The Phoenix Foundation Announce 'Horse Power' 20th Anniversary Tour

Initially arising from the ashes of Lukasz Buda, Conrad Wedde and Samuel Flynn Scott's high school metal band Komos, Pōneke icons The Phoenix Foundation are toasting the 20th anniversary of their debut album Horse Power with a triple date tour and inaugural vinyl LP release. Recorded with Lee Prebble at Newtown's The Surgery and launched in 2003 via Capital Records during a distant era when the compact disc reigned supreme, Horse Power will finally be out on vinyl LP and limited 12” + 7” with two RNZ recorded live tracks from the album on 24th November, available for preorder HERE.

Paving the way for a multiple award-winning oeuvre, thumbs up from Jarvis Cocker, collaborations with fellow local stars Fazerdaze and Nadia Reid, international tours and a successful film soundtrack career — including scores for Taika Waititi's Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople — Horse Power earned Best Album 2003 nominations at both The New Zealand Music Awards and The Bnet Awards, featuring breakout singles ‘This Charming Van’, 'Gone Fishing' and ‘Let Me Die a Woman’. Don't miss Buda, Scott, Wedde, Tom Callwood, Will Ricketts and Chris O'Connor joined by Anita Clark (Motte) performing Horse Power in its entirety, with special guest Jess Cornelius at Lyttelton's Loons, Tāmaki Makaurau's Hollywood Avondale and the capital's The Opera House this November...

"Playing Horse Power live from start to finish is going to be a deep nostalgic trip mixed with a sweet fresh vibe as some of these songs have NEVER been performed live. We were so young, carefree and enthusiastic in those days and that’s the vibe we’ll be channelling at these shows” — Luke Buda

“When Horse Power came out there was no way we could afford to release it on vinyl. It was the golden age of the compact disk and we didn’t even know if we'd sell any of those to be honest. We’ve been wanting to release it on vinyl ever since. I mean at the time we were music nerds who loved the idea of seeing our record on the same format as our ancient heroes, but as we all know vinyl is no longer a nostalgic format and it's about time our debut caught up with the times!” — Samuel Flynn Scott

The Phoenix Foundation
with special guest Jess Cornelius

Thursday 23rd November - Loons, Lyttelton
Friday 24th November - Hollywood Avondale, Auckland
Saturday 25th November - The Opera House, Wellington*

Tickets from Banished Music
*Tickets from Ticketmaster

Bop along with The Phoenix Foundation's 'Going Fishing' from Horse Power...

Press release:

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Phoenix Foundation’s beloved debut 'Horse Power', the album will be released on vinyl for the first time on 24th November. To coincide the band will tour New Zealand in November, performing the album in its glorious entirety; another first for The Phoenix Foundation.

In the winter of 2002 The Phoenix Foundation recorded their debut album ‘Horse Power’ with Lee Prebble (The Black Seeds, Trinity Roots) at The Surgery in Newtown, Wellington. The gruelling late nights and scurvy resulted in one of the most acclaimed New Zealand albums of 2003. ‘Horse Power’ was the only album to be nominated for ‘Best Album’ at both The New Zealand Music Awards and The Bnet Awards. It was also voted the ‘Best NZ Album’ of 2003 by nzmusic.com and was the only New Zealand album selected in The Listener's ‘Top Ten Albums of 2003’ by Nick Bollinger (NZ Listener/Radio NZ).

20 years later ‘Horse Power’ will be released on Vinyl, limited edition 12” and 12”+7” with two RNZ Recorded live tracks from the album available for pre-orders from retail and bandcamp today.

The band will perform the album in its entirety, starting with ‘Sister Risk’ and finishing on ‘Wildlife.’ Joining the band on stage is long time collaborator Anita Clark.

Joining the band for these shows is special guest Jess Cornelius, whose 2020 album 'Distance', garnered praise and attention across the US, Australia and the UK. In the three years since the release of 'Distance', Jess has recorded a live set for NPR’s World Cafe, released a 7’’ record, toured with Ty Segall and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, played Treefort Music Fest and Huichica festival, toured NZ and Australia, and recorded a new album - which is due for release in early 2024. Jess will be performing live with the formidable Mikal Cronin.

Following the 2003 release of 'Horse Power', The Phoenix Foundation went on to make 6 further albums of intelligent, inventive, richly detailed pop music from a whole range of diverse influence, sound tracks to films such as 'Eagle vs Shark', 'Boy' and 'Hunt For the Wilderpeople', and establish themselves as an important part of the NZ music landscape.