VITUHMINS CATCH UP W/ Phangs
We caught up with unique and upcoming singer/songwriter Phangs, who operates out of Nashville. He caught our eye on Spotify with his top track “Always Been U”, a collab with R.LUM.R, which has reached 3.6 Million streams. Phangs also currently sits at an impressive and consistent 90k monthly listener count. Our favorite of his tracks to date, “Product of the 90s”, really showcases his sound: a combination of electro and pop but with some early 2000’s rock influence, too. When we began our conversation, we found ourselves in his studio room, where Tony Hawk Pro Skate played on an old TV through a Nintendo 64, next to his impressive collection of guitars and analog keyboards. This is the kind of vibe that I think best describes Phangs: nostalgic. We’re confident that, with his dope sound, and this matching aesthetic, Phangs will soon become a household name. So, we were very happy to be able to sit down and chat with him before this all happens.
Check out our interview below!
Decker: I’m hella excited to be sitting down with you, so thank you so much for joining us today.
Phangs: Yeah man, of course! Glad to be here.
Decker: Tell us a little bit about yourself! Who are you, where are you originally from, etc.:
Phangs: My real name is Jake Germany, but I go by Phangs. I’m originally from Tyler, Texas, right between Dallas and Shreveport, Louisiana. I played soccer most of my life, went to college on soccer scholarship for 5 seconds, and then dropped out to play Warped Tour in 2008.
Decker: Very cool, and very interesting! I’ve never met a soccer player turned rockstar before. How did you get started in music?
Phangs: Haha, well, being from Tyler, there were a ton of bands, but nowhere to play. We were in the Bible Belt, and also in a dry county, so churches were really the only place with a stage and sound system where you could go and be a part of live music. People would rent youth group rooms until a church would get tired of rockers wrecking the place, and then we’d move on to the next one. People would go to see the band Eisley a ton, they were like a staple to this whole experience. Growing up and watching them while I was in high school was definitely a major influence on me for sure. My buddy Luis then formed a group called The Secret Handshake, and that let me go on my first tour. I actually ended up calling my dad while on tour with them and said I wasn’t going back go school.
Decker: A hard but awesome decision I’m sure. Who and what are some of your largest musical influences?
Phangs: My parents were young when they had me, so I grew up on who they liked. Mom was Michael Jackson, TLC, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, while Dad loved Guns and Roses and Kiss. By the time I had my own taste, I was into The Starting Line and All American Rejects. By around that time, I started making my own music, so it was really cool to see all these influences come together.
Decker: What have been some of your favorite moments with music so far
Phangs: there are two memories that definitely stick out. The first was that Warped tour had always been the goal for me, but it was too far from Tyler for my parents to willingly drive me to a punk and rock festival and entertain themselves for a few hours until it was time to pick me back up and take me home again. So, it was insane that the first time I got to go was when I was performing. Katy Perry was on the tour, Shwayze. 3OH!3. Such a crazy year for music. It felt like everyone was on the same team. By the next time I played there, 2 years later, music started changing so hard and it seemed like those teams kinda branched further out.
The second favorite story in music was when there was a show on one of the Relient K tours that I played on, we were supporting Switchfoot, and our lead singer had to fly home. We were playing first as the opener, all of our stuff was on stage, doors were opening, and our lead singer was still gone while people were entering the venue. We were thinking, “Do we take our stuff off stage?” We were all on the bus trying to figure out, in the front lounge, when our drummer Dave was like “Well, Jake can sing!” They told me to pick my dream setlist, and to pick the songs I knew all the words for. I got in my bunk, wrote an hour setlist, we went in, and we did it. People loved us.
Decker: These are such wicked stories. With all these shows in your past and future, where has been you’re favorite place to perform?
Phangs: Definitely The Teregram in LA. I was on tour with a band called Mystery Skulls, but it was actually The Secret Handshake’s new act, it was a sold out show too. Just a really cool venue that, when sold out, has a crazy atmosphere.
Decker: Very cool. So, your manager Dylan told me about your project coming out, can you tell us more about it?
Phangs: Yeah man, I’d love to. Over quarantine, I missed people and collaborating with my friends, which is probably one of my favorite aspects of being a musician and making music, so I made a project of songs and I put a feature spot on every single song. Matt Thiessen, Phoebe Ryan, morgxn, James Droll, LFO, they’re all part of it. These people are helping me grow up. I’ve been really lucky to have friends that give a shit. I’d send a text and they’d say “yeah, of course I’ll hop on that track.” morgxn actually hit me up first and it made me even happier. It was the perfect song, within 2 hours I had his vocals ready to be mixed. This whole project is really about collaboration and the love of making music. I’m really proud of how its turned out. It’s called “I Love Everything That You Hate About Yourself”, and it’ll be out in July!
Decker: Awesome. Ok, one final question: What is Phangs to you?
Phangs: It’s a feeling. It’s electronic pop, but with the guitar influence of my teenage years, and so I’m trying to service and honor that. It’s all over the musical spectrum, but still the same feeling. It’s realness, and it’s truth. I know so because I’ve been called out by my fans before! I get feedback all the time and so I know when I’m being real and when I’m not through them. I send my demos in a chat and they help me further understand who Phangs is. It’s more about receiving a message than it is about a playlist song or an algorithm hit or a Billboard charter. It’s a feeling. And it’s a feeling I’m gonna do and service for as long as its’ fun, and when it’s not, I’ll do something else. I made that deal with myself before going into this. If it feels special, I’m gonna do it.
Phangs, this has been one of my favorite write ups I’ve done so far. Thank you so much for your time, and please don’t forget about us when you hit it big! Readers, Phangs’ new single called ‘my parents love you’ comes out on June 17th and the full album comes out on July 15th. He will be going on a full US co-headline tour with Moontower in August. Make sure you guys stay tuned for all of this!
