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THE RISE OF THE PHOENIX
Or How Tin Foil Dusted off the Ashes and Started Again

Founded in 1997 by vocalist Michael Allen Zirk (aka
Maz) and drummer Steven Kray, Sonic Bloom began
their momentous journey through the hell and high
waters so synonymous with the indie music scene. Then,
on the cusp of their first EP’s release, just when it looked
like all their time and energy had been worthwhile,
everything fell apart when legal issues ordered a name
change. From the ashes of this chaos rose the
Phoenix—the Tin Foil Phoenix.
Comprised of Maz on vocals, Kray on percussion, Fish
on guitar, Phil Cholosky on guitar and Paul Robinson on
bass, Tin Foil Phoenix, in its current incarnation, have
been together since 2001. They’re a Winnipeg band that
have battled the indie monster and come out the other
side, scarred but not beaten, stumbling into big label
success almost in spite of themselves.
Admitting unabashedly that at the core of the band is a
great irony, Maz tells of a time when the group’s
breakthrough single, “Neopolitan,” stood for all they
believed the band might ever be. After blowing their
recording budget, they decided to volunteer the song for
a recording class project at a local studio and then
distributed it to radio stations across Canada.
“‘Neopolitan’ is all about us thinking that our love for our
music might well be our greatest and crowning
achievement,” says Maz. “Then it turns out to be the
song that gets us our record deal! How’s that for ironic?”
It was only a matter of time before someone finally
noticed—in this case, it was Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger
who, obviously knowing talent when he hears it, was
quick to sign TFP to his label, 604 Records. Then, their
EP became the foundation for their first big studio album,
Living in the Shadow of the Bat.
“We’re at the bottom rung of a brand new ladder,” says
Maz. “It’s amazing and really all that we ever wanted. We

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