]
  91. ^ "Tinnitus". July 13, 2019 – via IMDb.[unreliable source?]
  92. ^ "dave phillips - texts". davephillips.ch. Retrieved 2025-04-28.[non-primary source needed]
  93. ^ "Not Just Crimson by Mandy-Suzanne Wong | BWR". Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  94. ^ Metason. "Dave Phillips". ArtistInfo. Retrieved 2025-04-28.[unreliable source?]
[edit]
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