spaceships are cool

Artist Information

Biography

things you need to know........



WEBSITE: www.spaceshipsarecool.com

WE WERE CREATED.....
spaceships are cool were formed in 2008 by electronica musician Rob Maddison, and are sometimes few and sometimes many; from solo @ESCAPE POD studios & acoustic/laptop sets, to Flaming Lips style on stage parties with up to 8 band members. wearing bright orange spacesuits, playing cartoon projections, bubble machines, GI joe astronauts, giving away free flying saucers candy & origami space rockets!

WE SOUND LIKE.......
"sci-fi sunshine pop & retro folktronica" "like my super NES made an LP" "electronic tinged psych-pop buzzing with life" "dreamlike romps through a blip-rock playground" "beats, bleeps and day dream believing"

WE LIKE TOYS!.....
Spaceships are cool use: 1960s stylophones, glockenspiels, moog theremin, korg vocoders, omnichord, melodica, tenori-on, fisher price tape decks and acoustic guitars to create their own brand of sci-fi sunshine pop.

WE LIKE RADIO......
even in their early days, spaceships are cool have been popular on the airwaves. being broadcast on many DIY & underground podcasts, but more recently appearing on HUW STEPHENS' BBC RADIO 1 introducing show & podcast, TOM ROBINSON'S BBC 6 MUSIC show & podcast, and recording an exclusive live acoustic session for Dean Jackson @BBC RADIO NOTTINGHAM show 'the beat'.In 2009 their debut EP broke the top 100 of the US national college radio charts. More recently popping up again on BBC 6music & inflight radio on Virgin Atlantic, Finnair & American airlines flights!

WE LIKE REMIXING:
working on other's tunes is great fun: we've added our magic to songs by: UK Electro artist NZCA/LINES, French synth pioneer Bernard Fevre, Finnish/French electro duo Mi & L'au, Portuguese EMO band Kandia, Canadian ART-ROCK outfit The Tanuki Project, German synth legend Symboter and Icelandic Electro all stars Bloodgroup.

WE LIKE SHARING.....
recently, spaceships have been working on collaboration projects with tokyo based DJ/laptop artist 'TATATAMOTO' (tracks featured on Huw stephens radio 1 show & being played at clubs in SHIBUYA as we speak!) and with Lisbon DJ/producer MR BIRD (soon to be released in japan through towntone). and forthcoming tunes with Icelandic electro band BLOODGROUP, and with UK artists MICROWULF, & FEAR OF THEYDON.

WE LIKE MEETING PEOPLE.....
Moving around, meeting people, eating airplane food and playing great gigs! from festivals such as Glastonbury in the UK, NXNE & CMW in Canada, CMJ in the US, Iceland Airwaves, Summersound in Latvia, KME in Sardinia to coffee shops in Sweden and even a hair salon in Reykjavik.

WE MAKE PRODUCTION MUSIC....
spaceships are cool are also producing a wealth of INSTRUMENTAL PRODUCTION MUSIC (compilation lp coming out soon) and have already licensed songs to UNIVERSAL PRODUCTION MUSIC, MTV new york, MTV L.A, BBC 1, BBC 2, SKY trans-world sports & ITV , American Airlines, Finnair, Greenlandic feature film 'Nuumioq', US eco-film 'Houston we have a problem' and have written a specially commission theme tune for a BBC podcast & talk show.

WE WANT YOU TO SAY HELLO!....
come and find us @
www.spaceshipsarecool.com
www.myspace.com/spaceshipsarecool2
www.youtube.com/spaceshipsarecool
www.twitter.com/spaceshipsRcool
www.sonicbids.com/spaceshipsarecool



OR WRITE SOMETHING INTERESTING TO:
spaceships@spaceshipsarecool.com
WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Instrumentation

Rob Maddison - Vocals, Guitar, Synth, thingamagoop, Casio
Johnny Cousins - Bass, Backing Vocals
Tim Maddison - Drums
Ben James - organ, Electric Piano
HELEN MADDISON - Violin, Viola, theremin, Casio
Rob Garner - Synth, Melodica, Stylophone, Casio
James Catchpole - Electric Guitars

Discography

SPACESHIPS ARE COOL. EP (5 tracks) & LP 'Heart echoes' & new single SHE are all available digitally at iTunes, gogoyoko, amazon & Emusic. hand screen printed artwork cds and 7" & 12" vinyls available from all live shows.

Collaboration project 'TOKYO EP' Mr Bird vs Spaceships, is also available through iTunes stores. with our remix of Icelandic band 'Bloodgroup' available at www.gogoyoko.com

Digi-single (2011) DON'T BE ALONE out now on iTunes, eMusic, gogoyoko.com.

Debut LP Heart echoes (2010)

NEW LP 'WE WERE HERE' OUT NOW!!!!! (2012)
Itunes, gogyoko, emusic, spotify.

Official Website

http://www.spaceshipsarecool.com

Links

• Facebook
• spaceships are cool main site
• Twitter
• spaceships are cool's youtube
• MySpace
• spaceships tweets!

Audio

• Don't Be Alone
  Listen  
• WE WERE HERE
  Listen  
• North Atlantic Lights
  Listen  
• wonderful new year
  Listen  
• strawberry kickers
  Listen  
• winterlights
  Listen  
• shake it up!
  Listen  

Lyrics

• strawberry kickers
• don't be alone

Video

spaceships at NXNE Toronto 2010

april blossom summersound.mp4

Photo Gallery

Press

• Sound of Pop Canadian music week
  

  live review of the band's performance at Canadian music week

• DAZED & CONFUSED Spaceships & tatatmoto animated film [+ Show ]
  

  Feature about fashion designers SS/10 with spaceships are cool & tatatamoto music as the soundtrack...Feature about fashion designers SS/10
  with spaceships are cool & tatatamoto music as the soundtrack to Noriko okaku's animation.
  
  
  http://www.dazeddigital.com/Fashion/article/5549/1/In_Process_SS_10

• SPINearth's bands to watch out for [+ Show ]
  

  Spaceships Are Cool “Strawberry Kicks” Hometown: Nottingham, United Kingdom Sure, “Strawberry...Spaceships Are Cool
  “Strawberry Kicks”
  Hometown: Nottingham, United Kingdom
  
  Sure, “Strawberry Kicks” is best described by the band’s self-applied genre title “sci-fi sunshine pop”, but what’s behind the song lends a deeper meaning. Spaceships Are Cool is a throwback to the good old days of two-tone video game soundtracks, omnichords, and Fisher Price tape decks – a testament to how being nerdy is now the new cool. This dreamy ditty mixes their obsession with early synths with a healthy understanding of acoustic guitar and a vocal layer that you couldn’t find on Super Nintendo (though it would be great set to Mario Kart’s rainbow level for N64). Leading the Spaceships, Rob Maddison is involved in a host of productions, including playing live shows, contributing to various compilations, and producing music for outlets such as MTV and BBC. Check out the band’s new LP Heart Echoes!
  
  http://spinearth.tv/report/spinearth-tv-exclusive-twelve-singles-from-rising-bands

• CMJ spotlight review [+ Show ]
  

  Sounding like a retro childhood mindscape, Spaceships Are Cool build dream-like romps through digita...Sounding like a retro childhood mindscape, Spaceships Are Cool build dream-like romps through digital and aural playgrounds with airy falsettos and blip-rock flourishes. Like a bunch of pop princes, Spaceships push the boundaries of digital cartoon jams with their drum machines. The harmonies and optimistic chord crunching feeds into a sound that sounds like '60s mentality trapped in a future world of music-making. Their toys include stylophones, glockenspiels, mood theremin, korg vocoders, omnichords, melodica, Fisher Price tape decks and acoustic guitars.
  
  Spaceships was formed in 2006 by UK electronica musician Rob Maddison, who, over the years, has collaborated with dozens of different members. The band has performed as a Rob-only solo project and a group jam of up to eight different musicians. Other regular members include Ben James, Rob Yunioshi, Helen Maltby and Tim Maddison. Recently the band appeared on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6's music show,and the BBC Radio Nottingham's new music show, >em>The Beat. They've appeared on numerous compilations, including ones released by underground labels in Berlin and Japan and one titled Indie Circuit, which was released by Universal. They've also released a self titled EP.
  
  The band has been asked to play the famous Glastonbury Festival in June, official dates are still forthcoming.
  

• twogroove blog spaceships interview [+ Show ]
  

  Past, Present, Future: Spaceships are Cool Thursday, January 28th, 2010 Share I am a fan of hon...Past, Present, Future: Spaceships are Cool
  Thursday, January 28th, 2010
  Share
  
  I am a fan of honesty. So when I saw the band name “Spaceships Are Cool”, I said “yes, that is a true statement, spaceships are cool”. Although the awesome band name would have been enough to get me to do an interview, it just so happens that Spaceships Are Cool have some great music. It’s Nintendeo meets 70’s UK pop. While there are blips and bleeps to be had, the real heart of the music comes from the soft, harmonic vocals and acoustic guitar. It’s an introspective vocal pop group in a NASA wrapper, and I love it.
  
  Not only is the music fun and interesting, it also sounds like they have a blast at their live shows. From the interview below: Their shows feature “bright orange spacesuits, cartoon animation, astronaut marionettes and free flying saucer candy.” Sign me up!
  
  Download the track below, read the interview and click the Spaceships Are Cool banner below to hear some more music.
  
  http://www.twogroove.com/blog/2010/01/28/past-present-future-spaceships-are-cool/

• The sounding post review [+ Show ]
  

  I picked up this EP from the radio station to review thinking it was going to be a joke band playing...I picked up this EP from the radio station to review thinking it was going to be a joke band playing keytars and singing about PacMan (you think I’m kidding, but there’s a precedent - Mr. Pacman). I was very pleasantly surprised to find a delightful bastard-love-child from Beck and Of Montreal encapsulated in this short but very rich EP. It’s 5 songs long but features examples of both simple poppy songs and deeply layered tracks. The album as a whole leaves an impression of a band(-ish) that doesn’t take themselves overly seriously, but also has a strong understanding of what they feel music should be with the ability to write and record precisely what they want. I use the term ‘band’ as that’s what the promotional material makes them out to be. In reality they’re only a band when performing live. When recording it’s just Rob Maddison of Nottingham, England.
  
  I enjoyed this album a substantial amount, particularly tracks 3 and 4, “This Fond Farewell” and “Gingerbread Houses”. “This Fond Farewell” is an excellent electro-indie ballad which showcases the band’s ability to layer its mayhem. “Gingerbread Houses” takes a much more simplistic route as it meanders across the tune. Add in tracks 1, 2, and 5 to get a complete and worthwhile album: “Let Things Go” is what you wish NES music would have been, featuring very cool guitar and synth lines layered heavily with staccato drums while fading in and out of more melodic interludes; “Strawberry Knickers” is simple but fun (you can listen by following the first BBC link below); and “Sooner or Later “ is a saccharine-sweet melody that deserves to be played with a black turtleneck sweater and cappuccino.
  
  DJ’s – play any of the first four tracks on air. Baristas – play track 5 on the coffee shops loudspeakers.
  
  Will I play it on my show? Yes. RIYL – Beck, Of Montreal.

• Leftlion EP review [+ Show ]
  

  Spaceships Are Cool (AKA Rob Maddison) are Nottingham's prime exponents of gorgeous dollops of delig...Spaceships Are Cool (AKA Rob Maddison) are Nottingham's prime exponents of gorgeous dollops of delightful indietronica that is so irresistible and moreish, they must have found a cheeky way of slipping MSG into the music. This eponymous EP takes all the best bits of artists like the Flaming Lips, Beck, Dntel and lashings of 60s psych-rock to create a world where blips and bleeps collide head-on with occasional I Am The Walrus-esque stream-of-consciousness lyrics, especially noticeable on Gingerbread House. Let Things Go is full of clattering drums and dark melodies that demonstrate just what a great talent is on show here. This EP, along with a collaboration with Mr Bird entitled The Tokyo EP, is throughly recommended.

Setlist

current UK spaceships setlist is 35-45 mins as a 7 piece band.
extendable up to 1hr.

Songs>
April blossom
We were here
Fall in the city
Heart echoes
Gingerbread houses
Below 29º
This will be my dream
Shake it up!


Other live formats:
Solo & 4 piece acoustic shows

3 piece folktronic shows.

Basic Requirements

Calendar