In 1920, Grandpa Holcomb bought a Couturier gold plated cornet from a travelling salesman and presented it to Phil's Dad - Gordon Holcomb. This horn was passed down to Phil  who played it in his grammar school band - until the day his teacher decided that he was the only kid in the band big enough to carry the school's old beat-up Eb tuba!  He played Eb and BBb tubas and sousaphones  through high school and  college. Twice he carried a huge BBb sousaphone in the St. Patricks Day Parade on 5th Ave.  in New York City! Later, he played Bass Bugle for a short time in an U.S. Air Force Drum and Bugle Corps.

In 1982, after a 25 year absence from tubas and music, Phil was stationed in the Sultanate of Oman working for the United Nations as a civil aviation adviser. On vacation in Copenhagen, and wandering around waiting for Tivoli Gardens to open, he noticed a music shop which had some old instruments displayed. On asking whether they had any old tubas, a small Danish F tuba was produced - and purchased.  On returning to Muscat with his treasure, word got around that there was a  new tuba player in town!  He was contacted by some British brass players who asked him to help form a brass quintet "The Muscat Brass!  The tuba was modified to play in Eb and after a relearning period, we were playing creditable music!

When Phil was transferred to Thailand in 1989  he helped form "The Bangkok Brass" quintet - made up of expatriate brass musicians.  Further, as the VP of the Bangkok Music Society, he organized public performances by the Canadian Brass (1994 and 1996), as well as the Desford Colliery (UK) Brass Band.

While visiting the northern city of Chaing Mai, Phil discovered an old Eb Bass Helicon serving as a lamp in an Italian Restaurant. Shocked to see such a noble instrument being treated so badly- he negotiated a costly release from the restaurant owner, and ultimately had it restored to its former glory! This acquisition piqued his interest in historical and/or strange brass musical instruments and he started acquiring some old and unusual brass instruments - many of them left over from the British and French occupations of Burma and Indochina. With the advent of eBay in 1996, the collecting quickly got out of control,  and his collection now numbers more than 250 instruments!!

In 1999 Phil retired from the UN and moved to St. Pete Beach FL   He now plays tuba in a local community band and a civic orchestra, and recently formed the "St. Pete Beach Brass" - a brass quartet - and plays in St Petersburg's "Tuba Christmas" each December.