Philippe Lonchay - Demon and Wizard
What was growing up like for you? Are you originally from France? When did you first begin playing music and was this something that was relevant in your household while you were growing up? Do you have any siblings?
I was born in Reime France in Champagne country. Music has always been the art of my life. I have four brothers and a sister who are all passionate about football. I never adhered to this passion of the eight years. I bought vinyl and my first guitar at 19 years old. It was a 12 string Morris and it was not the easiest to learn how to play.
Circa: 1964.
Where would you go to see live concerts and who were some of the first bands you saw? Who, or what left a heavy impression on you in those early days and made you think to yourself ‘this is what I want to do!’? When did you make your live performance debut?
The first I saw was the group Rare Birds in 1970. The concert that impressed me the most was Alice Cooper in 1975 on the “Welcome To My Nightmare” tour in Paris. In terms of when I wanted to play music, I think that a very early age I wanted to do this.
How did you initially meet your band mates? What were everyone's first impressions of each other? What led to the decision to form the band in and when was that exactly?
I was involved during the most recent formation of the group as we were record collectors, we said “hold on!” and if we did ou’s neither one nor two we did it the group was born in April 1980. I have a version of "Black Witch" recorded during the first sessions rehearsal the room was a friend's room the group did not play any gigs for the writing of the titles it was the ideas of the three of us, only black witch and only me and the very artisanal recording with the means at hand in 1981 not in 1982 for the deal with the record company it wasn't really a deal it was a printing company we sent the tapes to and they pressed us the 100 copies.
D & W circa: 1979.
How did the cover of the album come about? What was the first order of business once the album was released? Did you guys go on tour in order to support the record’s release?
They ordered the covers I designed were very influenced by a French science fiction comic as for the first sales: at the time I worked as a salesman in the biggest record store in Reims it is therefore there and in the families and friends that we sold the 100 copies which explains the prohibitive price of the disc on the web (discog) we have all participated in various groups and musical projects (Soggy, Lust, etc...) focused more on rock and metal, but unfortunately you can't make a living from music in France, musical tastes are too formatted. Life and children got the better of our determination.
What eventually happened to the group after ‘82? Did you continue to write and record music after Demon and Wizard? What have you been up to in more recent years?
To finish there are two pressings of this disc. 100 on the Kiosk of Orpheus and 300 reissued by Cameleon Records and I’ve also seen some images so I think there is a pirate version from the Slavic countries following the internet price. They smelled one golden fillet!
