Phil Zampino is the founder and operator of Squidco, an independent music retail, distribution, and curatorial platform specializing in experimental, improvised, avant, and underground music. He is also a musician himself, leading the long-running project CHANGES TO blind, and integrates his interests in computer technology, literature, and art into his creative life.

Born in West Point, New York (his father was in a military band), Zampino grew up in the upstate New York Syracuse area, later living in Schenectady and then spending many years in Manhattan (Lower Manhattan, then Washington Heights) before relocating to Wilmington, North Carolina near Greenfield Lake.

In that period in New York he immersed himself in a wide range of musical styles, from improvised music and downtown experimental scenes (Zorn, Laswell, "No Safety," etc.) to avant-progressive and global/ethnic forms.

Zampino also has a strong technical side: he was a mainframe systems and database programmers, has long used Apple Macintosh systems, worked as a web contractor and FileMaker database developer, and maintains an active involvement in computing and online systems alongside his musical work.

His photographic practice is another major outlet: he describes his driving motivation as a love of and fascination with the natural world, aiming to capture light, landscapes, wildlife, and ephemeral moments in nature - both as a way to slow down and "refocus scattered senses," and as an aesthetic complement to his musical life.