Phil Marinucci is a musician out of Toronto, Canada, and he's got the kind of story I respect — a song written in the 80s that sat in a drawer for decades before he finally gave it the life it deserved.

His first release was 2018's EDM trance track "321," but it's his 2023 single "FLY" that shows you who he really is. One guy, doing everything himself, the way indie artists have always done it.

"FLY" is a full-on love letter to 80s AOR and prog rock — Asia, Yes, ELP, Journey, that big stacked-vocal, layered-guitar, keyboards-everywhere sound. When the pandemic hit, he dragged the song out of the archives and spent two years rebuilding it piece by piece: over 130 layers, every part performed or programmed by him on a MIDI keyboard. As a guitarist, I know what that kind of patience costs. That's not production — that's devotion.

He even rewrote the lyrics during the pandemic to make the message more uplifting, because he wanted the song to help people who were struggling. The track opens with "PreFLYght," a short high-powered intro, and he released it all as a limited-edition EP on Bandcamp in August 2023 — both versions of "FLY," a remastered "321," and two old demos going back to a 1985 rough called "The Storm."

His influences say it all: Supertramp on repeat at ten years old, Rush, Asia's debut, U.K.'s Danger Money, Yes's 90125. He's done interviews, heard his song on the radio, signed a few CDs — and he's still chasing a full album. He runs a multimedia company too, but this page is about the music, and the music is real.

Phil Marinucci A guy who waits 30 years and then spends two years getting a song right doesn't do this for money. That's indie. Welcome to the hub, Phil.

- Rob | The INDIE Musician