PHK

About PHK

Paul Hooper-Keeley composed his earliest songs and formed his first band, The Threads, whilst in Sixth Form in 1982. He had originally learnt guitar in order to write the music to the lyrics he was writing. Based in Lincolnshire, once The Threads had headed out from their garage band apprenticeship, they quickly built a sizeable and loyal following across the county. They capitalised on this by recording a 4-songs EP of PHK original material, ‘Mind The Threads, John!’, which was self-released and quickly sold out of the 500 copies manufactured.
With their organ and Rickenbacker groove (and occasional brass section), The Threads continued to build up a strong following on the Mod/Garage/Psychedelic/Indie scene, with gigs now taking place across the UK. An appearance at a large Alldayer for Ronnie Lane’s ARMS charity led to them being signed by Unicorn Records. Their first recordings under this deal were produced by Ed Ball (The Times, TV Personalities, Creation Records etc.) and engineered by Colin Richardson (Bullet For My Valentine, Napalm Death, Slipknot etc.) at the Slaughterhouse Studios in Driffield (Happy Mondays, Sisters of Mercy, The Mission etc.) and at Bram Tchaikovsky’s (The Motors) Chapel Studio in South Thoresby. They were released by Unicorn Records (distributed by Nine Mile/The Cartel) on the first Phase III EP in 1986 and also formed the spine of their ‘As Yet Untitled’ LP released by Unicorn in 1987. They then played another large charity Alldayer in London in 1988 with Steve Marriott (Small Faces and Humble Pie), Boys Wonder, The Boys (Steve Cradock’s pre-Ocean Colour Scene band) and The Clique.
UK tours in 1989, 1990 and 1991and European Tours in 1988 and 1989 were accompanied by further EP and flexi-disc releases that generated interest from EMI, Chrysalis and Fiction.
In 2001, Detour Records released The Threads CD anthology, ‘Step Back In Time’, (Detour are reissuing it again in 2025) whilst a newly recorded 7” single was released by Twist Records. The last few years have seen a double ‘live’ album of 1980s shows and a triple rarities album released on Germany’s Time For Action Records.
Furthermore, recent Cherry Red box sets including ‘Millions Like Us - The Story Of The Mod Revival 1977-1989’ and ‘Into Tomorrow - The Spirit Of Mod 1983-2000’ (incl. Paul Weller, The Undertones, Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, Supergrass, Cast, Primal Scream, Ocean Colour Scene, The La’s, The Charlatans, Ride etc.) have included recordings by The Threads, finally recognising their contribution to the music scene and youth subculture of the time and now bringing them to a wider audience. So much so that The Threads have recently reformed to record and release ‘The International Times’ 12” EP and will be playing a homecoming show in Skegness next May (supported by The Jam’s Rick Buckler) and the huge Mods Mayday 2025 Festival at 229 The Venue, London, over the Bank Holiday weekend.
In the meantime, in 2003, Paul Hooper-Keeley set-up Biff Bang Pow Records and Burnt Toast Music Publishing in order to assist a number of good bands on the scene that weren’t being given the opportunities by other larger (and more mainstream) labels. This resulted in three compilation albums, ‘Shake’, ‘Shout’ and ‘Shimmy’ that combined new bands with a handful of more seasoned artists such as Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets), Graham Day (The Prisoners), Fay Hallam (Makin’ Time), Tony Morrison (Long Tall Shorty & Angelic Upstarts) and Ian Page (Secret Affair/New Hearts). There was a modicum of record label success when the debut single by Grasp got to number 83 in the mid-week charts, and BBC TV coverage when the Mod Aid 20 single was recorded for charity. Assembling and all-star cast to record Small Faces classics ‘Whatcha Gonna Do Bout It’ and ‘Afterglow’, the recording session featured, amongst others, Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones/Faces), Steve Cradock (Ocean Colour Scene), PP Arnold, Chris Farlowe, Mark Joseph, Mike Evans (The Action), Jimmy Winston (Small Faces), Andy Ellison (John’s Children), Reg Presley (The Troggs), Art Wood (The Artwoods), Buddy Ascott (The Chords), Simon Stebbing (Purple Hearts), Dave Cairns (Secret Affair), Steve Trigg (Stone Foundation), and Steve Marriott’s daughter, Mollie.
Continuing to write for future projects, he joined rehearsal room band, The Deep Six, in 2015 that also featured Mark ‘Syd’ McGounden and Neil Clitheroe of Makin’ Time (Stiff Records/Countdown). Taking on the management of the band in addition to rhythm guitar, vocals and songwriting, he immediately transformed them and had arranged a gig at The 100 Club within 24-hours and got them a record deal with Heavy Soul Records within the week. Touring with and supporting Secret Affair, Bruce Foxton’s From The Jam, The Lambrettas, Tom Hingley etc. (plus a special guest slot for Kenney Jones of Small Faces/Faces/The Who), they recorded two albums, two EPs and three 7” singles over the next 5-years.
Paul’s next musical project was a collaboration with Mark Le Gallez (The Risk/Sacred Hearts/Thee Jenerators) and Emma Page (Yeh-Yeh/Omega Tribe), starting in 2023 under the name The Mark Three. So far, they have recorded and released two 12” 5-song EPs and a 16-song album with F.A.B. records (Paul playing lead & rhythm guitar, Hammond B3 and piano), as well as ‘live’ shows at 229 The Venue, London, and The Cavern Club, Liverpool. Paul also produces the band. They return to the studio in January and February 2025 to record a new album.
However, with so much original material available (and more being written all the time), a further outlet has been created under Paul’s solo ‘PHK’ moniker. The debut single, ‘Sanctimonious Sue’ c/w ‘The Luvvies Brigade’, was recorded and mixed in October, with Paul again producing the sessions and is now being pressed as a limited edition 7” single for release in early 2025. Being a multi-instrumentalist, Paul plays everything on both tracks (including bass and harmonica as well as his usual guitars, keyboards and vocals) apart from drums and returns to the studio in December to begin work on additional tracks for the forthcoming PHK album, ‘You Should All Be Ashamed Of Yourselves’.