"You Can Imagine a Song in a Completely Different Genre" - The mysterious Lord Phobos, guitarist for TWRP, has covered everything from disco to Def Leppard in his collaborations with tongue-in-cheek duo Ninja Sex Party.

The mysterious Lord Phobos, guitarist for TWRP, has covered everything from disco to Def Leppard in his collaborations with tongue-in-cheek duo Ninja Sex Party. He explains what makes a great cover version - and reveals the one guitar and the one pedal he couldn't live without...

- By Amit Sharma

Talking to TG from behind a mask that falls somewhere in between the aesthetics of Daft Punk, Darth Vader and Power Rangers, with a heavily effected voice to disguise his true identity, Lord Phobos is certainly one of the more unusual characters you’ll find in these pages. He’s responsible for the guitar work in Canadian quartet TWRP, who have made waves as the backing band behind American comedic duo Ninja Sex Party. As well as original music, the two groups have collaborated on a series of albums named Under The Covers – where they reimagine famous tracks by Pink Floyd, Van Halen, the Bee Gees and many more.

“It’s been really fun working with Ninja Sex Party,” Lord Phobos says, holding a microphone running into a vocal processor that’s presumably set to its darkest and deepest robot setting. “Essentially, we provide the tracks and everything for their records. We linked up with them years and years ago after finding each other online. It was a mutually beneficial situation where we could provide good instrumental music and they’d bring the jokes and ideas. In terms of track choices, that’s all them. We show up, hear what song we’re doing and then learn it. Most of it I already knew, but I’m embarrassed to admit I hadn’t listened to as much King’s X before we started working on the cover of their song The Burning Down. That’s all part of the fun too, right? You discover artists by learning their music.”

What can you tell us about the art of delivering a great cover version?