Schizophonic

Schizophonic was a three-piece electronic outfit, consisting of Phoenix Rising guitarist Alexei Monaghan and his brothers Sylar and Raphael. The group was a side-project for Alexei, which had minimal success and nearly cost Phoenix Rising their breakthrough in the industry. Schizophonic released two singles and an album; a third single was announced but quickly scrapped as the project was deemed finished. Schizophonic's most famous works are their remixes of the SAVE URAPS charity single "Play The Game"; one of which producer Sylar Monaghan sifted through multiple hours of unused vocal recordings to reconstruct the song with alternate vocal parts, giving solos to artists who had none in the original version.

Band Members
Alexei Monaghan - 28 years old, born October 31st, 1985. Alexei is the middle child of three; he and his brothers are of Italian-American descent. Alexei was born in Venice, Italy to an Italian mother and American father, before moving to Texas, USA when he and Sylar were babies. Alexei played guitar for Schizophonic, the same as his role for Phoenix Rising, and was the main lyricist for the trio, where Sylar's talents lay in melodies and composition. It was in February of 2009 that Alexei took a short period of time off from Phoenix Rising to work on Schizophonic. Alexei is in a long-term relationship superstar China, and the couple live together with their two children - Alice, Alexei's daughter from a previous relationship, and their daughter Juliana, born in June 2012.

Sylar Monaghan - 31 years old, born May 13th, 1982. Sylar is the eldest of the three Monaghan brothers, born in Venice. His family moved to America when Sylar was four years old; Sylar is fluent in Italian, although being raised in America, he did not grow up with an Italian accent. Sylar got into technical production and the underground club scene as a teenager, at the same time Alexei was attempting his American solo breakthrough as a pop-punk rocker. Sylar began DJ'ing at underground raves by 20, and earned himself a residency at a club in Pittsburgh by the age of 25 where he still spins the decks regularly. After Schizophonic disbanded, Sylar continued to produce his own music which was independently released in America and has not been seen in the UK. Sylar has had minor acting credits to his name, one of which was a one-off guest star playing to type as a club DJ in an episode of CSI:NY which featured two of Schizophonic's songs.

Raphael Monaghan - 24 years old, born September 1st, 1989. Raphael was born in Texas, and is the only member of his family not to be fluent in Italian. Raphael learned drums, bass and guitar as hobbies, but was far more academically-driven than his older brothers, pursuing a career in law. Raphael even spent a year in law school before taking time off to be part of Schizophonic. After having only spent a short time with the group, Raphael returned to law school, although he auditioned unsuccessfully for URAPS Idol: Second Chance. In 2012, Raphael passed his bar exam and began an internship at a local law firm in Texas. For the past three years Raphael has been part of the Darling Violetta Project, the production team behind Violetta DiNozzo's last two studio albums. In 2013, Raphael began working on his solo debut album, in a blues-rock style starkly contrasting his previous work. Raphael is openly gay, but is still currently single.

"The Monaghan Dynasty" Era
Sylar was producing instrumental tracks throughout 2008, and enlisted the help of his younger brothers to help him record and create an album that mixed live instrument sounds with Sylar's programming and production. Alexei was brought in to play guitar, and while Raphael provided additional guitar parts, Raphael's part in the group was to play bass and live drums, which Sylar would then program. Alexei and Raphael were also the vocalists for the project, and were the lyricists for the group. Sylar composed the lion's share of the band's material, with the lyrics written to Sylar's instrumental tracks. The album was finalised, recorded and mixed in January and February of 2009, for a March release. The album bowed in the top 20, but rose in its second week to achieve a top 10 peak following the release of its second single.

The album was led by the single "Amnesiatic", which was filled with vocodered vocals and stutter effects over a pounding breakbeat. The UK was not overly interested in the single though, because while it made the top 15 it spent only three weeks on chart and sold less than 50,000 copies, the lowest ever sales for the trio's management. The song was also an airplay failure, only spending two non-consecutive weeks in the top 40. Second single "Wreck Of The Day" fared slightly better; the song hit the top 10, and sold more than double that of "Amnesiatic", but it was still an airplay failure. Although it was again a stronger airplay hit than "Amnesiatic" it did not have a long chart run and did not peak high. The Othello-penned "You Can't Hide" was chosen as the third single, and with Alexei back with Phoenix Rising at this time, Sylar turned the song into a duet, bringing in a pre-Idol Veronica Nightshade to sing the female part of the new arrangement. With little faith in the project however, the single was cancelled and the group disbanded. The Schizophonic version of the song was never released, although Alexei later took the song with him and re-recorded it with the band and Venus Vegas for Phoenix Rising's second album.

Controversy
In early January of 2009, Alexei's announcement that he would be leaving Phoenix Rising temporarily to be part of Schizophonic was met with scrutiny by the public and by his contemporaries. Alexei never formally responded to the criticism, believing that his choice in projects was nobody's business; but he stated that such a thing happened all the time, citing cases such as the Bedingfield siblings or the Jackson family. Further controversy was raised when there were slanderous charges of paedophilia brought up against Alexei by Indigo Peak and Alesha, who crusaded to 'expose and shame' him. Alexei's response to Indigo Peak was explosive, and the firestorm almost cost Phoenix Rising their support slot on Romo's 'Belle's Ball' tour. Alexei wrote songs about the scandal, although one of these was never released because it was filled with so much anger, and it would have only served to create further backlash had he released it while the controversy was still fresh.

Discography
Main Article: Schizophonic Discography

Albums
2009: The Monaghan Dynasty

Singles
2009: "Amnesiatic" 2009: "Wreck Of The Day" 2009: "You Can't Hide" (Cancelled)