The title truly represents my interest in this band since I was still in college.
It was between 1999 and 2000 when I first saw a video clip in MCM Channel -a french music channel- broadcasted through my parents' satellite dish. At the time, we decided not to extend our subscription with Kabelvision as the dish showed more channels than the regular cable. Anyway, I came about this video that showed people in the outdoor at night, cheering for some kind of a car race. The song had the outmost unique beat I've ever heard of and it caught my attention in a very.. serious.. way. Why? Because that's when all the obsession for the song began.
I honestly didn't know what the song was called and who sang it, all I know I was CRAZY for this song and had to hear it again and again. Whenever it came out on MCM, I would usually caught it just when it is about to finish so I was always p****d off as I couldn't enjoy the whole tune. What I could do was to sing the short chorus, "If I ever feel better...", and knowing just that frustrated me a bit.
Well, it's not that I didn't get on with my life, I did, but in the meantime, deep inside me, I was 'craving' for that song. None of the radio stations at the time broadcasted the song and it wasn't even on MTV nor Channel V. Ok, so I thought maybe nobody knows them in Asia... And so I went on with my boring life.
In 2003, I came back from Hanoi after living there for two and a half years. Hanoi did not have a lot of radio stations and even if they do, only two or three are on and none played modern tunes. We had cable in our home and have all sorts of channels HBO to MTV but never heard the song in any of those channels, not even TV5, the international french channel. I did forget for awhile and was replaced by my all time favorite duo called Daft Punk. They totally dominated my life in Hanoi, and so were DEWA and The Strokes. I never thought I would hear "If I ever feel better" ever again.
Then... Somehow I heard that song again. It was as if it resurrected from the grave and I was all ears again. It played sometimes in 2004-2005 on the radio stations in Jakarta, but was not played very often. I was glad it did came out at all alive and breathing, and this time no doubt the Jakartans know this band by now.
I tried to catch the radio host say their names or title of the song but was never successful. Then one day... I heard the title being said, "If I Ever Feel Better". Great! Just as I thought it would be. Then I needed to know the band's name but it got a bit confusing as the different radio DJs had this idea of pronouncing it differently everytime they mentioned their names. Sometimes it would be 'Finik', some said 'Phonics' and others said 'Finix'... Ok, the last one should've been easier to guess. It did get to me after a couple of thoughts (Adoy!).... So the band name is..... PHOENIX. Aaaahhh.... Finally!
Did it stop there? Hell, no! I went cassette and CD searching for their album but most stores only sold the 'Alphabetical' album, not the 'United' album that I was dying looking for it. I was 'desperado' as I went looking through all the cassette stores in South Jakarta. The only answer they could give me (or excuses) were, "Sorry, it sold out" a.k.a "I don't understand you" or "Oh, they moved to another record label" a.k.a "Can't help you, the album is gone" a.k.a "I don't know who the h*** are you talking about".
Then I did found the 'United' album in Aksara and dang it! T'was darn expensive for my wally. I mean, at the time, I only knew one song. So, what do I have to do? Buy and regret or not buying and wait til I get the pirated one? (Ok, the last part I'm sooo kidding :P). Anyhu, I decided to wait till I get a chance to buy the Greatest Hits album, although I was a bit skeptical that they would make one so soon.
2009. My dear friend Angie forwarded me an email -which I failed to check it sooner because I wasn't online very often at the time. The mail read: Phoenix, live in Jakarta, August 1st 2009, Bengkel Nitepark, Jakarta. Get Early Bird Tickets before (I think) the 25th of June, in which I read 2 days after the end of the early bird ticket sale. Then..... I freakin screammmeeeeDD! Immediately I tried to find out about the tix and even though I did hesitate before buying the tickets (since then, the bombing happened), I finally purchased one and got me a fellow avid fan of Phoenix to go to together... Love it :) Thanks Daisy!!
By this year, I've come to learn more of their songs like "Too Young" -another favorite song of mine from the 'United' album- and 'Liztomania', which I discovered in YouTube while searching for their other songs (I'm such a late bloomer!).
What I didn't expect was that I've encountered the band and met with the vocalist and took pictures with him, to then finally watching them perform live. Wow!! Very impressed with Phoenix. They were humble and very talented. I really felt the joy and happiness watching them live... Genuinely, I love them.
So behind all this stories -that is darn long- I would like to say, "Enjoy what you can best enjoy; let yourself go and see where it takes you". Phoenix had me at 2009 (and so did Jamiroquai :)). Je T'aime, Phoenix! Merci Beaucoup!
