Mr Fogg
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Mr Fogg aka Phil Barry is an indie-synth-pop solo artist from Reading, Berkshire. The eponymous Mr Fogg derives his name from Phileas Fogg, the main fictional character in the 1872 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Arcanely, in an interview with Annie Nightingale of BBC Radio 1 fame, he was heard to say that the name arose, as 'Phileas sounds somewhat like Phil', his own Christian name.
Mr Fogg's first solo material appeared in September 2005 and was followed by a national tour and the debut single "Giving In" which gained BBC Radio 1 and XFM airplay and resulted in Mr Fogg being made Artist of The Week on Karma Download.
After winning the 2006 BBC Berkshire Demo Search Contest, Mr Fogg won the opportunity to open the Carling Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals over the August 2006 festival weekend, playing to a packed tent with a 5-piece live band: a bassist, a guy on synths, a girl on keyboard and rainmaker, a drummer and some gloriously mellow beats.[1]
In september 2006, Mr Fogg released "Seciov" as a single on Worst Case Scenario Records, receiving airplay on Radio 1 (Huw Stephens, Annie Nightingale), Radio 2 (Janice Long), 6music (Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson ROTW, Jon Holmes), XFM (Marsha Shandur ROTW, Sarah Darling, John Kennedy, Jon Hillcock), MTV2 and QTV.
On 2 October 2006 Mr Fogg was featured on the Annie Nightingale, BBC Radio 1 show in a segment entitled "Mr Fogg's Latin Lesson", explaining current street lingo, as well as an airing of his latest single release 'Seciov' (Breakbeat Remix).[2]
On 27 October 2006, Mr Fogg recorded a session for Janice Long on BBC Radio 2 including an interview and live versions of Stung, Moving Pictures and Seciov.
[edit] Style
In terms of style, Mr Fogg’s whispered lyrics and fragile music make for wonderful heartfelt music rather than noise. The songs are electro pop anthems, where retro sounds duet with Mr Fogg's velvety voice. Cool and sparse but packed with melody, Mr Fogg presents well constructed songs, that are able to use electronics in a way that recalls but does not copy the early 1980s.
