OC Music Awards 2012: Mphase Brings Refined ’80s Synth-Pop To Orange County

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

“ As far as living in Seattle, for me to able to go out six nights a week--I needed one day of rest--and be able to go see great shows every single night was just a total hoot.
” Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“When a lot of people think electronic, they think techno or dance music which, in all honesty, I can’t stand,” quickly admitted Geoff Harrington, vocalist and keyboardist for Orange County based “electronic power-trio” Mphase.

“I grew up in the ’80s, so I’m more into New Wave and things like that,” explained Harrington, listing some of his influences as Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Art Of Noise,  Human League, and “anything Trevor Horn was involved with during that time.”

Harrington, who has played in “various incarnations of rock bands” whether it be onstage or in the studio, including Rocket From The Crypt and Motorhead (he was recruited to play a Hammond Organ for a Motorhead song, which he said he thought was a “total kick”) and lived in Seattle during the height of grunge music.

A piano player since about the age of 8-years-old who started his love of music playing “surf covers” at his “8th grade ice cream social,” Harrington said that he didn’t play in a band in Seattle because “none of those bands really wanted keyboard players in their bands,” but that didn’t matter when he got to see such great live music all the time.

“As far as living in Seattle, for me to able to go out six nights a week–I needed one day of rest–and be able to go see great shows every single night was just a total hoot,” elaborated Harrington. “The fact that in those four years, I didn’t really play with too many bands didn’t matter. I had so much fun…It was pretty cheap living still up there. You didn’t need much to get by. It was really great.”

“ The true meaning of it is that it's the chemical reaction in cell division that takes place, the point of division where the single cell is about to divide into two cells...It has no meaning to me as far as anything. In choosing a band name, I always try to choose something that no one else is going to use.
” Joined by James Fletcher (another OC Music Awards nominee this year) on drums and Fletcher’s brother Matt on keyboards, Harrington is now playing a style of music that he likes, writing his own “original music,” which he said is where he gets his “ya-ya’s out.”

Harrington is all about being original, one of the reasons behind his picking the band name, Mphase.

“The true meaning of it is that it’s the chemical reaction in cell division that takes place, the point of division where the single cell is about to divide into two cells,” elucidated Harrington. “It has no meaning to me as far as anything. In choosing a band name, I always try to choose something that no one else is going to use.”

Although Harrington has known the Fletcher brothers for almost two decades, it wasn’t until Harrington was asked to score “an ’80s style soundtrack” for a movie about Quicksilver and “the Newport Beach surf scene,” called Echo Beach, that Mphase really came into inception.

“Quicksilver threw an art show and party at the Standard Hotel in Downtown LA and they ask that I play at the event since I did all the background music for it,” explained Harrington. “For me to get up there and just play by myself, I thought, well, I better throw an actual band together so it doesn’t look so karaoke.”

“ They're easy to get along with. They don't have any hang-ups...None of your typical musician-type issues. They don't have those sort of hang-ups. They're super easy to work with so it was a no-brainer for me to involve them in the project.
” “James, the drummer, I’ve known and played with for 18 years. We’ve played in three or four bands together,” continued Harrington. “He  was available and he’s always up for doing anything new and exciting. Then to balance it out, I wanted to have another keyboard player…his brother Matt plays keyboards.”

“They’re easy to get along with. They don’t have any hang-ups,” elucidated Harrington. “None of your typical musician-type issues. They don’t have those sort of hang-ups. They’re super easy to work with so it was a no-brainer for me to involve them in the project.”