The Queenstown Times this week spoke to guitarist/vocalist Luke Buda, who arrived back in Wellington last month after a low-intensity,"old man's tour" of the UK in support of the release of the album Buffalo.
Buda said the flurry of UK activity surrounding the tour was thanks to the UK release of the band's third album, Happy Ending, last year which built its presence ahead of Buffalo's January release, and also landed the band a record deal with indie label Memphis Industries.
"We've got some really good reviews and it definitely didn't feel like we were wasting our time over there . . . We also managed to get some people at the BBC to like us, so we got played quite a bit on BBC 6, we got played quite a bit on XFM. Some pretty big alternative radio stations over there."
The Phoenix Foundation was pulling "mostly English people crowds" "While having heaps of New Zealanders at your gigs is really good, there's not much point in going all the way to London to play to heaps of Kiwis. You want to get to the hearts and minds of the locals, man."
On the back of the positive press, the band's new label has booked it in for a spate of festival dates in July and another four-week tour when it heads back to the UK in early May, the first two gigs of which are at a high-profile industry festival called the Great Escape.
Despite having only played once since their return, band members are hoping to bring their touring form to the Colours Festival gigs, potentially with one or two new songs thrown in the mix.
"We went on tour, played many, many gigs . . . We were playing the best we've ever played at the end of that tour, that's for sure. We're currently doing our best to get a few new numbers together to make it interesting for everyone, so we just have to play that one by ear if we think they're good enough to show people, or whether we get scared at the final moment."
• The Phoenix Foundation performs at the Queenstown Memorial Hall at 7pm today, and at a sold-out concert at Wanaka's Crystal Palace at 8.30pm tomorrow.
