Phil’s musical journey began at age 9, he and his brother would rent instruments and practice for hours on end. By age 11 Phil had formed a band with his two brothers and friend called Hidden Echo (Canada’s Youngest Rock Band). They would play over 200 shows in 2 years all over Ontario, New York State and New Jersey. Along the way winning multiple battle of the bands, being the youngest band to ever play Canadian music week, 9.77 hitz fm rock search and playing festivals like Burlington Sound of Music on the world’s largest mobile stage just after Metallica played it. They would also open for Jeff Healey at a Canada day festival leading to Jeff personally inviting the band to perform at his bar in Toronto.
After Hidden Echo Phil and his brothers formed Beyond The Sun. During the early years of the band Phil attended Berklee College of Music as a Guitar principle and Songwriting major. During this time he would study under Tomo Fujita (John Mayer), Pat Pattison (John Mayer, Gillian Welch), Jon Finn (Boston Pops, John Petrucci). He was fortunate enough to have Kris Kristofferson, Paul Simon, John Mayer and Guthrie Govan, Bootsy Collins all visit during his time at the school. Not to mention what he would learn from his fellow students whom he would cross paths with Charlie Puth, Ingrid Andress, Betty Who, MJ Rodriguez to name a few. While in Berklee Phil and the band would head to Atlanta, GA to work with Rick Beato (Shinedown, Needtobreathe, Parmalee) this ep would be titled “My Kind Of Crazy”. The lead single would go on to go #1 in Puerto Rico during the summer of 2013 leading the band to headline Hot102’s Wild Summer Fest for 7,000 fans and returning in 2014 to play their arena as a part of Hot102’s Hot Evolution at the Caribbean’s most prestigious venue, the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.
Following the success of their My Kind of Crazy single which was picked up on 55 US stations, & remained in the Top 40 on the U.S. R&R Indicator charts for 7 weeks, the Top 10 on the Top 40 New Music Weekly Chart for 8 weeks, peaking at #5 and remained in the Top 100 on the Top 40 Mediabase chart after peaking at #11 on Sirius XM’s 20 on 20 countdown. Beyond The Sun would head to Charleston S.C to Ocean Industries Studios to record with Eric Bass, bass player for multi- platinum selling band Shinedown. This 5 song Ep titled “Little Kingdom” was the start of the band’s true Alt/Rock/Pop identity. Their first two singles would also chart top 10 in Puerto Rican Radio. After touring and supporting that EP Phil and his brothers would move to Nashville, TN reconnecting with his Berklee Community who had made the move south.
The band would release their first full length album “Shuffle” over two parts in 2019. The lead “Holding On To You” would feature a music video filmed and directed by David O’Donohue, who works with LANY, Russell Dickerson, Sasha Sloan, Noah Kahan and more. The video stars actress Alyssa Riley Burrell who has appeared in The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games. The band would support this album on the road playing all over states (IN, IL, IA, NE, KS, NM, TX, TN, OK, KY, AR, MI, WI, PA, NY, NJ, MA, GA, VT, MD, VA, SC, OH, FL, MS, AL, MA).
Beyond The Sun have been published in Rolling Stone Magazine (India) – Global Artist Spotlight, Earmilk, Clout, Music Row Magazine and the hometown paper the Toronto Star among others. Their songs have been featured on New Music Friday Canada as well as Live Country, Country Favourites and Best Country Songs of 2022.
Over the years Beyond The Sun have built up a solid network of co-writers & collaborators such as Eric Bass (Shinedown), Valley, Kyle Reynolds, Karl Michael, Knox, Nick Wheeler (The All-American Rejects), Sweet Max (Gayle), Graham Whitford (Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown), Harrison Whitford (Phoebe Bridgers), James Adam Shelley (American Authors). In 2022 the band was finally able to return to stages in Canada to support their recent string of new singles. The band’s music has been streamed over 3.2 million times on Spotify alone and they have had their music reach 17.7 million views on Tik Tok.
Phil is an accomplished songwriter equally at home playing both the electric and acoustic guitar. With a focus on Alt/Rock and Pop music Phil has also had success in Country music between previous songs he’s released during his time in Nashville, TN building a network of diverse friends and collaborators. Utilising his experience of over 20 years as a professional performer and recording artist and his over 12 years of teaching experience Phil is adept at teaching beginners right through to advanced players, tailoring his lessons to suit each student’s specific musical interests and goals. While still in high school Phil and his music teacher developed a curriculum for the first ever guitar class at his high school, which he would then teach a class of 30 all while being a student still. Since that time Phil has been able to study under some of the world’s best teachers and Phil takes nuggets of wisdom from all of them and incorporates it into his lessons.
Guitar has afforded Phil with an incredible life filled with amazing experiences and it’s his goal to make his lessons fun and help foster that same love and appreciation for music in his students. Just like when playing music the most important part of teaching is listening, I listen to my students and what they really want so together we can work toward achieving their goals and milestones.”
Phil is currently endorsed by W.B Gear (InTune Guitar Pics, SIT Strings). Phil is also a Strymon Artist and Beyond The Sun is a JH Audio artist and also currently sponsored by Gator Cases.
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