Thomas Mars from Phoenix
Oh la la. Now, it was difficult for me to decide which member of Phoenix to feature for several reasons, but as we all know, THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE. So forgive me Deck; though we’d love to wreck you, it’s leading man Thomas Mars, that skinny delight of vocal prowess, whom we’d rather cozy up to.
The French band’s incarnation as we know it (with Thomas Mars, Deck D’Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz) first appeared on the scene in 2000 with the release of “United” (fun fact: prior to Phoenix, Mars helmed a musical project named Darlin’ with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Cristo and Thomas Bangalter in the mid 90s). “Alphabetical”, “Live! Thirty Days Ago”, and “It’s Never Been Like That” soon followed, but it was 2009’s “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” that catapulted Phoenix into our iPods and Grammy ballots.
(Is it still considered selling out when you’ve sold the rights to “1901” for a car commercial? And a Cadillac car commercial at that? Gotta get that paper, mayne.)
The band’s poppy, upbeat style potently combined with Mars’ adorable French accent results in an equation akin to C12H22O11 - sugar, baby. Their music makes you feel as good as ingesting 10 Pixie sticks straight up, but without the sugar crash (and honestly, I think deciphering the true lyrics to their songs is half the fun; for the longest time, “Do let do let do let jugulate do let do let do” sounded incredibly like “too late, too late, too late, chocolate, too late, too late” from the song “Lisztomania”).
Willowy and shaggy-haired, Mars reminds me of that quiet boy in elementary school who always wore oversized sweaters, corduroy pants, and beat-up shoes and smelled kind of funny. Though you’d never have admitted it back then because you were too busy making fun of him with your catty friends, you wanted to sit under a tree and k-i-s-s him. Too late now, chocolate.
Phoenix is on a touring roll, after they finish their dates in Japan, Australia, Europe, and Coachella follow.
By the way, if our screenplay doesn’t get picked up by Sofia Coppola, you know now why.
Follow the fineness
