Phoenix is the seventh studio album released by American punk rock band Zebrahead. Shawn Harris of The Matches created the artwork for the album, as he did with the band's previous album Broadcast to the World. Phoenix was made available for streaming via Fuse's website on July 31, 2008, before being released on August 5, 2008 through Icon Mes. The band was due to embark on a US tour in August and September 2008, but had to cancel it when frontman Matty Lewis started suffering from vocal issues. They ended up going on a tour of mainland Europe in October 2008.
Singles "Mental Health" - released as the lead single from the album in June 2008. It peaked at number 16 on the Japanese charts, a music video accompanied its release. "Hell Yeah!" - released as the second single in the fall of 2008; a music video accompanied its release. "The Juggernauts" - released as the third and final single in winter–spring 2009; a music video accompanied its release.
The video was filmed in the summer of 2008. The video shows the band members playing at the swimming pool with a large number of visitors on holiday. At the end of the video, the band start to play the song under the water.
Track listing
"Politics" and "Photographs" were first released (in reverse playing order) on the digital exclusive Not the New Album EP, included alongside "Mental Health" as an album sampler. This EP released on July 8th through Icon MES, one day before the album proper, but was re-released on January 31st, 2010 through the band's own MFZB Records, including the two Japanese bonus tracks alongside the first three.
The version of Phoenix available to fan club members is the only instance of "Politics" and "Photographs" being available on physical media.
Personnel Band Ali Tabatabaee - lead vocals Matty Lewis - lead vocals, rhythm guitar Greg Bergdorf - lead guitar Ben Osmundson - bass guitar Ed Udhus - drums
Backing staff Jason Freese - keyboards Howard Benson - keyboards on "Hell Yeah!" Cameron Webb - mixing, engineer Mike Plotnikoff - engineer Brian Gardner - mastering
Trivia "HMP" stands for Heavy Metal Push-Ups and according to the band the name came about because playing the song gave their fingers a workout. "Mike Dexter is a God, Mike Dexter is a Role Model, Mike Dexter is an Asshole" is a reference to the character Mike Dexter from the movie Can't Hardly Wait.
Chart positions ChartsPeakpositionTop Heatseekers 30Japan Charts 10
Release history Region Date Format Japan July 9, 2008CD, music download Europe August 4, 2008 CanadaAugust 5, 2008 United States World wide March 28, 2014 Vinyl record
References