Phil Western

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  • Genres: Rock

Biography

Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Phil Western started out as a drummer and percussionist, and while he still finds himself behind the kit from time to time, nowadays he specializes in playing electronic music as either a solo artist or with others. In the late '90s, Western played keyboard on Skinny Puppy's Process, lent his drumming talents to Tranquility Bass' Let the Freak Flag Fly, and has also worked in either a production or remixing capacity with such hard-rocking artists as Metallica, Monster Magnet, and Nine Inch Nails. Western has also been a member of such projects as Plateau and Off and Gone, and has released a pair of solo releases -- 1998's Escapist and 2001's Dark Features. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi
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Phil Western
Birth name Phillip Charles Western
Also known as Philth, Cap'n Stargazer
Born (1971-08-12) August 12, 1971 (age 40)
Origin Vancouver, Canada
Genres Industrial music
Experimental music
Occupations Programmer, musician
Instruments Synth, guitar, percussion
Years active 1992–present
Labels The Record Company
Subconscious Communications
ex-Nettwerk Records
ex-Metropolis Records
ex-Hypnotic/Cleopatra
Associated acts Download
PlatEAU
Floatpoint
Off & Gone
Frozen Rabbit

Phil Western (born August 12, 1971) is a Vancouver-based musician who is a founding member of the bands Download, PlatEAU, Frozen Rabbit, and Off And Gone.

Having started his career as a drummer and eventually as a programmer, he became a remix engineer starting in the mid 1990s. His friendship with Dwayne Goettel led to him doing a small amount of keyboard work on the Skinny Puppy album The Process, as well as creating the Subconscious record label with Goettel in 1993.

After Goettel's death from a heroin overdose in 1995, he became partners with Cevin Key in several musical projects. As an engineer, or remix engineer, he has worked with Skinny Puppy, Mirror, Bryan Adams and Nine Inch Nails. He has also assisted in remixes of songs written by Monster Magnet and Rob Halford and Metallica among others.

Often maintaining a low visibility in his collaborative projects, it was his solo work which brought his abilities to light for fans of Download - a complex approach to rhythm and programming, and a sense of melody rooted in psychedelia, drones and space rock.


Since 2001, Western has been the operator behind The Record Company, which has been the imprint for several releases under his own name, as well as a reissue of the Floatpoint CD "Beam Error"

Contents

Discography

Solo works

  • Power/Touched (12" split w/aDuck) (1993)
  • The Escapist (1998)
  • Dark Features (w/Tim Hill) (2001)
  • Therapy (10", w/Tim Hill) (2001)
  • Worlds End (2003)
  • 4am (2007)
  • 1221 (2008)
  • Dat Hell (2008)
  • Red Eyed Stalker EP (2009, internet release)
  • Treatment (2009, compilation)

Beehatch (w/Mark Spybey)

  • Beehatch (2008)
  • Brood (2008)

Download

KONE

  • Cirrhotic Psychotic (2008)
  • On Daddy's Farm (2008)

Plateau

XMT

  • Atlantic Under Clouds (1993)

Cap'm Stargazer

  • untitled EP (12" split w/Commander Mindfuck) (1994)

Floatpoint

  • Beam Error (1994)
  • Beam Error (2CD re-issue) (2008)

Off and Gone

  • untitled EP (1994)
  • Sigma Receptor (12") (1996)
  • Shasta (12") (1996)
  • Everest (1996)

Frozen Rabbit

  • 26,000 (2005)

External links



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Copyrights:

Mentioned in

Spacecake (1999 Album by Plateau)
Plateau (Rock Band, '90s)
Go Get Him (1921 Western Film)
Escapist (1998 Album by Phil Western)
Smiling Jim (1922 Western Film)