Phenomenauts!

This East Bay Express article really sums up well why I love The Phenomenauts. Can you believe these guys crashed the Warped Tour?!? They weren’t supposed to play but they went along anyway, bluffed their way into getting passes, and buttered everyone up by buying breakfast every day. So cool.

And so like them. I first saw the Phenomenauts at an illegal sidewalk show after a Red Elvises concert. They were playing under an archway outside the club, and just infecting the crowd. My pals and I hung around until the crowd was dispersed by the cops, if memory serves. Anyway, the article over at East Bay Express is great. Go read it.

The Phenomenauts are well aware that they did not pioneer the “rockabilly in outer space” concept. Man or Astroman?, for one, precedes them, true. But if the costumes, the goofy names, the dry-ice blasts, the flaming cymbals, the Toilet Paperator, and the relentlessly catchy sci-fi tunes the band specializes in (“Earth Is the Best,” “Robot Love,” “Space Mutants 4”) are all gimmicks, they comprise the biggest, tastiest sonic cheeseball ever constructed. Few bands devote more energy, intensity, and ingenuity to their Official Band Vision, no matter how corny that vision may be.