Photon Torpedoed

Photon Band's frontman heads down south.

by Patrick Rapa

Photon Band has been a Philly institution since 1996, earning a cult following for its psychedelic indie sensibilities and inventive guitar athleticism. They rocked on stage. They rocked on albums like Back Down to Earth, It's a Lonely Planet and Oh the Sweet, Sweet Changes. Now Photon Man Art DiFuria tells us he's taking an art historian job in Savannah, Ga. This Saturday's gig at Johnny Brenda's probably isn't Photon Band's final show ever, but it's definitely the last for a while.

City Paper: Will you play music down there?

Art DiFuria: Oh, definitely. I'm working on another album right now and have decided not to refine it into a "unified package" of nine or 10 songs. It's going to be a quadruple album, vinyl only. And I'll be looking for guys to play with down there, too.

CP: What'll be Photon Band's legacy in Philadelphia?

AD: We'll bequeath our good looks to the city's younger musicians. Seriously, though, I was a part of that generation of people from back in the mid- to late '80s who made it OK to get up on a stage in any of this city's punk rock venues and play music that wasn't hardcore. We felt like it was OK to explore melody, noise, different tempos, different instruments, different structures and lengths of songs. The Photon Band is the band of mine that carried that approach into the '90s and into the present. If you listen to all of the recordings, we're about exploration. And it's only going to get weirder.

CP: Any parting words/shots for the Philly music scene?

AD: Oh, I don't know. Philly's been a pretty good place to play. If you're putting out, they like it. Hey Philly, don't go changin'.

(pat@citypaper.net)