Beers in Heaven: Space Needle
The year is 1995. I'm 17 years old and going to see my favorite ska band The Skeletones at The Troubadour in West Hollywood. Primed and ready to get my skank on I am met with three dour looking dudes walking to their instruments. These three dudes then proceed to spend the next half an hour making super loud freak out psychedelic music juxtaposed with really interesting gorgeous ambient style, slightly kraut-style passages. Me, being a dude who likes a lot a music but doesn't know about all the different kinds, am blown away. I grab a drumstick that the one guitar dude totally thrashed on his guitar, and proceed to keep it for many years as a representation of being open to surprises and crazy music. I talk to the dudes about how crazy it is they are playing on this ska show. They are totally nice to a young Hawaiian shirt wearing 17 year old dude and tell me they are on tour and their real show got cancelled and had to the opportunity to hop on this show and figured why not. The ska fans were pleasant to them, and one (me) even bought a CD.
The dudes that blew my mind were Space Needle. Jud Ehrbar, the band's main songwriter, started the band as his four track project. Ehrbar and Jeff Gatland created the band's 1995 debut album Voyager a inspiring album of rumbling lo fi noise, strong melodies, and deep experimentation. Brushing up against the edges of shoegazer, prog rock, lo fi, drone, and free (jazz) music Voyager created it's own place and sound. Space Needle added guitarist Anders Parker (from the more famous Varnaline) for touring and he became a official member for the recording of their second album The Moray Eels Eats The Space Needle(the name a direct rip from Holy Modal Rounders' 1968 album The Moral Eels Eats The Holy Modal Rounders also featuring awesome artwork from Roger Dean the man who created Yes' artwork). The second album was a much cleaner affair. It
was recorded in a fancy studio with the man (Chris Lasus) who produced Helium's The Dirt of Luck. The album is much more segmented, meaning it seperates all of the diffferent aspects of the band's different sounds. There are the wild free jazzy songs, there are the kraut style songs, and there are the quiet pop songs, as to where on Voyager those vibes came together on songs. While they do all things well, it doesn't translate to making the band or this specific album better.
Space Needle broke up shortly after the release of The Moral Eels Eat The Space Needle with Parker focusing on Varnaline and Ehrbar focusing more on a solo ambient project called Resevoir. Space Needle didn't last long but to a 17 year old at a ska show they were certainly The Greatest Band Of All Time.
YES ARTWORK RULES
that was my all-time favorite needle show(i was a guitar player in the band).we played for $50 and a case of beer.when we were finished these 2 kids told us how awesome we were and bought cds.i was happy that somebody out of the 800 people there got it.that was the last time we ever opened for anything even remotely ska related.
I thought that I was the only person in the world who liked this band, let alone heard of them. Moray Eels is one of my all time favorite albums.
voyager is a flat out great record.
Couldn't agree more. I happened to pick up Voyager when it was first released, and still listen to it to this day.
Looks like I make 6 brilliant "in the know" people so far! Voyager is a 4-track cream dream.
There was no band I wanted to succeed (or basically be able to continue putting out records for 20 years) more in my days of college radio and premeditated slack. But at the same time it was a nice little gem that no one seemed to know about and felt like my little secret. To this day, I still wear that Voyager record out even though I have lost a lot of my style.
Saw them once at a tiny coffee house/bar in Lincoln NE. I didn't recognize a single song and figured we were being treated to a off the cuff set. May not be the reality of the matter, but I have put it away in my head as such.
Defining album of the mid 90s for this aging hipster.
tom in omaha
I've been looking for a Space Needle b-sides collection that a friend of mine found in an Arizona record store in 1998, I don't remember if it was authorized or not, but if anyone has it, and would like to sell me a copy or the real thing let me know. I recently found an old issue of Carbon 14 that has an ad for Voyager, which is the only reason I had ever heard of them. Glad to find more fans of this band!
well hello im very happy that people are thinking of Space Needle.
i first got to hear them when i was in the states
playing with a band called cinDytalk ..
some one we stayed with gave us a copy . i loved it ,,and still do
i wish i still had it ..got lost or stolen ?
what a great band ..i would love to hear more of there solo stuff ..ok all love to who ever reads this cheers
paul