Phenomenauts
Encyclopedia
The Phenomenauts are a San Francisco Bay Area
band that combine elements of rock and roll
, pop
, punk
, New Wave
, Surf Rock and rockabilly
along with a futuristic
science fiction
theme, dubbing their style "Rocket Roll".
The Phenomenauts were formed in 2000 in Oakland, California
(which the band refers to as Earth
's capital) from the band Space Patrol, a 1980s cover band
which played on homemade instruments. Two years later they released their first CD, Rockets And Robots on their own Arlington Lab Records. That year critical success came in the form of being chosen as California's Best Live Band by the East Bay Express
and by being called the Best Lifestyle Music artist by the SF Weekly
.
The band signed with Springman Records
in 2002, and gained notoriety in 2003 for unofficially sneaking onto Warped Tour
, from which they were officially invited to play again in 2004 and 2005. The band declined the 2005 offer, opting to instead tour with The Aquabats
and the Epoxies.
The Phenomenauts are known for their inventive and fun-filled live shows, which often include smoke machines, the Streamerator 2000, and various on stage theatrics. In 2008, vocalist/guitarist Corporal JoeBot 2.0 left the band, and was replaced by FM Static from the recently-broken-up Epoxies. In early 2009, Captain Chreehos and FM Static left the band, and were replaced by Deck Chief Nick Wayzar and Leftenant AR-7, respectively. In October 2011, Deck Chief Nick Wayzar left the band and was replaced by Barth Q. Applestar.
The band released a new EP, entitled Electric Sheep, on August 3, 2010.
8. Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul), 2:46
1. Cry baby, 2:57
12. (Don't Give Me That) Broccoli, 2:29
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
band that combine elements of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, Surf Rock and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
along with a futuristic
Future
The future is the indefinite time period after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently exists and will exist is temporary and will come...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
theme, dubbing their style "Rocket Roll".
The Phenomenauts were formed in 2000 in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
(which the band refers to as Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
's capital) from the band Space Patrol, a 1980s cover band
Cover band
A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
which played on homemade instruments. Two years later they released their first CD, Rockets And Robots on their own Arlington Lab Records. That year critical success came in the form of being chosen as California's Best Live Band by the East Bay Express
East Bay Express
The East Bay Express is an Oakland-based weekly newspaper serving the Berkeley, Oakland, and East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
and by being called the Best Lifestyle Music artist by the SF Weekly
SF Weekly
SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...
.
The band signed with Springman Records
Springman Records
Springman Records is an independent record label founded in 1998 by Avi Ehrlich that was run out of his parent's garage in Cupertino, California until late 2005, when Ehrlich moved the label to Sacramento...
in 2002, and gained notoriety in 2003 for unofficially sneaking onto Warped Tour
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...
, from which they were officially invited to play again in 2004 and 2005. The band declined the 2005 offer, opting to instead tour with The Aquabats
The Aquabats
The Aquabats are an American rock band formed in 1994 in Orange County, California. They have released five full-length studio albums and have toured internationally. They are best known for their mythology, in which they claim to be superheroes on a quest to save the world from evil through music...
and the Epoxies.
The Phenomenauts are known for their inventive and fun-filled live shows, which often include smoke machines, the Streamerator 2000, and various on stage theatrics. In 2008, vocalist/guitarist Corporal JoeBot 2.0 left the band, and was replaced by FM Static from the recently-broken-up Epoxies. In early 2009, Captain Chreehos and FM Static left the band, and were replaced by Deck Chief Nick Wayzar and Leftenant AR-7, respectively. In October 2011, Deck Chief Nick Wayzar left the band and was replaced by Barth Q. Applestar.
The band released a new EP, entitled Electric Sheep, on August 3, 2010.
Discography
- Rockets And Robots (CD, 2000 Arlington Lab Records/2002 Springman Records)
- The Year 2000, 2:49
- Space Mutants 4, 3:01
- Earth is the Best, 3:18
- Tiny Robots, 4:02
- Jamboree, 3:51
- Phenomenator, 3:34
- Galactic Pioneers, 3:24
- Galaxy Detour, 3:46
- Robot Love, 2:38
- D.O.A., 3:11
- Big Irons
- 10,000 Light Years, 4:14
- Mission Transmission (7", 2003 Springman Records)
- Pre-Entry (EP-CD, 2004 Springman Records)
- Mission, 2:22
- Progress vs. Pettiness, 3:06
- Composite Synthesizer, 2:29
- I Am Robot (live), 3:01
- Rocket Roll (live), 3:16
- Re-Entry (CD,LP(2007) 2004 Springman Records)
- Mission, 2:22
- Progress vs. Pettiness, 3:06
- Hurry Let's Go, 2:57
- I Am Robot, 2:39
- Where Is The X-38?, 3:16
- Neptune City, 2:33
- Space Fight, 2:34
- Rocket Roll, 2:58
- Composite Synthesizer, 2:29
- Gravity, 2:12
- Giant Asteroid, 3:12
- Welcome Back, 3:01
- Space Girl, 2:43
- Beyond Warped Live Music Series (DualDiscDualDiscDualDisc was a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and 5.1 Entertainment Group and later under the aegis of the Recording Industry Association of America...
/DVD-AudioDVD-AudioDVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....
, 2005 immergent Records) - For All MankindFor All Mankind (album)For All Mankind is the third album by The Phenomenauts. It was released on April 8, 2008, by Springman Records.-Track listing:#"All Go for Launch" – 1:26#"Man Alone" – 3:05#"Cyborg" – 2:47#"Make a Circuit with Me" – 2:29#"Navitron" – 2:22...
(CD, April 8, 2008, Silver Sprocket Records)
- Beyond Warped Live Music Series (DualDisc
- All Go for Launch, 1:26
- Man Alone, 3:05
- Cyborg, 2:47
- Make a Circuit with Me, 2:29
- Navitron, 2:22
- The Tale of Europa, 3:10
- Heroes, 2:23
- She'll Launch, 3:02
- Infinite Frontier, 3:27
- Compensation, 2:46
- Don't Overheat on Me, 2:35
- Into a Time Warp, 2:43
- Science and Honor, 3:38
- The Colvin Moon, 4:01 (Instrumental)
- Electric Sheep (Electronic EP, August 3, 2010, Silver Sprocket Records)
- I am (NOT) a Robot
- Particle Accelerator
- Fly through the Sky
- If you Want it
Compilations
- The Rocky Horror Punk Rock Show (CD, 2003 Springman Records)
8. Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul), 2:46
- Go Cat Go! A Tribute To The Stray Cats (CD, 2006 Hairball 8)
1. Cry baby, 2:57
- Dog Train: A Wild Ride on the Rock and Roll Side (book and audio CD) (2005)
12. (Don't Give Me That) Broccoli, 2:29
Band members
- Commander Angel Nova — vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Leftenant AR-7 — vocals, guitar
- Major Jimmy Boom — drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, backing vocals - Barth Q. Applestar — double bass, electric bass, backing vocals
- Professor Greg Arius — synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, MOOGMoog synthesizerMoog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
, backing vocals - Colonel Reehotch — mission operation specialistTalent managerA talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
- Orbit — the galaxy's handsomest and most talented space dogDogThe domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
(according to the band)
Past members
- Corporal JoeBot 1.0 — vocals, guitar, thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
- Corporal JoeBot 2.0 — vocals, guitar
- Fritz M. Static — vocals, guitar
- Captain Chreehos — double bass, backing vocals
- Deck Chief Nick Wayzar — double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, backing vocals