Thomas Mars

Thomas Mars is using the Killamix mini controller. Thomas has recently been spotted using this in a lot of the recent live performances. Each button supposedly has a preset for each song they do live. It can be seen throughout the video.

In this interview Phoenix explains they used Ableton to create their latest album, Ti Amo

Used while making Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, as stated by Mars in this April 29, 2009 Earfarm "Band of the Week" feature.

Still, inspiration wasn’t limited only to analog synths and longtime collaborators; Mars and company also employed the card game Oblique Strategies early and often throughout the Amadeus sessions.

Oblique Strategies were created in 1975 by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt (a German artist), a set of over 100 cards each containing a cryptic phrase (of which there are over 100) meant to solve a small dilemma or break a creative stalemate. Examples include “State the problem in words as clearly as possible” and “What to increase? What to reduce?” Eno actually used these cards regularly during his early recording sessions with the Talking Heads, and it’s probably not coincidental that more than a few of David Byrne’s lyrics could pass as Oblique Strategies themselves. Mars wasn’t simply content to go by Eno’s version of the game, however, and in characteristically playful fashion eventually created his own set of cards as the sessions for Amadeus progressed.

“I’m a lazy guy and I always wanted the card that says ‘take a break’,” Mars laughed. “So I was always like, ‘come on, give me that one!’ I was so tired all the time and it never showed up. So, we started our own cards as a joke and it worked in a way, it made us more responsible, sometimes it’s hard to focus and it helped.”