What
It's difficult to qualify exactly what Phned cZensic is, and even what it's not. It's a group, of sorts, but does not have the same members all the time. It shares members with other groups... sometimes all the same members, at the same time. And yet it's different - no one would ever listen to a Phned cZensic performance and mistake it for anything else!
 
Where
Perhaps we should try to describe where Phned cZensic came from. In name, it started as an unplanned, impromptu three-guitar session with Jonathan O'Riordan, Alan Maguire and John McCullagh in 1997. But it also owes something to the group Inner Frequency Sounds - it could be regarded as what happened when IFS wasn't making music, but the musicians were still in the studio! Various people would drop in and contribute to the musical mayhem. Everyone would swap instruments, plug things into other things (sometimes in ways that were counter-indicated by the manuals) and strange things would emerge. Eventually this changing lineup grew into Schpampipe, and yet Phned was there in the background all the time... fulfilling some purpose... popping up whenever some Phned-ism needed to be realised, or some Phned-ology was in the air.
 
How
It's even harder to describe how Phned cZensic operates. It performs all improvised music, and usually not in a live context. Some of  the music is played on "traditional" instruments, and some is made with electronics. Most of Phned's catalogue grows from the creative editing of recordings of improvised music. So think of it as improvisation with instruments, electronics and editing... not necessarily in that order.
 
Who
At various times, the following people have been in Phned cZensic... whether they knew it or not...
 
Jonathan O'Riordan
Alan Maguire
John McCullagh
Mark Finlay
Caimh McDonnell
Gar Fagan
Mark Neary