Life
Phillips is born on 18 January 1969 in Zug, Switzerland to a British father and French mother. Spike Jones and The Goon Show mark his infant years. At age 5 he buys his first 7", Waterloo by ABBA, then discovers heavy metal age 8 and hardcore punk age 12. He grows up in Oberägeri from 1974 - 1985, [25] then lives in Unterägeri. [26]
He moves to Zürich in 1988 to join RecRec Music, a record label and distributor of independent music, and a cooperative, with whom he stays until 1994. He starts organising concerts, amongst others the first live appearances of Extreme Noise Terror, Carcass and Godflesh in Switzerland.
dp works for Jecklin, [27] Switzerland's then-biggest classical music record shop, from 1995 - 1997. In 1997 he experiences a heavy injury that damages his back for life. He returns to the stage in 2001.
From 2020 onwards Phillips lives with his parents as carer for 15 months, and with his siblings accompanied their father right up to his death. [28] One and a half years later they again provide end-of-life care, this time for their mother. [29] These experiences have a profound impact on him. [30]
Career
Phillips performs live for the first time in 1981 (age 12) with Unterägeri punk band Neo Pogos playing cardboard drums. [1]
In 1984 Phillips and Reto Kühne [31] form Messiah, but his involvement is short. Around the same time first experiments with a microphone and a tape-recorder are conducted. In 1988 Phillips rejoins Messiah for a handful of shows. [32]
In 1986 Phillips is asked to join B.O.L. (Bunch Of Lies), [33] the precursor band to Fear Of God, with Reto Kühne, Erich Keller [34] and Nasty (Exxor). [35] The following year they morph into Fear Of God, with the definitive line-up consisting of Reto Kühne - guitar, Osi Oswald - drums, Dave Phillips - bass & backing voice, Erich Keller - voice. The band splits up at the end of 1988.
1987 marks the official begin of dp's solo career though his first album only appears in 1994. [36] From 1988 - 1999 he plays with Stephen Thomas [37] under different names (Tower of Beef, D&S, Doug&Chuck) from noise rock, dance/ballet music, to sound collage and Plunderphonics. They perform live once [1] and release one posthumous collection in 2023. [38]
Phillips occasionally participates in Joke Lanz's Sudden Infant [39] from 1990 - 1996 for some performances and releases, as well as in Psychic Rally [40] from 1990 - 1994, a radioshow hosted by Rudolf Eb.er & Joke Lanz on LoRa (Alternatives Lokalradio) Zürich.
Reto Kühne (Fear Of God, Messiah) and Roger Drein [41] ask dp to join PK, who play conceptual improvised ritual music, from 1991 - 1993.
Since 1991 Phillips is a member of Schimpfluch-Gruppe, a loose collective dealing with psychophysical tests and trainings, with Rudolf Eb.er/Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, [42] Joke Lanz/Sudden Infant, Marc Zeier/G*Park, [43] Daniel Löwenbrück/Raionbashi [44] and Alice Kemp. [45]
Phillips has been DJing since 1995 under the monicker eva d., [46] playing "all styles my style". [1]
Zeitgenossen is a monthly radio-show for new music with Reto Mäder [47] in which Phillips participates from 1999 - 2002, on Radio Kanal K, [48] Aarau.
In 2000 Phillips and Tom Smith (of TLASILA) found OHNE [3] and include Daniel Löwenbrück (Tochnit Aleph, Raionbashi) [44] and Reto Mäder (rm74) in the line-up. OHNE were active until 2004.
In 2003 Fear Of God reform, "a mistake that lasts six months," says Phillips. [1]
dead peni (stylised as all lower case) [49] is born in 2004, Phillips’ one-man doom metal/sludge project. [50]
In 2005 Phillips and Tochnit Aleph [51] curate one evening for the LUFF/Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival titled ‘Nuits Bruit des Corps’ including Masonna, Zbigniew Karkowski, Daniel Menche and dp's only performance of hole/holy. That same year Phillips is part of Camp Victory, [52] a noise-opera by Gilles Aubry [53] and Stéphane Montavon. [54]
In 2008/2009 Phillips plays bass and vocals for ‘Ketsu No Ana’, [55] a grindcore/blackened crust outfit with Zürich squatters. [1] After the squat they rehearsed in got raided and their drummer disappeared [56] they split up.
Perverts In White Shirts [4] is a duo with Nathalie Dreier [57] formed in 2011. [58] At the end of 2012 the Extreme Rituals: A Schimpfluch Carnival Festival [59] is held at the Arnolfini, Bristol England to celebrate the legacy of Schimpfluch, [60] coinciding with its 25th anniversary. [59]
The Schimpfluch Associates label [61] is founded with Rudolf Eb.er in 2013. [62] [63]
Phillips curates a series of experimental/sound art/new music live events, first called entart, then atonal_zürich, then atra, [64] from 2013 to 2017 nearly-monthly at Klubi (later Umbo) in Zürich, and from 2018 to 2019 at Ausland, Berlin.
To date (2025), Phillips has played around 800 concerts [65] in 55 countries and has appeared on over 300 releases. [1]
