When Phil first walked into Liverpool’s legendary Pink Museum studios (later renamed The Motor Museum), he couldn’t have known he’d be stepping into music history. Trained as a graphic designer, he pivoted into sound engineering almost by chance, starting out as a tape-op before working his way into full sessions with bands across the North West.
In this conversation, Phil traces his early career — from assisting on projects with Colin Verncombe (Black) to fronting his own band Sugarloaf, and discovering his love for soul, funk, and eclectic sounds. But the story that still turns heads is his time at the Pink Museum in December 1993, when a new Manchester band walked through the doors: Oasis.
Phil recalls the sessions where tracks like Supersonic, Shakermaker, and Cigarettes & Alcohol were first taking shape. On one particular night, left to run the studio almost single-handedly, he found himself engineering what would become one of Oasis’s most iconic recordings. With Noel Gallagher still shaping chord progressions, Phil suggested a simple but inspired idea: scraping a plectrum down the strings of a polished Gibson SG. That sound — raw, jagged, unforgettable — ended up on the final version of Supersonic.
It’s a story of chance, timing, and uncredited contributions. While Phil was never officially acknowledged on the record, hearing his work blasting from a record shop ceiling speaker months later confirmed that the mix he engineered had made it onto Definitely Maybe. In his words, it was surreal: just another Manchester band one month, a Britpop phenomenon the next.
The interview goes beyond Oasis too. Phil reflects on the transition from analogue to digital recording, the craft of engineering in the early ’90s, and the challenges of being part of projects without formal credits. He also shares his current work as a filmmaker, including a sci-fi project exploring artificial intelligence, cybernetics, and the future of human–machine relationships.
For anyone fascinated by Manchester’s music history, this is more than just another Oasis story. It’s a reminder that behind every great record are engineers, assistants, and quiet innovators who shape the sound — often without their names making the sleeve.
? As always, we close with a track for the Manchester Scene Stories guest playlist. Phil chose Grace by Jeff Buckley — an artist whose detail, humanity, and grace continue to inspire him.
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