Sounds from the Hospital

Phillip Paul works at the Spokesman-Review?

Paul — the “criminally insane killer” who escaped from the Spokane Interstate Fair last month — is back at Eastern State Hospital, where he has been held for a 1987 murder.When I call with a few questions about his music, someone else picks up.
“Spokesman?” says the person on the other end of the line.

“Hello? Who is this?” I ask.

“This is the Spokesman-Review.”

“It is, huh? Is this Phillip?”

“No,” the voice says, a little dejected that I didn’t take the bait. “I’ll get him.”

The phone clanks down and a minute or so passes. When Phillip picks up, he’s quick to say he’s “grounded” from talking to newspapers. I assure him that it’s cool, we’ll just talk about his music. He says OK.

Since Paul’s three-day ship-jump in September, his MySpace page — a music page for “Philly Willy and the Hillbillies” — has swelled with activity. His friends list recently gained 50 new faces. And comments, which dropped off all summer, picked up again the day after Paul escaped.

“GOOD MUSIC MAN!!! RIGHT NOW YOUR [sic] THE MOST WANTED ARTIST!!!” Fabian, a 35-year old Spokane man, comments on his page.

Another writes: “I have been in mental health institutions before, and I know it isn’t fun. I’m sooo happy for you that you had the opportunity to get out for a while, I’m sure your entire mind and body feel so rejuvinated [sic]. Keep writing lyrics, and keep posting music man.”

One local band, Sonic Death Ray, has started folding a cover of Paul’s “Rockin In a Mental Institution,” into their live set. When I tell Paul that, he laughs — “Wow, yeah, that’s cool.”

Craig Pratt, guitarist in Sonic Death Ray, says that when he heard the news of Paul’s escape, the name rang a bell. Pratt and SDR bassist Derrick Fernandez had met Paul a couple of years back at the Rocket Bakery downtown.

“I met Derrick … to check out a bass guitar he bought,” Pratt says in an e-mail. “We saw a middle-aged guy in there [who looked like a burnt-out John Cougar Mellencamp] with an acoustic guitar. Derrick put the case on a table and opened it up to show me a vintage Gibson bass, [and] the middle-aged guy walks over and started asking questions about it. He told us he was a fellow musician and such.”

By the time they left, Paul had given Fernandez one of his records: The Collection.

“The songs were amateurish — as was the production,” Pratt says. “One song was quite a bit better than the rest: ‘Rockin’ In a Mental Institution.’ It is catchy and the lyrics are a candid look at life at Eastern State Hospital.”

“I’d like to think that Phillip would approve of our interpretation of his song,” Pratt says.

Paul laughs when I tell him about Sonic Death Ray.

“Yeah, that’s cool.”

Sonic Death Ray plays at the Lions Lair on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 9 pm. $3. Call: 456-5678.