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SupaJay-1a.Who raised you as a child?
Christopher Phipps-mom, dad & my grandparents whom I was very close with until there passing recently at age(s) 90 & 92 .

SupaJay-1b.Did you have a musical mentor?
Christopher Phipps-Probably a neighborhood friend named Matt Stachow growing up as a teen-ager in Gulf Breeze FL.

SupaJay-1c.-So who, and what sticks out the most, (memory-wise)from those experiences with that person?
Christopher Phipps-Matt  played electric guitar and had a nice Gibson Les Paul & Marshall Amp from what I can remember? He also had an upright piano in his living room. He encouraged me to play rock& roll style piano as a rhythm section while he would lead out or wilber rock(his word for ad lib).Eventually I'd bring my Roland Synthesizer over for jam sessions and I remember us playing a house party and the kid who owned the house sitting in on drums. We played variations of the same song over and over all night long because it was the only song we knew. The cool thing about Matt was that he encouraged me/us to play original music not covers and that was a lesson I took with me throughout my career always putting an emphasis on original music. He was a few years older than me and went off to college right before I started my first real band in High School. I remember a few years later inviting him out to one of our shows and being so proud as there was a huge crowd there to see the wilber rocker he had started out!

SupaJay-2.what are a few of you favorite instruments?
Christopher Phipps-acoustic piano upright or grand 12 String acoustic guitar
Slide Pedal Steel
Cello
multiple electronic instruments

SupaJay-Can you explain why?
Christopher Phipps-I like things that sound mournful, soulful, haunting

SupaJay-3.where was your first gig?
Christopher Phipps-A house party on Pensacola Bch in front of 500 crazed high school kids! Our lead singer was a no show so I had to pull of lead vocal duties as well as rhythm guitar! We were a punk band and since I was the song writer it wasn't that difficult!
We had made one of my best friends from the neighborhood the lead singer because he had Baldwin Bro good looks and the girls dug him, problem was he also had stage fright so he ended up playing with us for our next gig at the high  school talent show and then quitting the band. Still one of my closest friends and I always stay with him whenever i visit town!

SupaJay-4.peoples influences have major effect on others success, who made you progress in your journey?
Christopher Phipps-So many wow? First off my Mom who made me take piano lessons and co-signed a loan for my first P.A system so I could start my band! Same with my Dad & Step Mom who helped me get some gear and get set-up when I moved to Ft.Laud/Miami in mid 80's. My brother John Phipps who had encouraged me to move to a bigger city and take the next step and then ended up managing my career and running our record label Merlin for 5yrs during the peak of the London Exchange madness! David Hanono from the Voice in Fashion who took me under his wing when I first moved to Miami and helped produce the first London Exchange demo's. Peter Marr London Exchange Producer from 87-90 and produced all three of our major releases. Manager for Billy Vera & the Beaters whom I met out in Los Angeles and who talked me into moving back to Miami to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and to start London Exchange. All the band members I played with over the years! Bob Wlos from L-7 Studios in Deerfield Bch the first real engineer/producer I worked with pre-L.E. Later in the game Steve Cuiffo Studio Center Miami for believing in me and keeping the music alive and recently Dan Carrone aka Tears for Technology who re-mixed Memories of You and helped get me going on Myspace or you wouldn't be reading this! There are many more I'm sure but these are the main ones that come to mind.

SupaJay-5a.can you tell me what it was like when you held that 1st copy of a London Exchange record in your hands, what were some of your immediate thoughts?
Christopher Phipps-I remember we would get an acitate as a reference and I think we played it at my Dad's house in Miami, I also remember coming home for lunch break and playing a test pressing one of the (3) records at my Aunts house in Miami where I was living at the time w/one of our groupies lol! I remember thinking that we were big time having our own record out and all these people digging us and our music! I don't know if the experience is the same now with iTunes and Mp3's for the new generation? I'm a physical person so I like having something tangable artwork,lyrics ect.ect.

SupaJay-5b.Did you have a turntable play it at the time?
Christopher Phipps-Yes

SupaJay-5c.Out of the 3 vinyl releases from London Exchange, do you have a favorite?
Christopher Phipps-I guess the obvious answer would be "Memories" because it was our first and our biggest hit but I really like all three songs and felt the same sense of accomplishment in the process of making them and putting them out

SupaJay-6a.Right before you started playing in your first band at age 17, did you think you'd be a rocking the dance clubs?
Christopher Phipps-No,  I was more of a rocker to start out with and once Duran Duran, Heaven 17,DM and all the New Wave bands started coming out that's when my musical tastes shifted. I remember when we first moved the band to Ft.Lauderdale we lived on the same street as the biggest dance club in So.Fla! People used to park in our front yard and walk to the club. I remember being high one night and hearing this awesome synth line cut through the air because we could hear the booming bass from the club standing in our front yard. Later I recognized it as Expose's big dance hit "Point of No Return" who must have been doing a show that night? Peter Marr was there live drummer and ended up being our close friend and producer for the life of  L.E. Funny how things work out?

SupaJay-6b.Did you even know about dance clubs at that age?
Christopher Phipps-Not really, we thought about dance music as disco back then? My first dancing was done at Punk/New Wave clubs slam dancing and doing the pogo! lol  I got into dancing back then because the chicks dug it and it was a good way to meet girls!

SupaJay-7a.How did you feel about "popular music" as it was changing?
Christopher Phipps-I've always embraced change and new music that's probably why I've been around doing it for so long? lol
I've never let myself get stuck in any one genre and I've enjoyed it all from punk to new wave to alternative rock to dance/electronic to acoustic music to classic rock back to dance /electronic I feel like I've come full circle and done allot of what I've wanted to do some more well received and successful than others?

SupaJay-7b.Was there ever a genre that you didn't initially like that grew on you?
Christopher Phipps -I always hated country and now I like some of the old classic stuff like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash real music by real men. With Hip-Hop I remember listening to Doug-E-Fresh and Run DMC and turning on my rocker band mates to this new type of music called hip-hop and then after it blew up and started morphing into gangsta rap after Public Enemy in the 90's I stopped listening except for the big crossover hits. Eminem gave me an appreciation for it again based on the killer production and honesty in lyrics and I really like the last Kanye Album! I really can't stand allot of the pop music coming out now wether it's pop punk or the american idle crap? no soul to it at all it's pretty obvious it's only being produced to make money? Will someone be listening to Jordan Sparks or Clay Aiken 20yrs from now? I don't think so? lol

SupaJay-8. Is their any sort of method to your song writing or certain conditions that have to be in place?
Christopher Phipps-I love the Nick Nolte line in the movie New York stories where he plays a struggling artist in the village and someone asks him how much he works on his art and he answers as much as I have to. As a true artist you don't really have a choice? Take away my studio and electronics and I'll pick up my acoustic guitar and start singing to find a creative outlet for my emotions! I miss having my studio set-up lately and really want to get in and do some stuff w/synths and beats and my digital workstation? But no I just start creating when the mood strikes me with whatever I have at my disposal at the time?

SupaJay-9.What do you like the most about the music business?
Christopher Phipps-I don't really like the business side at all! I enjoy making music and some of the people I come into contact along the way but I think the business side of things sucks!!!

SupaJay- 10. In the future, what section/sections of the record store will fans find Christopher Phipps music?
Christopher Phipps-different projects I've done would fall into the different categories of music I set out to do? Some of my friends call me a  David Bowie that just never hit the big time the way I've played around with different styles of music and fashion over my 20 plus years in the business and I take that as a compliment!

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Posted by London Exchange on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 5:53 AM

"I knew this was going to happen I'm so anal that I spent the rest of the evening after submitting this thinking about all the people I left out on Q4 on who has influenced me and helped me in my progress as a musician.

I did leave out a few key players the lines between dance/alt rock really started to blur for me when I started going to Club Squeeze& Reunion Room in Ft.Laud which were the two premier alt dance club in the mid 80's.I met D.J Tim Gallagher who has since sadly passed away. It was there that I heard my first 12" dance versions of groups like Tones on Tails, The Cure, DM,The Smiths, Duran Duran ect.ect.

After relocating to Miami I started hanging out at the big Alt dance club there called Fire & Ice where I befriended the house D,J's Carlos Menendez and Tony Garcia who both became legends on the Miami Alt/Underground dance scene with Tony going on to re-mix Nitzer Ebb among many others. Carlos was one of the first club D.J's to spin "Memories of You" and Tony actually came down to one of the recording sessions he was so into what we were doing!

Last I must mention D.J George Acosta , Bobbi and Dade the owners of Shadow Lounge where I received VIP treatment for the 2 yrs of the clubs existence from 98-2000! It was there that I rekindled my love for dance/electronic music after a 5yr hiatus from it!

I saw Oakenfold, Teisto, Dave Ralphs, Paul Van Dyke and of course George do amazing, amazing sets!!! Plus Bobbi shared always shared his stash of Newcastle Ale with me and put me in VIP section where they were getting $500 a table back then! If it wasn't for that experience I would never have recorded sILENTsTORM or the song "Tonight".
I also had the opportunity to hang out with George in the studio on a few occasions and see a new way of working!"