Phoenix is a French indie rock band from Versailles , [ 1 ] formed in Their line-up, which has remained unchanged since their formation, comprises Thomas Mars lead vocals, drums, percussion , Deck d'Arcy bass, keyboards, backing vocals , Christian Mazzalai guitar, backing vocals and Laurent Brancowitz guitar, keyboards, backing vocals.
Thomas Hedlund has been the band's session and live drummer since With the release of the band's fifth album, Bankrupt! The album was a commercial success, debuting at number 3 on the French Albums Chart and number 4 on the Billboard The band's Italo disco -influenced sixth studio album, Ti Amo , was released in and featured songs that celebrated the band's "European, Latin roots".
Phoenix was conceived in the s when vocalist Thomas Mars , bassist Deck d'Arcy, and guitarist Chris Mazzalai, who were all friends in school, started playing together as a " garage band " based out of Mars's house in Versailles.
In , Laurent Brancowitz, Mazzalai's older brother, permanently joined the band on guitar after the end of Darlin' , a short-lived band that Brancowitz had formed with Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo , who would later form electronic duo Daft Punk.
Shortly after, they were signed to the Paris-based Source Records. Phoenix quickly became well acquainted with labelmates Air when they acted as their backing band on several UK TV appearances.
