Regardless of any ups or downs, it is fair to say that you can always rely on your family for support and love. Proving this to be the case is the alt-pop duo and siblings SAINT PHNX as they release their emotionally charged track “Happy Place”. As an ode to the life and legacy of their late father, Glasgow-hailing artists Stevie and Alan Jukes serve up a marching drum beat, a consuming chorus and bold vocals on the undeniably triumphant track. Masterfully blending defiant elation with the deeply sombre feelings associated with losing a family member, the track’s lyrics are poetic in nature as they aim to transport and uplift listeners in the darkest of times.
“It was one of the hardest and easiest songs we’ve ever written,” explains the duo when speaking on the song’s creation. “It took us months to write it because deep down we knew our dad was dying and we found it hard to write about that as it was so real and painful. But every part was written quickly as we knew exactly what we wanted to say. It’s really special that something so tragic in our lives has created something so beautiful.
Upon the release of their new single, the brothers sat down with Wonderland to discuss crafting music in lockdown, the emotions that came with creating their new single, and what the rest of 2021 has in store for them. Head below to read our interview with SAINT PHNX now…
Hey guys, how are you? We’re halfway through the year, how has It been for you so far?
We are incredibly grateful to be here doing this interview. It has been such a rollercoaster this past 6 months. It has brought us the worst and best moments we have ever experienced. We lost our dad in January due to a terminal illness. We also got signed by the biggest record label in the world Atlantic records so it has been a crazy first half of the year!
With everything that happened last year, do you think your creativity was affected?
We were lucky enough to build a studio above our parent’s garage. Our dad didn’t want us to stop. We had such an amazing start to 2020 with our debut album being released and being able to play a sold-out headline tour across Europe. As you know we were all in lockdown so our dad said that we couldn’t stop. He gave us the motivation and space to channel our energy to create new music. He was our biggest fan and pushed us to keep going.
What sparked the interest in music?
Our mum and dad are huge music fans and used to play music all the time at home or on holiday with our family. Stevie was always into music. Since I can remember he’s always played an instrument. He started playing the drums and he was lucky enough to have his own kit. I used to sneak a shot at them when he wasn’t in. Since then we have always played in bands.
You guys are from Glasgow, how did growing up here impact your sound?
Growing up Glasgow has the best music venues such as King Tuts and the Barrowlands. Seeing amazing bands in the venues just made us want to do the same. Glasgow has the best people and the best sense of humor in the world. It’s part of who we are.
You’ve just dropped your new single “Happy Place”, talk us through the production process?
Stevie wrote the guitar intro and we based everything around that. We just wanted to keep it simple sonically and we just knew it was ready to go once we finished the vocal the night he passed.
